Billy Elliot London

One show to see in 2010 is going to have to be Billy Elliot London
I think it's going to be a year when some of these issues about individual aspiration, about community solidarity, the clash of loyalties between ideals and obligations, family and class, wil all be back on the agenda. Besides, Billy Elliot London is a great musical which has stood the test of time already, and even become a big hit over the Atlantic in New York of all places.

Priscilla? Queen? Desert?

Priscilla? Queen? Desert?: "

Ever wondered how Priscilla Queen of the Desert – the Musical came into being?

The show is based on the 1994 film, starring Terence Stamp, which was written and directed by Stephan Elliot. The film attacked the mythology of the heterosexual outback male, the ‘good ‘ocher’, like Crocodile Dundee. It showed these straight, white, Australian men to be heavy drinkers suspicious of anything they don’t understand, violent, rude and vulgar. Their definitions of masculinity constrained and rigid. In the film the desert landscape provides an amazing, extremely natural backdrop to the artificiality of the drag queens. One of the most powerful moments of the film shows the main characters, in full drag, climbing up King’s Canyon.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert – The Musical brings the same basic story to the West End stage. But what happens to it without backdrop of the Australian desert and does it matter in the end?

Priscilla?

The Priscilla of the title isn’t a cast member as such but she is definitely becomes a character in the show. She is in fact a purpose-built VW bus. But this is a VW like no other you’ve ever seen before!

priscilla queen desert

5 little known facts about the amazing bus at the heart of the story.

Not just any old VW bus Priscilla forms an integral part of the stage set for the show.

Priscilla is a highly technical piece of set design with an onboard computer and she cost over $1 million Australian dollars to build.

1. She is 8 meters long and weighs almost 6 tons and she sits on a ring revolve


2. She has a fully retractable side wall panel


3. She has 3 internal hydraulic lifts


4. She can shake


5. Like any great disco setting she changes colour, thanks to 100s of LED lights in her panelling.

Like many VW busses Priscilla can be temperamental and her computer gave the show’s producers a few headaches during pre-views. By the way, did you spot the divas up above the bus? Read on to discover more about their role in the story…

Queen?

Although we all know that the bus is supposed to be the queen of the show she’s got some serious competition from the other stars of the show. Jason Donovan plays Tick who’s alter ego is drag queen Mitzi Del Bra. Tick agrees to travel to Alice Springs, in the heart of the Australian outback to do a show and invites outrageous fellow drag queen Adam, Felicia (Oliver Thornton) and recently bereaved, transsexual Bernadette (Tony Sheldon) to join him. They travel in a beat up, old VW bus which Adam christens Priscilla. Along the way they collect Bob, the mechanic, meet a variety of Australian characters (mostly in bars, see above!) and eventually reach Alice Springs where Tick is reconciled with his 8-year-old son Benjamin. Some find love, others understanding and all emerge stronger and better able to cope. It’s hard to say who is ‘queen’ of the London production but Tony Sheldon’s performance as Bernadette takes some beating.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Then there are those queens of disco, the Divas.The Divas are 3 first class singers who have been added to the stage show to get over the problem of miming. At several points in the show the three drag artistes mime as part of their stage shows, just like real drag acts would. To avoid the danger of the audience feeling the show was anything other than 100% live the idea of the 3 divas, described by Stephan Elliott the film’s writer/director, as ‘desert drag goddesses’, was born. The 3 divas sing and their songs are lip-synched simultaneously by the leads. The divas have to have amazingly strong disco voices that will stand up to the power of songs like I Will Survive and Downtown.

Not only that they have to deliver these show-stopping songs whilst while suspended high above the stage, supported by harnesses that run right across their abdominal muscles. It is quite incredible that they are able to belt out these powerful anthems in such a precarious position! Being suspended causes another problem for the divas. Any wild movements and the whole set will start to swing. All their actions while they are up there have to be concentrated on their arms from the elbow to the fingertips. The divas in London are currently played by Zoe Birkett, Kate Gillespie and Emma Lindars.

Desert?

