THE Aylesbury Waterside Theatre was completely packed out for Monday night’s performance of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

This bold, colourful musical about Australian drag queens on a road trip across the desert kept a grin on my face from start to finish. Based on the film of the same name from 1994, this production is a riot of colour, camp and popular disco classics.

The main character, Tick (Mitzi, played by Jason Donovan) decides to take a drag queen show to Alice Springs in order to meet his six year old son for the first time. He recruits an old transsexual friend of his, Bernadette and Adam (Felicia) whose main ambition is to sing a Kylie medley at the top of Ayres Rock.

The main draw of the night was, of course, Jason Donovan, who got a standing ovation at the end and thoroughly enjoyed himself. For me, however, it was Richard Grieve as Bernadette (who gets all the best lines) and Graham Weaver as Adam (Felicia) who owned the stage.

The songs are immediately recognisable and designed to get the audience clapping along and tapping their toes. It was surprising that nobody was up dancing in the aisles at this particular performance; I know I was tempted.

Another major character in this musical has to be the costumes. There are over 500 different costumes used in the production, including huge wigs, beautiful feather arrangements and one made entirely from flip flops.

Just when you think they can’t do any better, you get the final medley at the end, where each character comes on dressed as a different Australian animal.

The musical does try to have a serious side, but this is never as effective as it was in the film, as the audience just looks forward to the cheeky jokes and catchy songs.

There is a rather sweet love story that is quite touching, however. The best thing about the show is simply that it is just pure, unadulterated escapism and a whole lot of fun.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is performing at Aylesbury Waterside at 7.30pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 5pm and 8.15pm on Friday, and 2.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday.

Tickets cost from £12.90 – £43.40, depending on performance and seats.

www.atgtickets.com