Priscilla the Party. Book by Stephan Elliott & Alan Scott & based on the musical and the film. Outernet, Charing Cross Road, London WC2 to 30 September 2024.

4✩✩✩✩ Review: William Russell.

“Flogging a dead horse and having a ball at the same time.”

This party version of Priscilla Queen of the Desert directed by Simon Phillips is a classic example of how to flog a dead horse while also providing a good time for those who like this sort of event. Drenched in feathers and glitz a hard working cast does it best but the Party version manages to destroy what made the Oscar winning film and the Tony award winning musical about three drag queens driving a bus – which they called Priscilla – all the way to Alice Springs both funny and touching. That isn’t to say that the party goers who piled into Outernet, a basement or two deep below the Tottenham Court Road end of Charing Cross Road, did not have a whale of a time on press night. It was originally a juke box musical as it was a juke box film and the familiar, much loved songs are well enough sung in the manner of vocalisation that passes for singing in most musical theatre these days. The Party started life in Australia some twenty years ago and has toured all over the world since so it has to be getting something right. Party goers are welcomed by drag queen Gay Cliche played by Trevor Ashley in a manner which makes being over the top look like being a shrinking violet who then goes on to compere events . He/she is apparently big in Australia and is undeniably huge here but could do with a slightly better line of patter as the jokes tailored for London are not that new. However what matters are the songs – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Say A Little Prayer, Shake Your Groove Thing and I will Survive among them – and the drag. Party goers stand and watch or there are seats at either side of the venue for the older among them to rest on and there is a bar to provide liquid sustenance. Nobody need die of thirst. The view of the stage is good, the seats comfortable, and the ticket prices – if you want to dine before hand or just party – make it one of the best bargains in the West End. But compared to film and show Priscilla the Party is on a par with Stephen Elliot’s subsequent film Welcome to Woop Woop in which he attempted to repeat the trick. It ranks among the worst ever Australian films. Costume designers, the video designers, the stage hands and that ensemble forever changing their clothes, not to mention the dressers helping them, and the pleasant hosts who welcome one to the Party all deserve credit but if there ever was a show that made me wish I had stayed home watching Vera this is it. While the horse may be dead the flogging is spectacular.

Cast

Trevor Ashley – Gaye Cliche.

Reece Kerridge – Adam/Felicia.

Dakota Star – Bernadette.

Oawain Williams – Tick/Mitzi.

Steve Serlin – Bob, the Mechanic.

Grace Galloway, Gracie Lau & Sara Louise – The Divas.

Kimberley Blake – Marion.

Ensemble – William Elijah Lewis, Matthew Tacchino, Brandon Dale, Dan Holland, John McGllone, Maria Myatt, Lucy Park, Isidoro Ridout, Samuel Stokes.

Creatives

Director – Simon Phillips.

Set & Video Designers – Brian Thomson & Justin Nardella.

Costume Designers – Tim Chappel & Lizzy Gardiner.

Choreograohger – Andrew Hallsworth.

Musical Arrangements & Orchestrations – Stephen ‘Spud’ Murphy.

Musical Direction – Steve Geere.

Lighting Designer – Per Hording.