Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the musical
Same story as the movie, but with different music, streamlined story, and a magic bus that barely fits on stage.
The audience reaction was a bit different when I saw it in New York. They liked it a lot better here, although the kid getting bashed in the mining town scene seemed to shock people. The reaction was a bit: “Happy song, happy time, wait, why is something serious happening? I’m uncomfortable now. Oh, happy music again? Cool.”
It’s like they’d forgotten he gets beat up, or had never seen the movie in the first place, which frankly is a requirement for this show. A lot of the humor is based on “that scene you know and love is about to happen, but live on stage!” As such, they kinda gloss over a bunch of stuff, assuming (rightly so for the most part) that the audience would already have knowledge of plot details.
Regardless, it’s still a cute fun show.
(Playing at the Pantageous Theater)
