In an epic journey mirroring that of the source material, Free-Rain Theatre’s production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the musical will open at The Q in Queanbeyan later this month some 10 months later than originally scheduled.
Last year as the whole team travelled toward their opening night of 27 July, the cast and crew had prepared themselves emotionally amid COVID outbreaks engulfing the country.
It was unfortunately a familiar story for Free-Rain; the company had to postpone their long-awaited production of Mamma Mia for a year due to COVID .
With a few roles having been recast due to unavoidable scheduling conflicts, there is a sense of relief and excitement as opening night on 28 April nears.
Garrett Kelly, who plays Adam/Felicia, is the sole remaining lead from the original cast, and told Canberra Daily his new co-stars, Joe Dinn and Jarrad West, have integrated “amazingly”.
“It’s all come together amazingly, and everyone’s slotted in quite well,” he said.
Kelly has greatly enjoyed getting into his role as Adam, who he described as the “exuberant, chaotic” one, and the youngest of the three leads.
“He doesn’t have the life experience of the other two, but really see his character develop throughout the show; he comes out at the end a little bit more well-rounded and emotionally mature.”
With a relatively structured and orderly day-to-day life himself, Kelly enjoys “the chaos of the character” and the nostalgia associated with playing a character a little younger than he is.
“I was very similar to Adam at that stage of my life as well, so there’s a lot to draw on but it’s really quite interesting to reflect on how far I’ve come while playing this character.”
He puts Priscilla’s longstanding adoration and status as an iconic Australian classic down to its authenticity across several realms.
“there’s a lot of ockerisms, it’s very Australian and plays into stereotypes,” he said, “especially some of the scenes in Alice Springs and the middle of the desert.”
Kelly also said the movie is “very true to Australian drag” in terms of how the characters are written, deliver their lines, perform, and the costumes.
He also enjoys a connection with the film, having worked with one of the two costume designers, Tim Chappel, on a show called Dance Boss in 2018.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a full circle moment, but it is a little,” he smiled.
From Norwegian cruise liners to Canberra
A new addition to the cast, Joe Dinn is quite possibly the most qualified man to play Tick in Canberra.
He played the role professionally for four years on a Norwegian cruise liner’s big-budget production and has comfortably jumped into the Free-Rain iteration.
“It’s been pretty seamless, it’s a good, fun time,” Dinn said.
Working with the original creative team that brought Priscilla to Broadway, Dinn had the surreal moment of being put into the iconic thong dress by (Tim) Chappel himself, the man who designed it 30 years prior.
A longstanding fan of the musical, he saw it “at least 10 times” in London before being cast.
“At the core it’s about acceptance, diversity, friendship, love, and family, and everyone resonates with one of those things,” he said. “You can’t walk away from Priscilla without smiling, it’s one of those feel-good shows.”
This production also sees Dinn link up with his childhood dance teacher, Michelle Heine, who is choreographer. It was Heine who first encouraged him to pursue dance professionally as a young man.
Heine’s encouragement led to Dinn, a Canberra boy who “found himself” in local community theatre, enjoying a 20-year career as a performing artist across Europe before the pandemic brought him back to Australia.
“I was surrounded by likeminded people, it’s a really beautiful community in Canberra,” he said.
Free-Rain Theatre’s Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the musical is on at The Q, Queanbeyan, 26 April to 22 May; theq.net.au
Visit our competitions page for your chance to win one of two double passes to the Wednesday 27 April 8pm preview performance:
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