Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in Manila!!

in trippy 1970s outfit

The best way to watch the opening night of the trippiest musical staged in Manila is to come in - what else,  drag! So we watched "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" all made-up and garbed in 1970s psychedelic outfits with matching falsies and wig (Tessa came in her biggest, fluffiest afro wig).

The musical is definitely a must-watch! I must hand it to Resorts World for getting top-rate actors - three-time ALIW awardee Leo Valdez, comedian and impersonator Jon Santos and Red Concepcion  - including seasoned performers such as Bituin Escalante, Pinky Marquez, Timmy Canlas, Michael Williams, Menchu Lauchenco-Yulo, Lani Ligot to be part of the ensemble.

(from left) Leo Valdez as Mitzi (n yellow), Red Concepcion  as Felicia (green) and Jon Santos as Bernadette (purple)

with happy campers Pinky and Gai

The story is about the adventures and misadventures of three friends - two drag queens and a transsexual - as they travel into the heart of the Australian outback in a pink-painted bus they named "Priscilla." Note that the musical is very Australian. The scenes depicted their homophobic bogans (redneck in American slang), aborigines and even a castrating pinay who can work on her muhlabanda. 

Get ready to dance all night as the musical plays top 1970s disco hits - Alicia Bridge's I Love the Night Life, Abba's Dancing Queen, Peaches and Herb's Shake Your Groove Thing, The Weather Girls' Its Raining Men, Village People's Go West, Tina Turner's What's Love Got to Do With It?and many more and including hits of Australian singer Kylie The Locomotion, Can't Get You Out of My Head.

The local production is directed by Jaime del Mundo. The musical will run for three months until July 13, 2014.