Priscilla’s drag race ‘orchestrated mayhem’
Suspended high above the stage at the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch are six giant cupcakes.
The giant cupcake outfits are so large that there is not space for them backstage with the 500 other costumes required for the new Christchurch production of hit musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
To save space, the large costumes are suspended on wires above the backstage area and lowered only when they are required. The cupcakes are just one part of the complex and lavish production, which requires about 1000 items of costume, nearly 50 wigs and complete costume changes conducted in just 30 seconds.
Sometimes there will be four people working on each performer’s costume change – swapping shoes, costume, wig and make-up in a matter of seconds.
‘‘It is mayhem, but orchestrated mayhem,’’ says wardrobe manager Diane Brodie
Hair and make-up manager Sarah Greenwood Buchanan says there is an added level of difficulty.
‘‘The mics the cast wear are live, so we have to do it in complete silence. They are sometimes singing while they are changing.’’
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, based on the 1994 Australian film starring Terence Stamp and Hugo Weaving, opened in Sydney in 2006 and has since toured the world. It tells the story of two drag artists and a transgender woman as they travel from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus named Priscilla.
The costumes used in the first New Zealand-produced production of the show, which opens on Friday, were first made in 2009 for the West End version in London. One of the costumes still has a name label inside. It reads: Jason Donovan.
The costumes, wigs, shoes and feather fans arrived in a shipping container from Auckland in December. Another shipping container arrived from Japan three weeks ago.
Brodie says the costumes required a lot of refurbishment after years of touring and hours on stage.
‘‘It’s a massive undertaking. It’s quite daunting,’’ says Brodie.
Some of the costumes are so festooned with feather harnesses, underskirts and headgear that they are too heavy for one person to carry, says Brodie.
‘‘It is quite staggeringly heavy once you have everything on.
‘‘I can’t carry them by myself. It takes two people to move these on to the owner.’’
The secret ingredient for a quick costume change is velcro.
‘‘It is essential for this show, or we wouldn’t get them changed in time.’’
Brodie says it is the largest production the 79-year-old musical theatre company Showbiz has ever staged.
‘‘It is probably the most costumes we have ever done. It compares a little bit with 42nd Street, which we did in the ‘90s.
‘‘This is bigger and fastermoving. All the costume changes are very precise and choreographed to the last detail, almost to the beat of the music.’’ ❚ Showbiz Canterbury’s Priscilla, Queen of the Desert will run at the Isaac Theatre Royal from March 24 to April 8. Book at Ticketek.