FREE Live Musical in Brooklyn: Priscilla Queen of the Desert
- Haley Snyder
- Jul 13, 2017
- 2 min read
What’s better than theatre? Free theatre. And even better than free theatre? Free outdoor theatre about drag queens and their psychedelic bus, complete with a live band.
All throughout the month of July, Piper Theatre Productions, a nonprofit whose mission is to bring free theatre to New York City, is hosting a production of Priscilla Qureen of the Desert the Musical.
Based on a cult classic from the 90’s, Priscilla Queen of the Desert follows the lives of two Drag Queens and a trans woman as they travel from Brooklyn across the country in their fabulous multicolored bus, named Priscilla, to perform a show in the deep south. As they travel through middle-America, they encounter homophobia, transphobia, and general bigotry. Yet through it all, they resiliently dance, sing, spread tolerance, and come closer together.
The Director, John P. McEneny, says that the 2016 Presidential election is what inspired him to do this show now:
This is a summer of really waving our freak flag, and embracing it. [...] We don’t necessarily belong to a country right now that is embracing drag queens and people on the [LGBTQA] spectrum. [...] We’re not in a country that has free arts as part of our life. And right now [I’m] committed to making sure that, at least for the month of July, there is a place where you and your families and your quirky neighbors can come out, and sit on the lawn, and hear some great music, and live music, and young emerging artists [...]
In keeping with the play’s message, the mise en scène is also fabulous. The cast of the show is clad in glitter, and luminous colors. Actress Janelle Lawrence, who plays Chanteuse, says that the costumes are actually her favorite part of the whole show, besides getting to sing on top of a bus, of course.
At the very end when [the queens are] doing their big number there are these dresses, and they start off with these big balls [...] and they dance in them for their whole number and then inevitably they pull the string, and they drop down to be this ball gown. And it’s this very glamorous, glorious theatre moment when you’re like ‘(gasp!) I can’t believe you were wearing that this whole time!’
Even the bus, Priscilla, has a special costume. It was hand painted by the young artist Took Edalow, who has fondly named the bus “Donna
Quixote,” after the famous book character Don Quixote. After the play, Donna Quixote will be a non-profit workshop, art space, and zine library, hosted by Edalow.
But until then, this beautiful bus can be seen every weekend in July during this show. Check it out! The show can be seen on July 13-15, and 20-22 at 8:00pm in J. J. Byrne Park in Brooklyn.
Haley Snyder
A graduate of the New School's Eugene Lang College of the Liberal Arts, and the founder of Millennial Trash. [she/her]
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