Priscilla all set to desert our shores

Daniel Ziffer
The Age
21st January 2008

FABULOUSLY flamboyant home-grown musical Priscilla: Queen of the Desert has hit 500 performances, with the world now beckoning for the disco-pulsing show.

The musical, based on the 1994 film, follows two drag queens and a transsexual as they journey into the outback. Producer Liz Koops said the show had overcome middling early reviews and industry scepticism to prove itself a hit.

"There was this parochial hogwash that Priscilla was a Sydney gay show," she said, before citing an audience figure of 750,000 and strong forward bookings at Melbourne's Regent Theatre.

Koops said the show had a difficult gestation and birth, but was now confirmed to open in London in February next year, before touring to Sweden and Toronto. Performances in Germany and a North American tour are pencilled in for 2010.

The biggest star — a 10-metre-long, 6½-tonne bus that gives the show its title — barely made the first few performances, and has resulted in the production requiring huge theatres.

Costume storage is also an issue, with more than 500 garments used. Lizzie Gardiner and Tim Chappel won an Academy Award for their costumes in the 1994 movie and returned to create more durable outfits for the stage.

Priscilla was pushed out of Sydney because of a scheduling conflict with the travelling season of Miss Saigon, and is being kicked out of the Regent in April to make way for Wicked.

Michael Griffiths has starred in the show since it opened in Sydney in October 2006. "It's amazing. It doesn't feel like it's been that long," he said.