SEPTEMBER 2, 1994. GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

9

ENTERTAINMENT

A road movie like nothing seen before

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Drexel Theater opens September 16

Reviewed by Charlton Harper

There's another bus speeding down the cinematic highway this summer. Catch this one, and you may never want to get off again.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is the latest in the Big Screen's current infatuation with the (not always) glittering world of drag. This time writer-director Stephan Elliott has created something completely new-the first-ever on-the-

road lip sync musical. That's right.

Priscilla follows three Sydney, Australia drag queens as they leave the tra-

vails of the city and head into the outback hand bus they dub "Priscilla." But this

aboard a second-

is no hybrid rip-off of 'Mrs. Doubtfire meets the Partridge Family.'

merry troupe finds family and friends in the unlikeliest of places. When Priscilla breaks down and the girls are lost in the desert, an aborigine man finds them and takes them back to his people. Mitzi and her queens perform for the aborigines, who embrace them completely. With a little Gloria Gaynor and and the wildest costumes worn by men in the wild, drag transcends culture and race to truly become ritual, theater, communication and release. It's a gorgeous moment.

In fact, there are many gorgeous moments in this film. Sweeping visuals of the Australian desert, extravagant drag production numbers, as well as the personal journeys of the

Like all good travel epics, a simple, but appropriate theme is obvious: While there's no place like home

main characters, contribute to the epic feel. And costumes, costumes, costumes. There are no words for the costumes you'll see. How can they top that Just when you wonder, one,' another psychedelic visual appears that

(the theme of another knocks you dead. Hint: well-known travel pic), home is where you make it.

Mitzi, queen of the Sydney drag scene, wants to take her act to a posh resort in Alice Springs in central Australia. Joined by her best friend Bernadette, an aging, seen-it-all, done-it-all transsexual, and the upstart, endlessly yakking Felicia, they hit the road and face a world very different from their chic urban lives.

Like all good travel epics, a simple, but appropriate theme is obvious: While there's no place like home (the theme of another well-known travel pic), home is where you make it. As our girls brave the wilds of Australia in their "budget Barbie camper," they learn a few things about themselves and one another. Relax, though. No drippy, maudlin, worn-out drag queens here. The frivolous, chatty surface remains blissfully intact with just enough probing of the waters to breath life into these outer space creatures from "Ur-anus."

If the film makes any big statement, it does say something about the potential community that arises when outsiders and other "disposable people" come together. As Priscilla chugs slowly through the desert, the

JAMES DEETER

Ordained Universal

Life Minister &

Cosmic Centrist

Look for the ostrich wigs, my personal favorite.

The acting and directorial vision throughout is wonder-

fully warped and totally queer. It's irrelevant to question the sexual orientation of the cast and crew, so completely genuine and successful is this film. Terence Stamp lends a weighty, grounded presence to Bernadette: tough and weary, but still looking for love. Hugo Weaving (Mitzi) and Guy Pearce (Felicia) were born for drag. Pearce is wonderful as the carping, stinging-tongued Felicia. She never shuts up. Weaving is great as the Queen of the World, yet he manages to show Mitzi's inner struggle between fame and new-found parenthood.

Director Elliott keeps his eye trained on the potential for theater and visual delight. His script is filled with one-line zingers that stick in the memory. Yet he also reminds us that one queen's goals may not be all that different from your own. When Felicia tells the girls of her dream of climbing the highest peak in the center of Australia, in drag and heels, Bernadette responds, "Great. That's just what this country needs. A cock, in a frock, on a rock."

Wrapped in a film like this, that's a dream this country could use as well.

•Spiritual & Psychic Consulting •Healing •Psychometry

Available Atter Initial Consultation by Telephone. Reasonable Rates

614-262-6186

PO Box 10487 Columbus, Ohio 43201

"Dahling, if you think this is something, you ain't seen nothing yet!" Felicia (Guy Pearce), left, and Mitzi (Hugo Weaving), slip into something cool for the locals.

Drag on the run

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert Soundtrack

by Phil Satolli

Having just listened to the soundtrack to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, my curiosity to see the film has certainly been piqued. Any movie that boasts classics like "Billy Don't Be A Hero," "Go West," and Charlene's ever-so-stirring "I've Never Been To Me" is sure to quench my camp cravings.

Drag Queen 101 standards by Lena Horne and Patti Page sound right at home next to disco nuggets like "Shake Your Groove Thing" and "I Love the

Nightlife." The inclusion, however, of re-mixed bonus tracks was aggravating. By the third version of Alicia Bridges' aforementioned classic, I was ready to take some "action" of my own and crush my cassette. Unlike Jacqueline Susann, once was plenty, darling.

The recent hits "Save the Best for Last" by Vanessa Williams, and Ce Ce Peniston's "Finally" seemed out of place. Skip those and go straight to my favorite drag-queen-in-a-car sing-a-long, "I Will Survive." Give me a car, a red light, an audience, and I am Gloria Gaynor.

Like last year's Strictly Ballroom soundtrack, if it's kitsch you're after, pick this one up.

The ZOO!/columbus

A BBS OPTION FOR THE GAY COMMUNITY

(614) 298-8430

RIP GRAPHICS SUPPORT! 4 AVAILABLE LINES/NODES! CHAT FUNCTION!

14,400 BAUD ERROR CORRECTION MODEMS!

MATCHMAKER II!

.JPG AND .GIF-FORMAT GAY GRAPHICS! CD-ROM AND ON-LINE FILE AREAS!

GAY COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES ANNOUNCEMENTS! LOCAL AND REGIONAL SPECIAL EVENTS BULLETINS! NET-MAIL COMMUNICATIONS WITH OTHER ZOONET BBSES!

THE ZOOI/COLUMBUS is a multi-node Bulletin Board System provided as a free service to the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual communities.

TRANSFORMATIONS

"Our Customers' Friends are Now Our Customers"

Wallpaper Installation Wallpaper Removal & Repair Painting-Interior and Exterior Woodwork Stripping & Refinishing Wall Repair Power Washing Free Estimates/Insured

Diane Brown

488-7708

Todd Martino