Priscilla Queen of the Desert, UK tour, The Mayflower, Southampton, June 2013

Anyone who has read this blog before will know that firstly I love musicals, secondly I really love Priscilla Queen of the Desert and felt there should be national day of mourning when it closed in the West End of London. 

Imagine my delight then when it was announced that Priscilla was on the move and coming to Southampton Mayflower.

Now I saw it at the beginning of June and have been a bit snowed under with exams, holiday prep and just work in general so I  have been unable to write about the tour, but thought with a free evening I would put pen to paper, so to speak.

The basic story from the West End and Australian show is the same, three drag queens travelling across the desert from Sydney to Alice Springs to perform at a Casino.

There is still the fascination with Kylie Minogue, the American one it has been changed to Madonna. Most of the songs are the same except the opening song of 'Downtown' has been changed to 'It's Raining Men' which works really, really well. They have also added 'True colours' which is in the US version.

Obviously stage-wise there are restrictions, especially when it comes to the bus. Priscilla is reduced to a bottom bit with screens near the top, however, it still works, you can imagine the bus is there and also it means that it is less likely to break down, as it sometimes did in London.

Noel Sullivan, of Hear'Say fame, was Tick on the week I went and was really good. He has amazing vocal ability and really camped up the character as I think sometimes people try to play Tick a bit safe as Adam is the overly camp one. It does seem though I am never going to see Jason Donovan in the role, as I have seen Ben Richards and Richard Grieve but never Jason.

Graham Weaver played Adam and although I love the original Adam - Olivier Thornton, Graham did a really good job.

Bernadette this time was played by Richard Grieve who I had previously seen as Tick and to be honest I think his Bernadette was amazing. I think he really suited the role better than the role of Tick. He was brilliant and really was a good looking woman...

There is so much colour and glamour when you see Priscilla that you just want to dance all the way home. I hope they keep touring as I never get tired of this musical, well I have seen it four times. If you want to see it, go to the tour!