{"id":236506,"date":"2013-10-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/priscilla-the-queen\/"},"modified":"2013-10-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-04T07:00:00","slug":"priscilla-the-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/priscilla-the-queen\/","title":{"rendered":"Priscilla, the queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Costumes & a party atmosphere keep this iconic story of acceptance and belonging relevant<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anthony King |\u00a0Downtown Assistant Editor<\/p>\n

There is something special about Priscilla, the \u201cQueen of the Desert.\u201d Perhaps the LGBT community claims it so strongly because the 1994 film became a commercial and critical hit, launching itself into cult status so quickly upon release. Or perhaps it is because it is inclusive of the often forgotten transgender, gender queer and bisexual identities that make up our LGBT spectrum.<\/p>\n

What is known, however, is that the story \u2013 now a Broadway musical sensation and touring production show \u2013 touches on the basic tenants of acceptance and trusting your own nature, whatever that may be.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The costumes resemble the movie’s very closely. (Courtesy Broadway San Diego)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPriscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical\u201d comes to Downtown for eight shows, Oct. 15 \u2013 20, and cast member Wade McCollum \u2013 playing Tick, one of the three leads who makes that iconic journey across the Australian Outback \u2013 said he loves exactly what he is doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message in the movie and in the play is belonging and overcoming self doubt,\u201d McCollum said. \u201cI think the play does a very good job of partying around those themes.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what a party this show has been. McCollum and the cast and crew have been touring since January, with San Diego near the end of their yearlong run. He said it is easy to get swept up in the visuals \u2013 the costumes alone won the Tony Award for Best Design \u2013 and party-like atmosphere of the show, but at its heart, \u201cPriscilla\u201d is topical, even 20 years after the film\u2019s debut.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re met with extreme enthusiasm and kind of an uncanny amount of energy return at the end of the show,\u201d he said, calling it \u201cbeautiful\u201d to feel as an actor. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve found in touring the show is we\u2019ve got this incredible opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

That goal is to entertain, for certain, but McCollum said it was also an opportunity to reach people still not familiar with bisexuality, transgender visibility, or gender queer and intersex.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The iconic high heel and RV are prominent. (Courtesy Broadway San Diego)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAll those incredibly beautiful spectral gray areas of sexual expression and gender expression are still very topical for almost all communities,\u201d he said. \u201cJust that alone is pretty revolutionary.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the show\u2019s tour, McCollum said they have taken several opportunities to outreach to local communities, including speaking to a group of queer high school students in Philadelphia about which pronouns they prefer, to visiting a queer youth homeless shelter in San Francisco. Both youth groups came and saw the show as well.<\/p>\n

\u201c[They are] really on the edge of not having a place to be, and really trying to find a sense of belonging in this crazy world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also described a moment at the San Francisco youth shelter where a transgender young woman, reluctant to speak, asked McCollum if there was a place for her \u201cas an artist and a spokesperson,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe room disappeared, and I was like, \u2018Yes, of course. \u2026 You\u2019re already starting that conversation just by being in the room,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Two days later, McCollum and the rest of the cast were in Denver, Colo. being interviewed by Eden Lane, the first out, transgender journalist on national television. McCollum said it was a special moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am drawn to material that is about inciting those conversations so that we can do what I believe theater\u2019s function is, which is to discourse about the issues within the drama and then grow as a society,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He agreed that he was in the exact right moment he needs to be, both personally and professionally. And as an actor who has been in some of the top theatrical productions \u2013 \u201cJersey Boys,\u201d \u201cHedwig and the Angry Inch\u201d and \u201cAngels in America\u201d are just a small number of credentials on this actor\u2019s list \u2013 that is saying quite a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor to be a part of something that is so aesthetically genius and has such whimsy and depth,\u201d McCollum said. He is, of course, talking about those award-winning costumes as well.<\/p>\n

Wardrobe supervisor Gillian Austin travels with McCollum and the rest of the production, each night organizing an integral aspect of the show: the thousands of shoes, hats, wigs and dresses, that can, she said, appear on stage for mere moments. For Austin, it all started as a love of sewing.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The touring show of “Priscilla” brings the award-winning costumes to San Diego Oct. 15. (Courtesy Broadway San Diego)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really cool that they let me do this,\u201d she said, laughing. Austin, a Chicago native who now calls Louisiana home, said she is working her \u201cdream job\u201d after living in New York City, taking sewing classes and waiting tables. The attention \u201cPriscilla\u201d has given her this year has made her somewhat of a star.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been joking that I\u2019m kind of a rock star on this tour, because the costumes are so great,\u201d she said, humbly adding, \u201cIt has nothing to do with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner won the Tony Award in 2011, after winning the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award for costume design as well. The tricks, Austin said, are making it seamless each and every performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important part is dressing the show, and making sure the show happens the way it\u2019s supposed to,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know how to handle certain situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

From actors who rip through the dresses in a rush to get prepared, to a tricky scene where one actor sticks his legs through the back, pink curtain for a shoe change \u2013 the costumes take up the entire backstage area, directly behind the curtain and often, Austin said, strung up in the rafters \u2013 she said everything that could have gone wrong has, though nothing too serious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just really lucky,\u201d she said, calling those \u201ca-ha moments\u201d when they figure out how to maneuver those situations with ease and keeping the costumes new each night as satisfying.<\/p>\n

McCollum said he works hard to keep each night fresh, too, being \u201cfully present\u201d in his mind to retain some of the innocence of the story. They each get a bit of help from those on the other side of the curtain, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes the audience keep us buoyant and fresh? Absolutely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPriscilla Queen of the Desert\u201d opens at Downtown\u2019s San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., on Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. with seven additional performances through Oct. 20. Show times are Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

For more information and tickets, visit broadwaysd.com or call 619-570-1100.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Costumes & a party atmosphere keep this iconic story of acceptance and belonging relevant Anthony King |\u00a0Downtown Assistant Editor There is something special about Priscilla, the \u201cQueen of the Desert.\u201d Perhaps the LGBT community claims it so strongly because the 1994 film became a commercial and critical hit, launching itself into cult status so quickly […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":236507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Priscilla, the queen","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}