Headdresses and Heels! Broadway's Newest Queen Tony Sheldon on Getting Glam in Priscilla
Interviews By Michael Mellini March 7, 2011 - 11:03AM
http://www.broadway.com/shows/priscilla-queen-desert/buzz/155500/headdresses-and-heels-broadways-newest-queen-tony-sheldon-on-getting-glam-in-priscilla/After originating the role of Bernadette, a past-her-prime transsexual on a road trip across the Australian Outback with two drag queen pals, in the original Australian production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Tony Sheldon has stuck with the show for more than five years as it traveled to New Zealand, London's West End and Toronto. Now Sheldon is set to make his Broadway debut in Priscilla, which opens on March 20 at the Palace Theatre.
Broadway.com caught up with the Aussie-born actor before a recent performance to chat about life on the glamorous Priscilla bus, his rigorous daily rituals and the surprise dangers of the musical's dazzling costumes.
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Aside from playing Roger De Bris in The Producers, had you ever done drag before Priscilla?
Not any sort of proper glamour drag. I'd done stupid drag in Christmas shows. I played Norma Desmond in a Sunset Boulevard pantomime, but that was obviously a guy just pretending. The challenge with Bernadette has been to create a woman onstage and make her believable so that the audience forgets there's a man there. It does help to have wonderful wig people and costume designers on your side who do everything they can to create the illusion.
