Sunday Arts Magazine

1 Mar 2021

Scott Hili talks to David and Neil about Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Performing Arts

We Survived! Don’t miss the Bus!

When COVID-19 shut our production down in its tracks in early March 2020, we didn’t let this preverbal flat tyre from keep us from doing what we love. We kept rehearsing via digital technologies and continued to work tirelessly during lock down to finish over 200 spectacular costumes, and styling the 100 wigs that will now get to grace the stage April 2021 as part of Midsumma Festival, in this flirty fun and fabulous Victorian Amateur Premiere of Priscilla Queen of the Desert – The Musical.

In 1994 an independent Aussie film about two drag queens and a transsexual woman on a fabulous road trip travelling across the desert from Sydney to the Alice became an unlikely worldwide box-office – and Oscar-winning – hit. In 2006 the stage production premiered at the Lyric theatre in Sydney and has made its way to London’s West End, Broadway now to Pakenham in 2021.  With fun, friendship and discovery along the way, Priscilla addresses homophobia and transphobia in the wider Australian community in the late 1990’s and the overall need for equality and acceptance in society.

CPAC Musical Theatre are celebrating 20 years of producing Music Theatre for the community and Priscilla Queen of the Desert makes the first Show of our 20^th year celebration. We survived a pandemic, held our head up high, and have come out stronger than ever, despite this road bump.

Under creative Director Scott Hili (Billy Elliot – The Musical, Twinky and the Bear (Midsumma), The Three MusketQueers (Midsumma) has put a lot of love and camp into getting the bus back on the road post COVID.

“In an age of the glossy, beautiful drag is popularised on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Stephen Elliot’s Priscilla still stands apart as a home grown Australian Musical and the Australian Drag scene of the 1990’s. With our non-replica original production of this typical fish-out-of-water tale we continue to address LGBTQIAP+ concerns in Australian society using the arts to educate on these values.” States Mr Hili. “I cannot recommend Priscilla Queen of the Desert at CPAC highly enough. It will be talked about for years.”

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