Priscilla Queen desert

The staging of the show is supposed to evoke the Australian desert. This is mostly done with atmospheric lighting but it can’t really compete with the reality of the film. And why should it? This is a stage musical after all and we are there more for the music and the spectacle than any deep meaningful insights. The desert and the feeling of heat was such a big part of the original film because the outback has special cultural significance to Australians. This is perhaps less true for a UK audience and anyway we’re far to busy bopping along to some disco classics to worry too much about anything deep and meaningful! Bring on the dancing cup cakes I say .

So there you have it, Priscilla, queen, desert, at the end of the day what matters most seems to be the celebration of the human spirit, love, energy and excitement of disco rather than anything too deep.

a

Related posts:

1. Priscilla Queen of the Desert – The Musical – London 2009
2. Priscilla Queen of the Desert
3. Priscilla Queen of the Desert Theatre Breaks

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Breaks in London

Just a heads up that there's a new post over on the Theatre breaks in London blog

Breaks in London

Not necessarily theatre breaks but any information about planning breaks in London could come in handy for the theatre breaks as well.

Oliver theatre breaks

I was thinking that Oliver Theatre breaks for the New Year would make a not shabby at all present for Jenny and the girls. Why not?

Oliver! theatre breaks

Griff Rhys Jones takes over from Omid Djalili as Fagin from Dec 14th 2009.

Kerry Ellis (Wicked, We Will Rock You) is lined up to take over from Jodie Prenger as Nancy in the current West End production of Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

Love Never Dies - planning their First Night

Over on the Love Never Dies blog they're talking about planning the First Night with all the theatrical complications involved:

Despite the Opening Night of Love Never Dies being over four months away, planning is already well underway for what should be one of the biggest nights in the West End next year.

Microsoft Excel whimpers under the weight of the exclusive First Night list. Filling a 1400 seat auditorium with invited guests, allocating seats and distributing tickets and keeping the right people happy is a logistical nightmare – one which we won’t wake up from for many weeks to come! From the First Night list to the First Night party – everything needs to be perfect.  It is one of our jobs to organise the logistical and technical aspects of the evening, ensuring that the chilled champagne is flowing, the food is arriving out of the kitchens hot and everyone is having a great evening.

Meanwhile, final preparations are being made for the start of rehearsals in January, rehearsal rooms are being kitted out, actors are being measured for costumes, sets are being constructed, lighting and sound equipment lists are being finalised and the marketing team are preparing for the next wave of advertising and promotional events.  The production office is busy interviewing and appointing staff for the various backstage departments – stage management, wardrobe, wigs, sound, automation, stage crew, lighting and follow spots.

Everything is on course for our first preview on February 20^th…

Keep checking the website for further updates.

via loveneverdies.com

I'm not so interested to hear about the first night party but it's good to hear that the February first preview date is still on course. Somehow this pointless little blog post does serve to make it all seem a bit more realistic.

Love Never Dies Theatre Breaks

reBlog from wizardofozlondon.co.uk: The Wizard of Oz is coming to London

Image via Wikipedia

I found this fascinating quote today:

Yes, The Wizard of Oz is coming to London and the person to play part of Dorothy will be chosen by another reality TV style competition with Andrew Lloyd Webber and the TV audience making the final decision.wizardofozlondon.co.uk, The Wizard of Oz is coming to London, Nov 2009

You should read the whole article.

Theatre Breaks Wiki

Seemed like a good idea to link to the Theatre Breaks Wiki which is a growing reosurce for all kinds of information and interesting articles about theatre breaks in London, keeping the shows and theatres up to date.

Newest pages are for

Hair

Legally Blonde

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

and there's a list of all the top London musicals and plays of course.

Theatre breaks are short holidays in London which combine best seat theatre tickets with a central hotel stay, usually three or fours star. It's a great way to see one of the big shows because you don't have to worry about traveling home afterwards, and everything is all paid for in one go - with discount rail fares from anywhere in the UK, and extras such as the London Eye flight or river trip on the Thames.

The Theatre Breaks Wiki here is used to maintain up to date information about the shows available for London theatre breaks, the Hotels and anything else that can help to build the best time in London's West End theatreland.

 

Posted via web from London Theatre Breaks