NewStatesman.com – Andrew Billen
There was a period, long before Heston Blumenthal became famous for his culinary conjuring, when everything from KitKats to breakfast cereals ended up as ice cream. It was surely only a matter of time, I felt, before the New Statesman relaunched as an ice lolly. Currently, everything aspires to be a West End musical: Shampoo, Billy Elliot, The Full Monty . . . and now Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Released in 1994, this was a highly successful Australian film that related the travels and travails of three professional drag queens – one bisexual, one gay and one transsexual – driving from the relative safety of Sydney to Alice Springs. Although it showed plenty of their routines, it was nearer a road movie or a gay buddy movie than a musical. A musical is what it has become, however.