I went to see Priscilla- Queen of the Desert, on tour at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth. I thoroughly enjoyed this production, as I thought the whole thing was very well put together, and had me laughing from beginning to end, however it also had an important message about accepting everyone for who they are. The costumes for the show were designed by Charles Cusick Smith and Phil R Daniels, and really captured both the essence of drag and Australia.
The opening number of the show, Raining Men, has costumes that are primarily black, which then open to reveal gold and silver underneath. This reflects the shine of the water that relates to the song, as well as matching The Divas, who tell the story of the production through the songs. Furthermore, the hidden metallic costumes under the black outer layers to me portray the hidden drag community at the time, that was not yet commercial, but was fast growing.
From this, we are introduced to the three main Queens: Tick/Mitzi, Bernadette and Adam/Felicia. Tick appears first as Mitzi in very traditional, camp drag, showing he is a traditional drag artist, and has been on the scene for a while. Bernadette then appears in a classic, feminine blue dress, to show her femininity and calmness. Finally, Adam appears as Felicia in a hot cover of Venus, in a strong sequined blazer that is mainly red and pink in colour, which he then removes to reveal a tight black bodysuit that matches with the sheer mesh tops and leather straps worn by his backup dancers. This shows Adam as a newer queen, as his drag is more modern and daring, and has a dominatrix vibe, to show his more open sexuality and drag.
The musical then goes into the funeral of Bernadette’s husband. Everyone appears in black, however with a camp feel, keeping in theme with the show. In Go West however, the cast appears in brighter pink and blue colours, to show the excitement of travel and going to a new place. The colour scheme also matches the bus, Priscilla, the blue sky backdrop and the colours worn by the 3 principal characters in their costumes.
However, as the queens begin their travel across Australia, their drag becomes less and less camp, to show the difference they undergo, as well as the impact of their environment. In Broken Hill, when the queens arrive at the bar in their hugely bright and over-the-top garments, they stand out hugely from the dark and dingy costumes worn by the townspeople, to show the lack of drag/gay acceptance at the time especially away from big cities. Furthermore, in Colour My World, the costumes are also very over-the-top by the ensemble, to show that they will not be damaged by the lack of acceptance they have received. However the principal characters stay in their original garments, perhaps to show their initial hurt that they are not accepted. Some of the ensemble however, are dressed in dungarees similar to Adam’s, maybe to show that he is the pick-me-up of the group, and the most eager to be true to himself and ignore other people's opinions. He rallies the others into the Act 1 finale I Will Survive, showing that the queens will not be defeated, as they all appear in colourful, sparkly costumes.
Act 2 opens up in another outback town, however their costumes are much warmer and cleaner, to show they are more welcoming, and are less set in their ways than other places. This is where Bernadette meets her new love interest Bob, and A Fine Romance is performed as a flashback scene, which really harks back to traditional drag in the style and colour, to show it is in the past. The Queens also perform for the town, however their costumes are slightly more toned down than previously, as their show is stolen by Bob’s wife. However, their acceptance into society comes crashing down quickly when they move onto another town, and Adam is violently abused for his sexuality and looks. In Hot Stuff, Adam is open with his drag regardless of Bob’s warning, and appears in a short, sparkly red dress, to show his daring nature. The townspeople appear all black, with hats that conceal their faces, and long coats that make them appear extremely intimidating, which is complimented by the sinister green lighting to show the whole scene it scary and dangerous.
Finally, the queens make it to the casino where they will perform. This scene was one of the most cleverly done in the whole production, as multiple actors were used to portray each queen to allow for the seamless costume/number changes, however it was impossible to tell from the audiences perspective.
The show ends with We Belong, in which the queens appear in highly feathered costumes that are far more elegant than all of their previous costumes, and that also have a traditional Australian feel, to show their journey from the commercial drag scene where they came from to where they end up. The finale also harks back to the Australian setting with everyone appearing in red, white and blue as the colours of the Australian flag.
Overall, I think this show was very cleverly done from a costume perspective, as the costumes really helped to tell a story of each number as well as the production as a whole. One thing that I found particularly fascinating was the makeup changes, as these happened extremely quickly, and I still have no idea how they managed to get into full drag makeup with such speed. Furthermore, I thought the set and costumes really complimented each other, as the fairly simple set allowed the costumes and the bus to really shine through as the key storytellers. Therefore, I really enjoyed the show, and thought it was really interesting from a costume perspective given how important they were to the whole story, the vast number of costumes, and the speed of each change, as I didn’t believe a change that quick was even possible. This show therefore lived up to my expectations and more, and I would love to find out more about the costume changes specifically, and how this was carried out.
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