Helsinki City Theatre will continue with well-known foreign musicals directed by Samuel Harjanne. The actor-director, who is only 34 years old, has already enchanted me and many other viewers with his previous musicals Kinky Boots (2018), The Little Mermaid (2019) and My Day as a Groundhog (2020).
Musicals that have already gained fame around the world are of course very safe choices for the repertoire, but at the same time, it’s wonderful to be able to see famous musicals in Helsinki as well, and at the top level. Priscilla is also an exceptionally large queer-themed production in Finland.
The musical Priscilla has indeed toured around the world since 2006 as productions in different countries. The conditions include that each theatre must make its own costume for the performance, which must not imitate the costumes of the original film, but the costumes must still retain the spirit of the film.
I’ve previously seen the awesome Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Australia, 1994) road movie in a cinema in a special screening and I guess also on TV a long time ago, and as a musical at The Palace Theatre in London in early September 2011. I was accompanied in London by my old friend who lived there at the time, the cartoonist Iriini (Ipe), who now lives in Helsinki again. She also came to the premiere of Priscilla at the Helsinki City Theatre on Thursday this week. At The Palace Theatre, we could only afford to sit in the dizzyingly high top balcony. Now we sat luxuriously in the third row of the stalls, where you could really see the expressions of the performers.
There is always something in the atmosphere of the premiere. It was fun to spot a lot of my own acquaintances and also celebrities in the audience, such as drag artists who were in full swing. For example, we sat close to fashion designer Jukka Rintala and his spouse, visualist Matti Vaskelainen. Next to us was also the cutest little girl in her ruffled dress, and her mother was one of the dancers in the show.
The evening was crowned by a media pre-party at Graniittilinna with cocktails and sparkling wine, listening to the instructor’s speech and meeting friends. At the theater, we got Priscilla’s own Hot Stuff cocktails and pink Priscilla pastries. We also got to take a picture with drag queen Miss B at Graniittilinna. The theme color of the evening was clearly lovely pink! And the other “theme color” was glitter.
But now to the work itself! Contrary to what you might think, Priscilla is not the name of the female protagonist, but… The name of the bus! The three main characters travel in their own bus across Australia in two weeks, from Sydney to remote Alice Springs, where the group is supposed to perform. Drag queen Tick has a secret, and she lures two of her drag queen friends to join her on the trip. Each of them manages to free themselves from their own limitations and make their dreams come true during the journey.
The framework of the story is quite traditional, but the characters are exceptional. All three main characters represent slightly different generations, which gives viewers more opportunities to identify. Tick and Adam are gay men and Bernadette is a trans woman, and everyone is single. Adam and Bernadette can’t stand each other, and mocking banter flies. The meanness was even a bit stingy for my taste, although I also know that sharp words are part of drag culture. However, travel companions are a source of comfort and support for each other when they encounter narrow-minded and aggressive junkies (of course, also nice desert dwellers).
Priscilla is a joyful but also profound story about friendship, love, difference, queer identity and open-mindedness. Written and directed by Stephen Elliot, the film was born at a time when AIDS had caused a lot of fear and isolation among queer men. Tired of gloom and homophobia, Elliot wanted to make a liberating, confident and joyful film.
The film reportedly changed the lives of many viewers forever, as it encouraged many members of sexual and gender minorities to come out of the closet. I also believe that the film, which reached a wide audience, also helped the majority population to better see the magnificence of the queer population, and thus increased understanding between different groups of people. Maybe the film and the musical helped and still help people who belong to the mainstream to detach themselves more and find new sides of themselves. The film and the musical also deal with the contempt and threat of violence faced by queer people, but the basic tone of the story is optimistic, even boisterous.
The book is also well suited to our own time, when we need a moment of respite and joy in the midst of distressing news of war, pandemic and environmental destruction. Homophobia has also reared its head around the world with the rise of the right, so it’s good to see a performance starring gorgeous queer people.
I send a wish to the City Theatre that hopefully in the near future we will be able to see a performance on the big stage starring lesbians and/or bi women for a change. In the meantime, Minä valintan sinut, a film about a female couple, directed by Milja Sarkola and based on the novel of the same name by my friend Laura Lehtola, will be released on the small stage this autumn.
No new songs have been composed for the musical, but many famous pop-dance hits will be heard. The music was suitable for my taste. At first, I wondered how well the Finnish translated hits worked, but they weren’t embarrassing but engaging. Maybe I would have missed a not-so-well-played song in the mix, but it was nice this way too. According to Harjanne, the songs are sung in Finnish whenever the music moves the plot forward, so it is essential for the viewers to understand the lyrics. For example, the Pet Shop Boys’ song “Go West” is “Länteen”, Kylie Minogue’s “The Locomotion” is “Matkalla” and Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” is “Your Soul”. The music is like straight out of a gay disco from the 90s or early 2000s. At the City Theatre, the songs can even be heard performed live by the orchestra, although unfortunately the orchestra is hidden under the stage.
You can’t talk about this musical without praising the costumes, makeup, hairstyles and sets. They are insane, absolutely wonderful! The performance is a real fireworks display of visuals and a cornucopia. Priscilla is simply a feast for the eyes. In addition, there are so many changes of clothes that you can’t help but admire the speed of the dressers behind the curtains.
In the original film, the role of the trans woman was played by cis man Terence Stamp, but it was a no-brainer. Now the role of Bernadette has been awarded to the transgender actress-make-up artist-hairstylist-journalist Clarissa Jäärni, who has also won the Finnish Miss Drag Queen pageant. Jäärni hasn’t acted in 10 years, and this is his first role after transition. Now she almost steals the show as a somewhat laconic old-fashioned diva.
Lauri Mikkola, who sparkles in the role of Tick, is also remembered for his lead role in Lola’s Kinky Boots. The 26-year-old Niki Rautén, who plays Adam, has also performed in Kinky Boots when it was at the Tampere Workers’ Theatre in 2020-2022. His drag characters in Priscilla are astonishingly great. The occasional lip-synced songs will be performed by the excellent and talented trio Johanna Försti, Maria Lund and Jennie Storbacka.
Especially adorable are the child actors Aleksi Johansson, Iivari Luomala and Kosmo Salminen, who alternate in the role of Benji. At the premiere, they all got to take the stage to thank them in a final bow. The performance is still topical today, as a children’s drag storytelling session at the Central Library Oodi was attacked at Helsinki Pride this summer, and there has been a debate in the United States about whether it is appropriate for children to perform and see drag artists. Benjami’s character highlights the fact that children experience drag as a fun and fairytale-like thing, and it does not cause them confusion.
Ipe and I only have very vague memories of London’s musical Priscilla, but we don’t think that the Helsinki City Theatre’s musical version has any reason to feel modest compared to it. Admittedly, there was no such fancy giant high heel above the front door of the Helsinki City Theatre as in The Palace Theatre, but otherwise the visuals and performances were dazzling. The glittering curtain in front of the stage of the City Theatre was already wonderful, and the pop music heard in the auditorium created an atmosphere already while waiting for the performance. The audience was fully involved in the performance, and at the end, the entire audience applauded standing up.
Reportedly, 70% of the tickets had been sold before the premiere, so hurry up if you want to see this spectacle!