Theater News

Bette Midler Joins Producing Team for Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical

Bette Midler
(© Greg Gorman)
Bette Midler
(© Greg Gorman)

Superstar Bette Midler has joined the producing team for Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical, which has just launched a 12-week engagement at Toronto’s The Princess of Wales Theatre, and will begin performances at Broadway’s Palace Theatre on February 28, with an official opening on March 20.


The production will be directed by Simon Phillips. Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott have adapted the show from the Academy Award-winning film about three friends searching for love and friendship in the middle of the Australian outback. The score is made up of well-known dance-floor songs.

As previously reported, the show will star Nick Adams (Adam/Felicia), Tony Sheldon (Bernadettte), and Will Swenson (Tick/Mitzi), along with Mike McGowan (Frank), C. David Johnson (Bob), James Brown III (Jimmy), Nathan Lee Graham (Miss Understanding), J. Elaine Marcos (Cynthia), Jessica Phillips (Marion), Steve Schepis (Farrah), and Keala Settle (Shirley).

The cast also includes Ashley Spencer, Jacqueline Arnold, Anastacia McCleskey, Thom Allison, Kyle Brown, Bryan West, Tad Wilson, Joshua Buscher, Susan Dunstan, Gavin Lodge, David Lopez, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Jeff Metzler and Eric Sciotto.

The production will feature choreography by Ross Coleman, musical supervision and arrangements by Stephen ‘Spud’ Murphy, set design by Brian Thomson, lighting design by Nick Schlieper, and sound design by Jonathan Deans. Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner have re-created their Academy Award-winning costume designs, which were originally designed for the film, while the BAFTA Award winning make up design is recreated by Cassie Hanlon.

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