Priscilla gets a B+ in NYC - though certain critics just don't like fun

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Priscilla, Queen of the Desert's road trip began in Australia years ago, then passed through London's West End before arriving in Toronto thanks to David Mirvish last fall. Now, the jukebox musical about two drag queens, a transsexual and the party bus of the title has moved on to New York where it officially opened last night and its producers hope it will park for a good, long while.

Are the Broadway critics on board? Stage Grade, that invaluable New York website that I wish someone would imitate in a Canadian city, has the full round-up of yesterday's reviews. They hand the production an overall grade of B+.

Secret Canadian Adam Feldman, who sometimes reviews for us down in NYC, has the most negative assessment in Time Out New York: "[W]en the costumes come first in a musical, that's a bad sign-especially when nothing comes second."

Meanwhile, in the New York Times, Charles Isherwood seems to have been irritated by the show and compares its musical selections to "a Florida gay bar" and "the later, more dispiriting hours at a nightclub, when the D.J. is on autopilot and only the really hardened club crawlers are still churning away."

Feldman and Isherwood are the exceptions rather than the rule, however. In Variety, Steven Suskin summarizes the aw-heck-it-was-fun consensus that greeted its Toronto pit-stop as well: "Inartful here, crass there, this rollicking crowdpleaser in sequins nonetheless packs enough heart to leave the masses enthralled."

Why do we care about this Australian movie-turned-musical? Well, because the producers tried the toned-down New York version out on Torontonians first, the way some make-up companies try out mascara on rabbits first to make sure they don't go blind. Plus, there are a few Canadians in the cast (fewer than in Toronto), notably C. David Johnson - not the Governor General, but the Soulpepper regular who starred in Street Legal back in the day.

So how did Johnson do in his Broadway debut, playing Bob the mechanic? He is not mentioned in all that many reviews truthfully, but when he is mentioned the mentions are nice. Writing for Bloomberg News, Jeremy Gerard, for instance, removes his hat to Johnson's "loveable" performance. I guess we can finally take CDJ seriously as an actor up in here in Canada now.

PS. The comments on the New York Times review are as entertaining as Isherwood's review in their own way. I was particularly surprised by the comment from one Michael Bryan that Priscilla is "a very loud, in-your-face show destined to tour in Florida and Canada." I have no idea what that means.