Review: Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at the Hall for Cornwall

THE stage musical adaptation of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert being staged at the Hall for Cornwall is a dazzling, disco-fuelled celebration of LGBTQ+ culture.

The glittering flamboyant feel-good musical comedy brought together spectacular over-the-top outfits and campy, high-energy dance numbers with surprisingly touching themes of family, prejudice, and self-acceptance.

Based on the 1994 cult classic film, the story follows two drag queens—Tick (Mitzi) and Adam (Felicia)— and Bernadette, a transgender woman, as they travel across the Australian outback in a battered pink bus named Priscilla.

They take their cabaret act on an emotional road trip from Sydney to a casino in Alice Springs, but the journey becomes a profound path of self-discovery and found family, confronting themes of transphobia, homophobia, and the challenges of parenthood along the way.

Strictly’s Kevin Clifton as Tick, Adèle Anderson as Bernadette and Nick Hayes as Felicia/Adam brought a natural chemistry to the performance and the trio could certainly belt out a song. It was also great to see former Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan on stage playing the part of Bob.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is set to an infectious disco soundtrack, which had the audience clapping and singing along to well-known songs such as It's Raining Men, I Will Survive, Hot Stuff and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

The unprintable camp humour throughout brought hoots of laughter from the audience as the overly-theatrical drag queens clashed with the rugged, conservative culture of the Australian Outback. The frantic pace of the performance was almost matched by the rapid costume and wig changes, which were impressive.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which is being performed at the Hall for Cornwall until July 18, is a joyful, hilarious, and unapologetically camp musical that certainly delivers pure theatrical escapism.