I look forward to the day when jukebox musicals have lost their grip on our stages, but if other people’s songs must be used to do the emotional lifting for a story, Priscilla the Party! has found the best method for it. That is: speed through your narrative to get your audience drunk, dancing and delighting in the glittering camp chaos of it all.
Gay Cliché (Trevor Ashley) is our loud-mouthed host for the night, slipping between recounting the legacy of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the 1994 Australian movie turned musical, and joining in as the cast skate over a bite-size version of the plot. At every overegged emotional revelation, a trite pop song is shoehorned in, with most of the musical’s original picks swapped for ever-so-slightly more modern choices, with vocals led by a dazzling trio of Divas (Grace Galloway, Gracie Lai and Sara Louise). The creative departments throw their weight behind every song, with each costume and dance sequence more extravagant than the last. But it’s hard to connect emotionally when homophobic vandalism absurdly leads into a teary-eyed rendition of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way.
