PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT:THE MUSICAL...Finally!

Today, as I'm sure everyone knows by now, has been rather crappy! I hope the best for the people of Japan. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Okay, moving on to some happier news... last Friday I went to see the horrible, HORRIBLE, HOR-RI-BLE, musical Spider-Man:Turn Off The Dark! A night I'd like to forget ever happened! Tonight I went to the theater again and "FINALLY" saw a musical that I can honestly say was 1000x better than that musical which I dare not speak its name again! Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical playing at the Palace theater on Broadway was not only a feast for the ears and eyes, but it actually had a plot that one could follow! Now if you are a fan of the Stephen Elliot cult film, "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" - a film that I often find myself quoting lines from ("A cock in a frock on a rock") - then you will be in for a big treat! Even though some of the jokes from the film are in the musical, it's still a riot!

If you have never seen the film, than you will still be in for a treat because it will be all new to you! The only difference is while the film contained tons of ABBA tunes - this show has replaced those songs with tons of songs from the Madonna catalogue and the Donna Summer catalogue. And yes, I did find myself singing along with the cast. But the main character from both the film and Broadway show still remains the bus named "Priscilla." The three leads - Mitzi aka Tick, Bernadette (formally Ralph), and Felicia aka Adam - use Priscilla to transport them across the Australian Outback from Sydney to the center of Australia to fulfill a performance obligation that Mitzi has booked for them. Along the way they get into some adventures and learn a lot about each other.

If you long for the ABBA tunes, then go see "Mamma Mia!" a few blocks uptown at the Winter Garden Theater. But if you are comfortable with men in drag, then this is the show for you! I personally liked this show very much. Not just because some of HOTTEST men on Broadway can be found here. The women and gays (like moi) had a eyeful of go-go boys at times. That aside, I really liked the story. The costumes and sets are FANTASTIC and some are reminiscent of the film! Even though the film introduced American audiences to Guy Pearce (Felicia) and Hugo Weaving (Mitzi) I believe some stars in this show will have big careers also! Will Swenson as Mitzi, Nick Adams as Felicia, C. David Johnson as Bob and Tony Sheldon as Bernadette (in the film played by the iconic Terence Stamp) were all great performers!

Now if you prefer to see more of the fairer sex on stage - then you are also in luck. Three FANTASTIC singers know as "The Divas" (Jacqueline B. Arnold, Anastacia McCleskey, and Ashley Spencer) keep the party HOT! The woman who stole the show was the very beautiful, J. Elaine Marcos as Cynthia, the mail-order bride of Bob. All I can say is I will never look at a ping-pong ball the same ever again! She was HYSTERICALLY FUNNY!

As I write this review I have playing on DVD, you guessed it, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. A film that if you haven't already seen, then you owe it to yourself to give it a look. And if you are in NYC visiting (or if you live here) and you want a fun show to see, then "Shake Your Groove Thing" down to the Palace Theater and you won't be sorry you did! And if you lucky, you may go home with a $750 gift certificate for Manolo Blahnik shoes as one very confused man did tonight!

FYI, I got my balcony ticket at TKTS at the Metrotech Center - I refuse to wait on that line in Times Square. This ticket office NEVER has a line and all the same shows are there that are at the ticket office in Times Square. If you don't feel like waiting at the TKTS booth in TS then take the A or F train to Jay Street/Borough Hall (the last car leads you to the stairway that TKTS is located).