Alley Repertory Theater opens tonight with their newest show, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical. Based on the feature movie, the show is written by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott. The story is at some times outrageous and sometimes touching, with great performances by a cast assembled by Buffie Main, Artistic Director for the Alley Repertory Theater. The music has many tunes that we are all familiar with, primarily from the disco era, with solid gold songs such as I Will Survive, Hot Stuff, Girls Just Want to Have Fun and I Love the Nightlife. The Boise Beat sat down with Buffie, to get the story on this award-winning Broadway musical that runs at the Alley Repertory Theater from November 26 thru December 19.
Q: Hello, Buffie. Can you tell me a little bit about the history of the Alley Repertory Theater…..
A: We have been around for 14 years. I co-founded Alley Rep 14 years ago with another person, and we did it because there wasn’t a mid-level theater company in town, so it was two-fold; and we really were interested in doing more contemporary pieces. There was a contemporary theater doing contemporary theater, but they really weren’t doing the American Contemporary Theater landscape; and I really wanted Boise to have a connection to what was happening around the country in theater. The contemporary theater was really doing some great stuff, but it was always a bit obscure and not necessarily the Pulitzers or the most recent Playwriting Awards; so it was two-fold for me—creating a space for mid-level artists to come together, and also just making sure that we were getting contemporary vernacular into the Boise Scene.
There’s really no place to go—you could go to Portland or Seattle, but I really wanted people to be able to see it here and do it here, so that was a bit where it came from.
Q: What’s your background with theater?
A: I was raised in the theater; and I have a B.F.A. In theater from a little women’s college. I really cut my teeth in summer stock theater, where you do ninety shows in ten weeks; and just have done theater all my life. I don’t have an advanced degree in theater, but I have done a lot of labs and ongoing continuing education. I feel like I stay pretty connected to what is happening in the regional scene. I chose Boise for that, I came to Boise in 2000, and I choise Boise because it felt like it was on the cusp of moving into, of being a really great, mid-sized regional town for all of the arts. It just felt like it was on the edge of blowing up, which of course it turns out it was! So that’s how I got here.
Q: You’ve picked an interesting show. Could you talk a bit about Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and why you picked it?
A: Our very last show got shorted in the pandemic. We always do something kooky during Christmas. We very accidentally learned about eight years ago that people at Christmas time are really interested in not doing the normal, and certainly need a break from all of the Christmas things, so we very accidentally fell into doing what was called The Golden Girls Christmas Extravaganza, which is a spoof upon the TV show The Golden Girls with some great music. And then we started selling houses. For me, at the beginning, because I am a very serious theatergoer, it was, “What am I doing? What are WE doing?”. There was a very specific moment where we were standing in the back of the house and 200 people laughed at the same time; and I realized that we all need to have spaces where we can gather joyfully. That has to be part of the theater vernacular.
So the show that we did before the pandemic was La Cage aux Folles; and we did that because we believe in diversity and inclusion; and it’s a great musical. We had these really talented artists and it had never been done in Idaho, so there were all these great reasons to do it. It was a smash hit! And then, post-pandemic, it felt like coming out of the pandemic, it would be really great to gather with something familiar. Priscilla is similar to La Cage, it’s never been done in Idaho, it has great LBGTQ messaging around family and how love looks different for everybody. It was also an awesome hit, so it has everything that’s needed.
Q: It looks like you’ve put together a good cast for it…..
A: Yes, they’re actually really fantastic. I’m blown away! It’s a crazy-talented cast. And that’s the magic of Alley Rep. You say, mid-level; and what does that mean to people? It happens that people come and they get a really professional show, people who are either really coming into the business, or retiring out of the business and they’re all fantastic. We capture them on our boards and then you just get a great experience.
Q: Tell me a little bit about the story, just a teeny bit……
A: There’s a bit of history in the story, which is based upon the 1994 movie [The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert] that is a classic story; one of the first LGBTQ movies about an “out” set of people having a conversation and going on another journey together. So that movie has a following; and then the musical wasn’t actually written until 2011. So the movie was ’94 and we got the musical in 2011, and it tells the story of three dear friends who are all drag queens, who are going on a journey to meet one of the drag queen’s wives and kid. It’s the adventure that happens as they go to meet this family; and they do it on a bus in the desert. That’s the gist of the story.
