The New York Post's Michael Riedel reports that the hit Australian musical adaptation of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert may trail feathers to Broadway or the West End.
Citing the high commercial possibilities of the show, Riedel writes: "Australian producers have begun laying the groundwork for London and Broadway. With 23 tons of scenery, 514 costumes and enough glitter to entomb Liberace, a Broadway production could cost as much as $15 million, industry sources estimate."
Last fall, the musical version of "Priscilla" - directed by Simon Phillips - opened in a $6.5 million production in Sydney. The musical is based on Stephen Elliott's 1994 film--in which two drag queens and a transsexual man hop aboard the bus of the title perform a cabaret show in the middle of the Australian outback. Priscilla Queen of the Desert starred Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce, and featured such 70s disco classics as "I Will Survive" and "Dancing Queen" - some of which can also be heard in the stage musical.
"Priscilla" features a book co-written by Elliott and Allan Scott; Riedel mentions that rewrites for an upcoming Broadway or London version are likely, as the musical's book "assumes the audience knows the movie extremely well" in its current form. As the film is more familiar to Australian audiences than to Americans, the Post scribe suggests that Douglas Carter Beane (Xanadu) or Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles book) retool the musical before it moves to other shores.
