On a rare (to avoid the weekend "tourists") Saturday trip to New York City, I enjoyed a wonderful Broadway performance, a great meal, and an amazing musical event. It was an example of my favorite kind of day in the city.
After watching the skaters at Rockefeller Center and lighting my annual candles in St. Patrick's Cathedral, I walked to the Palace Theater in the heart of Times Square for Bette Midler's Broadway musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert. It was probably the best show I have seen in terms of music and (500) costumes.
The story: two drag-queens (Tick/Mitzi, Adam/Felicia) and a transsexual (Bernadette) contract to perform a drag show in Alice Springs, a resort town in the remote Australian desert. They head west from Sydney aboard their bus, Priscilla. En route, it is discovered that the woman they've contracted with is Tick's wife, and Tick is there to meet his son. Along the way, they encounter a number of strange characters, as well as incidents of homophobia, while widening comfort zones and finding new horizons.
The score included some wonderful songs: It's Raining Men, a perfect Tina Turner rendition of What's Love Got To Do With It (worth the price of the show), I Say A Little Prayer, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Material Girl, Holiday, Like A Virgin, I Like The Nightlife, True Colors, I Will Survive, Shake Your Groove Thing, Boogie Wonderland, and MacArthur Park ("I've waited my whole life to sing 'someone left a cake out in the rain' - got the biggest laugh of the show, you have to see it to understand).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bGkNB2CBtI&feature=related Bette Midler introduces Priscilla
The musical was based on the 1994 movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Priscilla Queen of the Desert will be featured during the 85th Macy's Day Thanksgiving Day Parade at 9 A.M. on November 24.
