Features NYC Features Published 3 February 2011

Recording Priscilla

Attending the Broadway cast recording.

Richard Patterson

The stars of the show are also happy the show is making a difference to the LGBT community. “I never anticipated the show to touch people the way it does,” Nick Adams told us. “Christmas Eve this year, I got an email from a girl who said she was about to take her life, came to see the show, and it totally turned her life around, and to know that I’m not just entertaining someone for two and a half hours, having a great time doing it, it actually is affecting people in that community and outside of the LGBT community as well.”

McCleskey seconded this notion. She told us, “I really hope that the community accepts what we’re doing on stage and agrees that we’re doing the community justice. It’s very important, especially with things that are going on in America right now – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Prop 8. It’s very important that we get this message across. It’s nice to do it through the songs of the show and the storyline, because I feel like, if people hear the music and they really have a good time and then they see the story and the journey, that they’re able to understand that these are important issues that need to be handled properly, and that everybody has the right to have their rights and to have their voices heard.”

Sheldon reminded us, however, that “the show is not being marketed as a gay show. If the gay community does embrace us, that is a bonus, because the show is certainly not a niche show. Our audience around the world has been straight women, who come and see the show over and over and over again. They bring their friends and then ultimately drag their husbands along, and then their kids. So it’s never felt like we were simply being aimed at a niche audience at all, but if they’re prepared to welcome us, I couldn’t be more thrilled.”

Fortunately, the voices of the cast of Priscilla Queen of the Desert will soon be available to all of us to purchase, and the cast seemed more than thrilled at the prospect of sharing their efforts. McCleskey told us, “It’s nice to have people come to the previews and buy our voices, what they see on stage every night and hear, instead of another cast.”

 

Additional reporting provided by Sara Mirowski.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert’s original Broadway cast recording will be available on March 15, 2011 at all retail outlets, including www.rhino.com, for a suggested list price of $18.98 (CD) and $11.99 (digital).
Priscilla Queen of the Desert begins previews at the Palace Theatre on February 28. Its official opening will be March 20, 2011. Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

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Richard Patterson

A graduate of New York University with a degree in Dramatic Literature, Richard was deputy theatre editor at musicOMH.com from 2008-2011 and New York Editor of Exeunt from 2011-2016. He is excited to continue on as a contributor. With a penchant for Sondheim, the Bard, and Beckett, as well as for new writing, theatergoing highlights include Fiona Shaw's Winnie in "Happy Days," Derek Jacobi's Lear, Jonathan Pryce in "The Caretaker," and Chiwetel Ejiofor's Othello at the Donmar. Richard's criticism has been published in The Sondheim Review.

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