The stars (including The Boat That Rocked and Notting Hill writer/director Richard Curtis) turned out for March 24′s long awaited first night of Priscilla Queen of the Desert at London’s Palace Theatre. After opening to acclaim in Australia in 2006, the Stephen Elliott-directed transfer has received equally excellent notices from London’s drama critics.
 
“London has never played host to a musical pitched on a higher level of gayness and camp comedy, transsexual barrier-breaking and bitchy, witty drag-queenery, than this ingenious adaptation of the sensational film of the same name. At a time when escapist musicals are all the rage, here’s a rare one that takes you happily out of yourself and into daring places your wildest fantasies might never dreamed of visiting,” wrote Nicholas De Jongh in the Evening Standard, while Benedict Nightingale of The Times said: “There’s energy, fun, tunefulness and, above all, the most outrageous swirl of costumes that I, who have seen La Cage aux Folles and even boggled at Ian McKellen’s Widow Twankey, have yet encountered.”
 
In the Daily Express, Simon Edge wrote: “A full-cast rendition of Go West makes The Village People look restrained, while the disco anthem Don’t Leave Me This Way becomes the soundtrack to a high-camp funeral. But all wrapped up as a shiny, pinkbowed package, this sumptuously dressed show works gloriously, with its parade of ever more jaw-dropping costumes an utter feast for the eye. Loud, lewd and lavish, it’s about as subtle as a smack in the teeth with a didgeridoo, but who cares when it’s this much fun?”
 
Based on the Oscar-winning cult film starring Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving, the musical follows the adventures of two drag queens and a transsexual as they drive their decrepit bus from Sydney to Alice Springs, performing their extraordinairy show in the outback as they make the journey. The London production stars Jason Donovan as Tick, Tony Sheldon as Bernadette and Oliver Thorton as Adam.
 
www.palace-theatre.co.uk