"Priscilla Queen of the Desert" brings drag queens and the Australian outback to downtown Cleveland as part of its first national tour.
The musical opens Tuesday at PlayhouseSquare's Palace Theatre as part of the KeyBank Broadway Series.
The show, which won a 2011 Tony Award for its costume design during its 15-month Broadway run, is based on the 1994 film "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," the story of two drag queens, Adam / Felicia and Tick / Mitzi, and a transsexual, Bernadette, who travel to a remote Australian locale to put on a show (and give one of them a chance to reconnect with the son he left behind years ago). Priscilla is what they dub the bus they take on their journey.
The stage version uses many of the pop/dance hits from the movie - "I Will Survive," "Shake Your Groove Thing," "I Love the Nightlife" - and supplements them with other familiar tracks like "It's Raining Men," "I Say a Little Prayer," "True Colors" and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."
The touring productions features more than 500 costumes by Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner, who also won an Academy Award for their work on the original film.
The cast includes Bryan West (who appeared in the Broadway production) as Adam / Felicia; Wade McCollum (who played the title role in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" in Los Angeles and appeared in the Chicago and San Francisco casts of "Jersey Boys) as Tick / Mitzi; Scott Willis (who played Rooster in the 30th anniversary production of "Annie") as Bernadette; and Joe Hart (a member of the original Broadway companies for "Bonnie & Clyde" and "The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public") as their bus driver / mechanic, Bob.
"Priscilla Queen of the Desert" runs through Jan. 27 at the Palace Theatre, 1519 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets range from $10 to $75 and are available at www.playhousesquare. org and by calling 216-241-6000.