Journey to the Heart of Fabulous

"Puts the Glory into Gloria and the Gay into Gaynor.”

Michael Coveney - The Independent

I love musicals.

During my two-year stint in London, the West End was my playground. It was a fabulous piece of gay heaven. I only watched one non-musical, but Josh Hartnett's half naked body (about 2 meters away from where I was seated) was more than enough to compensate for the lack of songs.

Out of all the musicals I've seen, there is only one that I watched 4 times, it's the gayest musical in the West End, "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert". (the stage version of the camp classic movie "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert")





With songs such as "Downtown, I've Never Been To Me, Venus, Go West, I Say a Little Prayer, and I Will Survive", how gayer can it get? See this for the complete list of musical numbers.

I first watched the show with a gay friend I met in London, I can still remember how ecstatic I felt after, I exclaimed "Ang sarap maging bakla". The musical was set in the mid-90s, a time when homosexuality was not as socially acceptable as it is now, so it was empowering to see 3 drag queens motoring their way throughout Australia (from Sydney to Alice Springs), facing discrimination, racism and bigotry, and overcoming them. I distinctly remember what Bernadette said to Tick and Felicia after seeing their vandalized bus: "Never apologize for our choices my friends." (I later found out that this line was updated to reflect current sentiments, the line used to be "Never forget the cost of our choices my friends", good thing the creators decided to do this as the original line would have been too depressing)


Another reason (well, the bigger reason =) ) why I watched the show over and over was the actor who played Felicia, Oliver Thornton. Felicia Jollygoodfellow is the most flambouyant one out of the 3 drag queens, and the hottest one as well (Guy Pearce, another hottie, played the part in the film). See for yourselves.


Too bad I can't find a photo of him doing the "Hot Stuff" number where he was just wearing a red thong ;)

On my 4th time, I was finally able to see him up-close at the stage door, kilig!

Here are my favorite scenes in the musical:

Felicia singing an aria on top of Priscilla

"MacArthur's Park" with the human cupcakes

"Go West"

"I Will Survive"

"I Love the Nightlife" with Jason Donovan (right) wearing the Oscar award winning "flip-flop" costume

The funniest funeral scene ever ("Don't Leave Me This Way")


Three Cocks in a frock on a rock singing "We Belong" after Felicia's "Kylie Medley"

Where can you find a disco ball inside a theater? Yup, Priscilla has one!


And this is the fabulous shirt I bought from the gift shop, can't wait to wear it!


So to every gay guy out there who's visiting London, don't forget to watch and enjoy Priscilla! - "Colour your world!"

You'll never see a dark cloud hanging round me.
Now there is only blue skies to surround me.
There's never been a gray day since you found me.
Everything I touch is turning to gold.

Oh, you can colour my world with sunshine yellow each day!
Oh, you can colour my world with happiness all the way!
Just take the green from the grass and the blue from the sky up above!
And if you colour my world just paint it with your love!
Just colour my world.

Just as long as I know you're thinking of me,
there'll be a rainbow always up above me.
Since I found the one who really loves me,
everything I touch is turning to gold.

So you can colour my world with sunshine yellow each day!
Oh, you can colour my world with happiness all the way!
Just take the green from the grass and the blue from the sky up above!
And if you colour my world just paint it with your love!
Just colour my world.
Um.

Sunshine yellow.
Orange blossums.
Laughing faces
everywhere!
Yeah!

Oh, you can colour my world with sunshine yellow each day!
Oh, you can colour my world with happiness all the way!
Just take the green from the grass and the blue from the sky up above!
And if you colour my world just paint it with your love.
Just colour my world.
Colour my world.
Oh, colour my world.
Colour my world!