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.
The story’s attention is on drag, but it curiously misses the opportunity to focus on the trans woman at its heart. With remarkably few stories told about trans women, it’s a shame that Bernadette (an amiable Dakota Starr) is never really given her moment to shine. A few moments of questionable choices jut through the rest of the story: Bob’s wife, Cynthia, is a shimmying stereotype and the use of a Native American headdress for a dance number feels highly unnecessary.
Once you glaze over the details and lean into the spectacle, it’s easy to see how this show will be a success. The drama in the second half is brighter, bolder, sillier. As they seem to be having more fun on stage, so do we. Stage management smoothly shepherds the boogying audience around moving blocks and make the dancefloor a wonderfully active part of the show.
With the heavily sanitised influence of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Priscilla the Party! is readymade for boozy hen-dos. It’s hardly risque – a synthetic outfit with an open-butt back has flesh-coloured fabric sewn on rather than letting anything hang out – but a few drinks in, it can’t help but be good fun. We stay dancing long after the cast have left the stage.
• At Here at Outernet, London, until 29 September.
