It Seems The British Aren’t Too Keen On Drag Queen Musicals

The stage musical Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert was a huge hit here in Australia. I didn’t get to see it so I can’t tell you whether or not it was made of 100% entertainment awesomeness or just 100% cheap gags about dudes in dresses. When I was in New Zealand last year, I got chatting to Mal (owner of Wellington’s only gay bar S&M’s on Cuba Street) and he assured me that as a “theatre queen”, he could thoroughly recommend the New Zealand version of the production. So that’s something, right?

And while it’s nice to know that a musical like Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert totally impressed our cousins across the Tasman, the same cannot be said about theatre goers in Britain. It seems reviews are “mixed”.

Reports SX News:

The musical version of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert has opened on London’s West End to mixed reviews. Written and directed by Stephan Elliott, the man behind the film version, the musical opened at the Palace Theatre last night, starring Jason Donovan in the role of Tick, Oliver Thornton as Adam and Tony Sheldon as Bernadette.

Jason Donovan is appearing in this version? How could it NOT be a roaring success?!

British theatre reviewers have greeted the musical with a mixture of admiration, amusement, bemusement and scorn. The Guardian, which gave the production two stars out of five, said that while “the film had a good deal going for it” the stage version was “underscored and overstated”.

The Independent, which also gave Priscilla two stars out of five, declared: “Donovan’s disco divas are a drag”.

“Jason Donovan as a drag queen and his little boy by a real-life woman (a rarity in this show) … demands that somebody shuts his von Trapp,” the publication sniped.

But don’t cry for the cast, Argentina. The truth is The Times gave the show a pretty good review.

The Times, however, turned in a considerably more positive review. Reviewer Benedict Nightingale enthused about the show, comparing it favourably to the original film.

“Let’s reassure those who recall the film of Priscilla, or helped to make it the cult it remains, that the stage version has everything, maybe more than everything, they could reasonably expect,” he wrote. “There’s energy, fun, tunefulness and, above all, the most outrageous swirl of costumes that I … have yet encountered.”

Well, that’s something. Let’s respin this!

THE TIMES DECLARES ‘OUR PRISCILLA’ TO BE A BONAFIDE HIT!

Much better.

MORE: Priscilla opens in London