Last night I attended the press night of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert at the Palace Theatre in Manchester as part of its 2021 UK tour and omg wow! But that won’t cut it, so I will try to put into words how much I adored this spectacular, indulgent, glorious feel good production. Everybody in life occasionally needs an injection of joy and Priscilla is it!
It’s been a tough couple of years for everyone, some, more than others! However to see life slowly starting starting to creep back to some kind of normality is wonderful. One highlight of this is having theatre back, I can’t tell you how much I have missed it, however, if you’re reading this I guess you have too.
Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, National Tour Uk 2021 Review
Set in Australia (I have no idea on earth how this film escaped me) Tick also known as Mitzi to her friends (perfectly played by Edwin Ray) decides to take a sabbatical and travel across the desert with two of her close friends and fellow drag queens Bernadette (Miles Western) and Felicia (Nick Hayes).
Tick convinces the girls to travel for a show. However this is only part of the reason, the other is to meet Ticks son Benjy, whom he had never met.
Priscilla Queen Of The Desert Tracks The Trials Of Traveling Across Australia As Drag Queens.
But also how these amazing ladies face prejudice and change some minds through love, music, determination and guts.
You very quickly fall in love with Tick, Bernadette and Felicia as they travel in their run down RV Priscilla. Fighting not only every backwards town they encounter, but also their own demons. Additionally how they overcome other peoples bigotry to finally accept and love themselves. Even find love in the most unusual of places.
This is possibly the best chorus I have ever heard in a show, and that’s a hard act to follow after some of the truly wonderful productions I have enjoyed. At times the singing felt like an extraordinary choir, the beauty radiating from the stage was stunning, camp and joyous, which took my breath away.
However Priscilla The Queen Of The Desert Is No One Trick Pony.
It offers a wonderful balance of incredible music, characters you adore, touching moments, life lessons and comedy that has your laughing right from the tips of your toes. It truly is a festival of everything that is good and wonderful in the world.
The set was simple, the whole feature of the show was Priscilla the RV which worked perfectly alongside the make up and costumes of dreams. Seriously who would not love to wear those cake outfits and candy floss hair for just an hour?
The standing ovation went on for ages. The audience could not wait to stand up and dance along, not wanting the magic to end.
Should you see Priscilla Queen Of The Desert? I defy anyone to not leave the theatre smiling for ear to ear. Forget petrol, what this country needs at the moment is a nation wide screening of Priscilla to remind us what joy is.
Priscilla Queen Of The Desert is showing at the Palace Theatre until the 16th of October with tickets from £13 and on tour nationally till November. If you love being happy you will love Priscilla.
Ad, I was gifted tickets in return for an honest review and you can not argue with three incredible drag queens that make your heart soar. Thank you Priscilla you have no idea how much I needed that. xx