A diva's view on Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the Musical

Clink Theatre

Bec Waters

Feature Writer

Last updated:
Priscilla the Musical launched their opening night on March 31 to a packed house in the Clink theatre. Image: supplied.

What Global Pandemic? When The Show Must Go On.

Imagine the scene – the stage is set, the curtains are drawn and the audience buzz becomes an anticipatory hush. The glitter is barely contained as the overture swells to life.

Suddenly the lights go up heralding the opening number of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert the Musical.

Ticket sales have broken all previous records for this little theatre. Image: supplied.

It may not be raining much this wet season but at the local Port Douglas theatre, known affectionately as “The Clink” it is indeed raining men!

As one of the three Priscilla Divas, I stand suspended above the stage and summon my inner Gloria Gaynor.

Throughout the show alongside my fellow Divas – Jennifer Kerr and Angela Whittaker – we belt out disco classics from I Will Survive to I Love the Nightlife.

Sprinkled in between are many other beloved tunes including True Colours, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Go West, to name a few.

Below us, the stage fills with all the weird and wonderful characters that accompany this epic journey.

Captaining this motley crew are the three male leads played by Ben Hardie (Tick/Mitzi), Shaun Cram (Bernadette) and Port Douglas newcomer Kamaron Arthur as Adam/Felicia.

Our three leads are joined by an incredibly talented ensemble cast as their journey plays out from a down-at-heel city drag show venue to the majesty of the Australian outback.

But The Show Nearly Didn’t Go On

Launching a show of this magnitude in a regional theatre was always going to be a huge challenge. Launching it in the middle of a global pandemic? Well, that was nearly the undoing of 6 months of sweat, dedication, broken heels and eyelash glue.

President of the Douglas Theatre Arts Group and Director Michael Kerr said: “Priscilla has been a production that I knew I wanted to do from the first time I saw it many years ago.

“It is a great story with amazing music and costumes that would make any seamstress run for the hills."

“I always knew it would be a challenge with the size of the show but adding Covid into the mix definitely gave me a few more stress wrinkles.

“A lot of things we were ordering were taking weeks to arrive, putting set construction behind and then having most of the cast out of action for the last two weeks before opening night really topped the cake.

“But the show must go on as they say and that the cast did in full fabulousness,” Mr Kerr advised.

Cast and Crew Become Family

Despite the many hurdles and last-minute frustrations, this incredible team of cast and crew forged ahead and were able to launch our opening night as scheduled and to a packed house

Bonds have been forged that will last well beyond the final bows at our closing show on April 17th.

Lead actor Ben Hardie said: “This is my first production with the Douglas theatre arts group and what an amazing experience it has been.

“The role of Tick has been such an emotional role to play and I've loved every moment. I have also made friends for life with the cast, as we have become one big family.”

Many of the cast are experienced thespians, vocalists and/or dancers but many are treading the boards for their first (but surely not their last) time.

On a very personal note, I have had the incomparable joy of sharing this wild ride with my daughter, Lily Freeman, who has ventured onto the stage for her very first production as part of the ensemble cast whilst also playing the roles of Young Bernadette and Jules.

Packed Houses reward all involved

The reward for all this hard work has been the joy of playing to sold-out crowds night after night, every one of them accompanied by a well-deserved standing ovation.

Ticket sales have broken all previous records for this little theatre - despite it already having a pedigree worthy of a much larger venue.

With nine shows remaining at the time of writing and over 95% of tickets already sold it is now a case of RUN, do not walk to book yours.

A magical night of epic local talent awaits you and this Diva will be waving loftily to you from my perch above the maddening crowd, loving every sequin-filled moment.

You can score the last remaining tickets for Priscilla here.

Launching it in the middle of a global pandemic has been a huge challenge. Image: supplied

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