Priscilla extends and Don Gallagher joins cast
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
ON MARCH 23, 2010, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical celebrates a year in the West End. And on March 8, as booking at the Palace Theatre extends until February 26, 2011, Don Gallagher joins original cast members Jason Donovan (Tick) and Oliver Thornton (Adam) as Bernadette.
Based on the Oscar-winning film, Priscilla Queen Of the Desert The Musical tells the story of Tick, Bernadette and Adam, a glamorous Sydney-based performing trio, who take their show to the middle of the Australian outback.
With a dazzling array of outrageous costumes and featuring a score of dance-floor classics such as I Say A Little Prayer, Venus, Downtown and I Will Survive, Priscilla is described as a sensational journey to the heart of fabulous.
Don Gallagher’s musical stage roles include Roger de Bris in The Producers, Javert in Les Miserables and Pierre Guerre in Martin Guerre, all in the West End. His other stage credits include His Dark Materials and Stuff Happens (National Theatre) and Henry IV parts 1 & 2, Painter of Dishonour and Back to Methuselah (Royal Shakespeare Company).
On television, he has appeared in Poirot, Casualty, Miss Marple, Hancock and Joan, Victoria and Albert, Sea of Souls and Ballet Shoes.
From March 8, the cast will also include Portia Emare, Emma Lindars and Charlotte Riby as the three Divas, Newley Aucutt as Miss Understanding, Yvette Robinson as Marion, Steven Cleverley as Farrah and Young Bernadette, Daniele Coombe as Shirley, Tristan Temple as Jimmy, Kanako Nakano as Cynthia and John Brannoch as Frank.
Completing the company are Christopher Drake, Amy Edwards, Amy Field, Hugo Harold Harrison, Luke Jackson, Hayley Jayne Langwith, Callum Nicol, Zabrina Norry, Will Peaco, John Phoenix, James Rees, Jeremy Secomb, Robert Styles, John Tsouras and Matt Wesley.
Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical opens at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Toronto on October 12 and there are plans for a Broadway transfer early in 2011. Further international dates are also in discussion for productions in Brazil, Scandinavia and Germany.
NB: From June 6 to September 5, 2010, there will be Sunday performances of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical at the Palace Theatre at 3pm.