These girls just want to have fun
Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, is a jukebox musical based on the 1994 film, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Telling the story of three performers – Adam, Tick and Bernadette, booked to perform a show in the depths of the Australian Outback. Across 29 effervescent musical numbers, they experience ups and downs of travelling in their van Priscilla, with some memorable encounters along the way.
We begin with meeting our three Divas (Rosie Sugrue, Felicity Thomas, Emily-Jane Lister), whose striking vocal talents follow our journey, and then into our story proper.
Tick, aka Mitzi Mitosis (Greg McCafferty-Thomson) is full of apprehension about meeting his 6yr old son Benji for the first time. Adam aka Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Dean McAvoy) is our bogan bitchy queen, full of snark. Finally, Bernadette Bassenger (Graeme Melvin) is our Grand Dame of the boards, recently widowed and later reunited with an old admirer, Bob (Russell Coid), who rescues our heroines in their hour of need.
The chemistry between the leads is a gloriously natural one, full of bickering charm and an underlying love for each other, together with their vocal talents and accent work. Greg McCafferty-Thomson’s tenor was a particular joy, but all three performed with aplomb.
As for the rest of the cast, Tick’s young son Benji (a scene-stealing Finn Craig) was a huge hit with the audience, and a very impressive accent to go with his acting skills. I also particularly enjoyed the brief but memorable cameos of the mulleted Shirley (Bethany Dunion) and ballsy Cynthia (Kirsten Simpson) in Act 2. However, the entire ensemble performed as dynamic unit, in perpetual motion throughout.
Space doesn’t permit me to name check all the performers – but the informative programme, complete with personal notes from the cast, is highly recommended, mirroring the love that has gone into this performance.
The tone is well-pitched throughout – whenever it feels like it might veer too far into pantomime, we’re back with some heartstring pulling moments. I literally drew a little heart in my programme when Bob had his moment in the spotlight, and snickered with delight at some of the more poisonous barbed comments.
Out of the musical numbers, it’s so hard to pick a favourite. The poignant tenderness pivoting to the sheer silliness of Macarthur Park rates highly, but nothing beats the dramatic Casino montage medley for drama, and delighting the crowd.
Directed by Malcy J Burnett, with musical director Finlay Turnbull, and choreographer Fiona Burns, this production is full of talent. Particular mention needs to go to Kate Dixon and the wardrobe team, with imaginative costuming and lighting fast cast changes, including make-up.
The attention given by the technical crew to the set and the movable feast of Priscilla herself, was also impressive, and particularly shown off to its best in combination with the curtain-led choreography in the Casino montage scene. Similarly, the musical accompaniment courtesy of the musicians in the pit was note-perfect throughout.
This may have been a first-night issue (and sound can be challenging in this venue) but there were a few occasions where the spoken dialogue wasn’t always clear, although the sung vocals made up for this. The waltzing spotlights in the first number were fiercely blinding if you were in their arcing pattern, but luckily this was only prevalent in this song.
With such an accomplished display, it hard to reconcile the fact that this an amateur production. The Bohemian Lyric Opera Company aka “The Bohemians” is one of Edinburgh’s major amateur musical companies, dating back to 1909. This musical would pose a challenge for even the most professional of companies, so to see it tackled here with such gusto and prowess is a testament to all their hard work.
Grab your darls, grab your glitterballs and most importantly, grab your tickets for this sequinned delight.
Bohemians: Priscilla Queen of the Desert – The Musical runs at Festival Theatre, Edinburgh from 12-15th March 2025.