It’s an interesting thing to see for a piece of theater, because the music is by drag queens; and drag queens are known for doing amazing, iconic ballads and huge numbers. The musical is super-smart, because what it does is it has these three female characters who live-sing our favorite numbers of the ages—I Will Survive, It’s Raining Men, Go West; so these huge female numbers and female voices; and then drag queens who lip-sync at the same time. So you’re getting live music with a lip-sync performance at the same time, which is kind of cool, because usually if you have lip-sync you don’t have live music.
Q: When is the show running?
A: We open the day after Thanksgiving, with a “pay what you want” performance; and then we technically open on Saturday, November 27. We run all the way through December 19. Wehave a little break in there, but we run all the way through the 19th. It’s a great option for people who are over the Nutcracker, or who want to just add something to their Christmas tradition.
Q: You’ve got Jodi Eichelberger and a few other top performers from the Treasure Valley. Can you talk a little bit about them?
A: The whole cast is fabulous! Jodi Eichelberger is known for being very woven into the arts community. His story is, he’s from Boise and went to Broadway and came back a couple of years ago. He’s really talented and a delight to listen to! Ben Clegg’s character, who is a drag queen—Ben is actually well-known in this community as a drag queen; Miz Fyre, is a fabulous performer who has a music degree or two. Alaggio Laurino is also somebody who has been On Broadway and Off Broadway; has made his life and his home and his family in Boise. He’s a talent!
We have this 18 year old “kid” with an amazing, beautiful voice. At 18, he’s already got this “life of an artist” story. They’re really a blast! Leta Neustaedter is in it, she plays one of the divas; then there are two young women, one who just graduated from Northwest Nazarene and one who is finishing at BSU, they have these huge lady voices. They are just slaying! It’s a heck of a cast!
Q: What can you say to “entice” people to come to the show?
A: If you want to hear all your favorite 70s and 80s disco standards sung live, this is the show for you! It’s also just great singing and dancing—what originally started out as The Golden Girls Christmas Extravaganza—this is actually an extravaganza, it just doesn’t get much bigger than this onstage, unless it’s like The Lion King or something! (laughs). It’s just like non-stop hits and music. So that’s what I think is the thing to know, it’s just a fun, fun show.
The story is just, so, so real. The story is about a person who is going to meet their son for the first time. It’s somebody who’s afraid to meet their kid because they’re afraid of sharing with their kid who they are. I think that’s a universal story, as we come into adulthood and we know that we want to be all that we can for our kids. Sometimes that’s being honest about who we are, and that’s hard. The story has some honesty to it. The other thing is that the lead character, the lead drag queen is actually transgender. So that’s a very contemporary story, about somebody who is living in the world as a transgender person. The story really revolves around her experience in the world too. That character won the Tony on Broadway and the Olivier Award, so it’s a very poignant and real character, and Jodi plays that and of course she does it beautifully.
Q: It sounds like a wonderful show, Buffie. Anything else you’d like to add?
A: There’s a bigger thing happening here right now than this really huge, glamourous, ritzy fun show. And that is, we are all coming out of an incredibly difficult time. It’s hard to shake yourself into knowing it’s safe; and knowing to get out of our Zoom world. It takes some energy. I would say, it’s part of the healing journey for us to come together again. So I just invite audiences to have courage and be bold and get their butts to the theater, because I think we will all feel better and things will feel more normal the more we try to do that. And we will keep you safe at Alley Rep. That includes a vaccine mandate and masks in the theater, so we’re trying to follow the professional standards that were just agreed on in New York last weekend; so we can still be keeping people safe but still having a ball.
Q: Thank you, Buffie. It sounds like a fun show to enjoy. See you at the Alley Repertory Theater!
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical
Pay-What-You-Want Preview: Nov. 26 |
Shows: Nov. 27, Dec. 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18
Matinees: Nov. 28, Dec. 19
Alley Repertory Theater
Located at the Visual Arts Collective
3638 Osage St
Garden City, ID 83714
21 AND OVER ESTABLISHMENT – VALID ID REQUIRED
Doors open at 7pm, Show starts at 8pm
$25 General Admission, $20 Students/Seniors/Military
Tickets available at the door and www.alleyrep.org
