An evening of glitter

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Opera House, Manchester, to Saturday

ON the surface, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is yet another flamboyant musical designed to glitter the night away in a haze of Eighties pop, almost panto-worthy costumes and an innuendo-laden script designed to convince you that drag queens have all the fun.

But there’s a little more heart to the show that that. Admittedly not much, but some.

There’s “Felicia”, really Adam — Adam Bailey — a young performer whose pampered upbringing has led him to take actions regardless of consequences.

Then there is Bernadette (Simon Green), who was once young and beautful and the star of big Sydney drag shows (the musical is set in Australia), but is now ageing and lonely.

And finally there is Tick — played by Duncan James, formerly of boy band Blue — who is desperate to see his six-year-old son, but ashamed the boy won’t understand his job, his lifestyle and that he was a mistake of his short-lived marriage to the boy’s mother.

But family feeling prevails and the three brightly-dressed and even more brightly characterised queens of the desert set off from Sydney to Alice Springs, where the boy lives. And since they don’t have much money, they buy an old bus — Priscilla — and drive there, having “adventures” along the way.

This sentimental soul of the show is layered over with beatings in redneck bars, breakdowns (the bus, not emotions) in inhospitable places and the gradual acceptance of their lot: Bernadette finds some tentative happiness with a mechanic who doesn’t even appear to be gay; Adam learns a few things about consideration and Tick gets to meet, and be admired by, his bright-as-a-button offspring.

The whole thing is, of course, packed with great pop tunes, from Go West to A Say a Little Prayer for You, True Colours to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and many more, all choreographed, costumed and carried off with as much colour and lip gloss as is humanly possible.

This opening night of the tour seemed a little subdued at times, but in almost every respect the three leads and hard-working supporting cast had fun, and so did we.