- Year
- 2022
- When
- April 2022
- Venue
- Dormston Mill Theatre, Sedgley
- Type
- Musical
- Book
- Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott
- Orchestrations
- Stephen 'SPUD' Murphy (musical arrangements and orchestrations)
- Photographs
- 232 in the gallery
Synopsis
Anthony 'Tick' Belrose, who performs in drag as Mitzi Mitosis, is asked a favour by his estranged wife Marion: an act for a few weeks at her business in distant Alice Springs, where their eight year old son Benji wants to meet his father. Tick recruits Bernadette, a transgender woman whose husband has just died, and Adam Whitely, who performs as Felicia. The trio buy a campervan they nickname Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and cross the outback, meeting hostility in Broken Hill and then Bob, a mechanic who helps them. Bernadette and Bob grow close, and in Alice Springs Tick finally meets Benji, who accepts him.
From the company’s records
Ran 26 April 2022 to 30 April 2022.
Tickets first went on sale from 1 August 2020.
This was the company's first production after the pandemic, staged after both Oklahoma! in 2020 and Shrek in 2021 were cancelled.
Auditions were held in the autumn of 2021 at St Andrews Church in Bentley, with Alf Rai directing, Rob Murray as musical director and Lindsey Grant choreographing.
A surviving working document plots Tick's costume changes from the opening of It's Raining Men to the finale, grading each as a quick change, a pacey change or a very quick change and assigning it to stage left, stage right or the dressing room.
The plot runs to some fifteen looks, among them a puppet dress worn under a gold robe, a flip flop outfit with headpiece and mask, a cheerleader outfit, a sunflower swimsuit with flippers, a gladiator costume with feathered backpack, and two finale costumes, the second made by taking parts off the first.
Who made it
Production team
- Producer / Director
- Alf Rai
- Choreographer
- Lindsey Vickers
- Musical Director
- Rob Murray
- Lighting Director
- Alec Corbett
- Sound Engineer
- Black Country Audio
- Costumes
- Triple C Costume Hire
- Scenery
- UK Productions
- Props
- Nikki Rai
- Stage Manager
- Lisa Bird
- Dance Captain
- Abbie Sellick
- Musical Assistant
- Kelly Ashman
- Programme Design
- Daniel Haddon
- Front of House Manager
- Colin Hunt
- Photography
- Chris Wolverson
- Photography
- Dom Napier
- Photography
- Daniel Haddon
- Band: Musical Director / Keys 1
- Rob Murray
- Band: Keys 2
- Alex Priestley
- Band: Flute / Clarinet / Saxophone
- Liz Oughton
- Band: Flute / Clarinet / Saxophone
- Beccy Bernamont
- Band: Trumpet / Flugel Horn
- Craig Stevens
- Band: Trombone
- Becca Pope
- Band: Guitar
- Mike Holt
- Band: Bass Guitar
- Sunim Koria
- Band: Drums
- Dave Shipley
- Band: Percussion
- Tom Peverelle
Cast
- Tick
- Daniel Haddon
- Bernadette
- Dom Napier
- Felicia
- Will Phipps
- Diva
- Lindsey Vickers
- Diva
- Kelly Ashman
- Diva
- Abbie Wild
- Bob
- James Collins
- Miss Understanding & Young Bernadette
- James Totney
- Marion
- Rachel Chadwick
- Cynthia
- Abbie Sellick
- Farrah
- Jay Picken
- Shirley
- Nikki Rai
- Jimmy
- Cal Callaghan
Everybody else
The rest of the names the company’s records carry for this production, on stage and off it.
Chorus and company13
Charlotte Roberts, Simon Williams, Beth Williams, Jessica Goodwin, Alex Jeffreys, Charlotte Goode, Aimee Holder, Kilby Ward, Ruby Addinell, Jim Steventon, Ben Perry, Kimberley Smith, Jenni Rullán
The running order
Every number, in the order the programme printed them.
Act one
It's Raining Men
Divas
What's Love Got To Do With It
Miss Understanding
I Say A Little Prayer
Tick
Don't Leave Me This Way
Chorus
Venus
Felicia
Go West
Chorus
I Love The Nightlife
Chorus
True Colors
Bernadette, Felicia, Tick
Color My World
Bernadette, Felicia, Tick, Chorus
I Will Survive
Divas
Act two
Thank God I'm a Country Boy
Chorus
A Fine Romance
Diva & Young Bernadette
Shake Your Groove Thing
Bernadette, Felicia, Tick, Divas
Pop Muzik
Cynthia
A Fine Romance (Reprise)
Bob
Girls Just Want To Have Fun
Felicia, Divas
Hot Stuff
Felicia
MacArthur Park
Tick, Divas
Boogie Wonderland
Chorus, Tick, Marion
Always On My Mind
Tick, Benji
Kylie Medley
Felicia
We Belong
Tick, Bernadette, Felicia
Finale
Chorus
What the reviewers wrote
Short extracts only. The full notices remain the work of the writers and the papers that published them.
“This was a show that certainly had the wow factor sustained from start to finish. This glittering production jettisoned joy across the auditorium.”
“The audience were on their feet for a standing ovation, for this show effectively lifted our souls, raised smiles, and sent people home happy.”
A4 poster, 2022
The company’s own artwork for Priscilla Queen of the Desert, as it was printed. The archive holds printed artwork for the seasons from 2018 onwards and none at all before that.
Were you in it?
We would like to know more about Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
The record for this production is thinner than the show deserves. If you were in it, or you were in the audience, you may have something the archive does not.
Programmes, photographs, cuttings from the local paper, a cast list in somebody’s handwriting: all of it helps, and we will add it here.
Tell us about Priscilla Queen of the DesertSay “Priscilla Queen of the Desert, 2022” in your message and it will reach whoever looks after the archive.