Review: Priscilla, aavikon kuningatar

Helsinki City Theatre’s Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Helsinki City Theatre’s Priscilla, Queen of the Desert meets expectations and partly exceeds them. There was going to be a party musical. I’ve never been a party-goer, not even in the last century. Priscilla’s party is loud, colorful, surprising and an incredible play of different and different colored lights – all in all, stunning.

The musical, directed by Samuel Harjanne , always has a strong story and could almost claim a message. Priscilla tells the story of three artists – two drag queens and one trans woman, who, when work fails, join forces and set off to conquer Australia on a bus in poor condition. The musical, written by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott , is based on the 1994 film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The City Theatre’s performance has been translated into Finnish by Kari Arffman and Sanna Niemeläinen, the choreography is by Gunilla Olsson-Karlsson and the conductor is Eeva Kontu.

Not everything goes smoothly in the musical on the journey through the Australian wilderness, from Sydney to remote Alice Springs. Each of the three carries a burden that casts a shadow over their lives. But with each other’s support, they are able to cope and gradually reveal the shame or secret of their lives. You also have to endure the fact that the bus is threatening to break down all the time.

Asko Sarkola , the long-time director of the Helsinki City Theatre, estimated years ago that there are a hundred thousand musical lovers in the Helsinki metropolitan area. And luckily there is, otherwise the theatre would have the resources to build such a wonderful musical as it has now been made.

Set design (Peter Ahlqvist), costume design (Tinja Salmi), lighting and video design (William Iles and Toni Haaranen), sound design (Kai Poutanen) and camouflage design (Aino Hyttinen) are top-notch. Everything is abundant and amazingly wonderful. As a whole, a high-quality entertainment package has been created.

Thanks go to the fine line-up, but above all to Clarissa Jäärn, Lauri Mikkola and Niki Rautèn.