Giant water slides, over the top fireworks, or a night at the circus might all be reliable bets to cure the doldrums, but none of them holds a candle to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The 1994 cult classic movie finally got refitted into a musical in 2006 and is now blowing the doors off Lincoln Park’s Mercury Theater in a current revival.
It’s everything it’s billed to be, a heartwarming story about “friendship, love, family and drag”, but one of Priscilla’s most outsized appeals is the way it pushes drag to the forefront of that noble list. Through very clever writing, some wryly mischievous directing and a terrific cast, that emphasis on a subculture phenomenon only intensifies the power of the other three attributes.
Tick (Josh Houghton) is a guy who left his wife and child for another woman, Mitzi, his female persona. He’s been performing drag in Sydney long enough for some of the luster to fade. But since it’s an existence that lets him fully be who he is; the peace he finds in that freedom outweighs most regrets. It’s refreshing to see he and his wife Marion (Brittany Parker) aren’t adversaries. When they talk, they listen one another. A call from Marion letting him know he needs to initiate a level of physical presence with his son gets processed as a call to action.
That sober moment of truth stands in stark contrast to our initial introduction to Tick. Completely transformed as Mitzi, he hits us with showmanship and flamboyance by the megaton. A member of the revue at the Cock a Too Club, easily the most spectacular drag bar in Australia, Mitzi’s a vital and thriving part of the club’s lustfully nonconforming milieu. A night at the Cock a Too Club, with Mis Understanding (Darren Patin) as its intrepid, leather trussed MC, is a night of sonic ecstasy and scorching visuals. Bolstered by a trio of sensational singers known as The Divas, who belt out gems like “It’s Raining Men” and pop up frequently throughout the show; Priscilla Queen of the Desert finds lots of ways to deliver varying flavors of bliss. The way Bob Klum’s costumes flew creative to new heights is yet another of them.
It’s from this mix that Tick recruits, through surreptitious means, two friends to accompany him on a nearly 2000-mile trek from coastal Sydney to Alice Springs. Ostensibly, all Bernadette (Honey West) and Felicia (Shaun White) know is that Tick found a crazy gig in the boondocks and they’re just going to break up their routine and to support their friend; but not necessarily each other.
Long before they find Priscilla, the school bus they’ll convert into they’re traveling accommodations through the arid reaches of Australia, things between Bernadette and Felicia are far from harmonious. A generously siliconed drag queen of a certain age, Bernadette moves through the world with well-earned gravitas. The conventional world might not like her for who she is, but time has equipped her with the moxie to demand its begrudging respect. Emerging victorious from a lifetime of judgement, she’s now the picture of serenity. Felicia, young, feral and loaded with devastating one liners usually aimed at Bernadette, has few limits. Known as Adam to his mother, Felicia’s fierce belief in the power of self and boundless willfulness make him hopelessly disdainful of all things discrete.
Even in the real world, big road trips usually turn into unforgettable adventures. One with three drag queens in a pastel bus traversing through the outback promises reams of picturesque exploits and Priscilla delivers on every one of them. Mercury’s sparkling production also does much more. It shows how the essence of genuine friendship can reveal itself in both word and deed. When Felicia decides to waltz into a bar bulging with rednecks in full come hither drag, her bravado proved a poor match to the brutal vitriol of a mob. It took her friends, including the one she incessantly torments, to snatch her from an ugly fate. Here, the real world is rarely so kind. But at least this is a story that addresses the dangers of having no recourse but to live on the edge.
Priscilla highlighted other less chronicled life possibilities that actually do occur in the real world. Romance can ignite in the unlikeliest of places and between unexpected people. When Bernadette meets Bob (Michael Kingston), the Good Samaritan mechanic who rescues them when Priscilla breaks down, you don’t initially realize this is going to lead to something sweet. It does, but only after we’re treated to a stop at Bob’s bar where his current wife, Cynthia; magnificently played by the petite and remarkably pliable Ayana Strutz, does incredible things with ping pong balls. It’s also at the bar that our traveling showgirls and the Divas get another chance blow it up and bring the house down with ferocious renditions of “Hot Stuff” and “Shake Your Groove Thing”.
By the time Tick and his crew arrive in Alice Springs, there’s only one question left to be answered. How will Tick’s son Benji (Gabriel Solis) react to a dad who’s different from other fathers. The answer is as original and as thoughtful as the rest of this show that has celebration of friendship, love and family grafted so indelibly into its DNA.
Heather Beck, Lydia Burke and Jessica Seals (Divas), Josh Houghton (Tick/Mitzi), Darren Patin (Mis Understanding), Brittany Parker (Marion) Honey West (Bernadette), Shaun White (Adam/Felicia), Marcus Jackson (Jimmy/Frank/stud muffin)), Michael Kingston (Bob), Ayana Strutz (Cynthia) and Gabriel Solis (Benji) made a splendid cast. Seeing each of them on the stage again in new productions would be a delight. Theirs is the kind of artistry and talent that make theater a source of adventure, discovery and renewal.
Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Through September 11, 2022
Mercury Theater
3745 N. Southport Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613
