Priscilla the Musical

My blog about La Cage Aux Folles led me to buy the CD. While playing it I remembered that I had considered seeing Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - The Musical. I saw the film many years ago (1994) and one of the ladies I walk with told me rather sheepishly last year that her son is a dancer and a member of the cast. I do not know if my frequent asking how he is going has caused her to put two and two together yet. She is very proud of him and has travelled to Melbourne and Auckland to see the show.

It has returned to Sydney where it started and I thought may have finished but found it had 2 more weeks to run and this week there were specials of two for the price of one. I thought I would ask my sister to go to the Wednesday matinee but she had something else on and so we ended up at the Wednesday evening show. Not the best for me with a train home only every hour and Priscilla is on at the Casino quite a distance from the station. Fortunately my brother-in-law came to the rescue. He was going to meet my sister at her local station but decided to drive into the city and pick us up. The show ran overtime but a quick dash got me to the train with 5 minutes to spare, the next and last train of the night was 70 minutes later. As it was I arrived home at 1am, waaay past my usual bedtime.

We both enjoyed it although I was a little embarrassed, being with my sister, at the language. Her comment to her husband was: it was great music and costumes but very crude. I enjoyed the disco hits from the early 80's when I use to dance the night away.

It is opening in London next year, I am not sure how the comedy will translate, some changes were made for New Zealand. I think much of it would be unintelligible in the USA. For example as the bus travels west from Sydney to Alice Springs it passes through Top Ryde, Rooty Hill, Bumbaldry and Cockburn. These are real places. I worked at a school in Rooty Hill for 8 years which my mother found embarrassing.
I did like when one drag queen announced they were going to Alice Springs, the other said he had always wanted to sing on top of Ayers Rock. The reply was "Oh Great, just what the country needs, A cock in a frock on the rock"
I found a copy of the finale on Youtube. I thought the frilled neck lizards were amazing.



I hinted when discussing La Cage Aux Folles that I found drag shows embarrassing.
When growing up and trying to come to terms with my gay orientation I was very uncomfortable at any allusion that I might be a woman. The very first time I went to a Gay Rights meeting I was mortified when the MC kept referring to us as 'girls'. As a High School teacher I have always had to try and maintain a masculine persona. In my amateur stage activity I have been happy to be the cowboy, pirate, man about town.
From another angle, I have found the straight world is happy to see drag shows and laugh at female impersonators but have a very different attitude to a masculine guy 'coming out'. So La Cage and Priscilla were acceptable but not Brokeback Mountain.

Anyway I have managed to suppress these feelings and enjoy the shows.