Headdresses and Heels! Broadway's 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.
You have performed this show more than 1,200 times in countries around the world. It hasn’t gotten old?
Not at all! The show keeps changing because we keep refining it on our way to the Broadway opening. And Bernadette is a very rich role. Friends of mine in Australia have said, “This is your Dolly. This is your Mame.” How often does a middle-aged man get to be a leading lady in a Broadway musical?
Were you surprised when the show’s producers asked you to follow Priscilla to America?
Absolutely. I’m sort of overwhelmed by their loyalty to me. I really thought I would’ve been dumped a long time ago for a bigger name, so I must be doing something right.
You mentioned the show changing. Will Broadway audiences see a completely different Priscilla?
It hasn’t changed much since we’ve been here. It’s really just seeing how clued in audiences are to the Australian vernacular. We’re very reluctant to change that because it’s what makes the show unique, and you don’t want to pander to the public by oversimplifying it. This show is about a very distinct environment and group of people, so you always want to stay true to that.
The show follows the lead trio on a cross-country trip through the Australian Outback. Have you ever made the trek there?
I’ve never been, but we know those sort of people and we certainly grow up knowing the history and geography of our country. That is why I sort of have no desire to go to the Outback [laughs].
Have you ever been on any wild road trips of your own that provide inspiration?
Nothing that crazy. I’ve done the Melbourne to Brisbane trip, but that’s along the coast so you’re always in sight of beautiful scenery and spectacular beaches. Things like that make the trip much easier. The inland trips are not recommended because you can die if your car breaks down. You’re literally in the middle of nowhere.
Tell us about Bernadette. What do you love about this character?
I’m very familiar with where she came from because I’m from a showbiz family. My mother is still a musical theater and cabaret star in Australia and my father was a dancer and then became a TV producer. She’s based on a real person who was a star at a club called Les Girls in Sydney in the 1960s. I knew a lot of those people. They used to come to our house and hang out at parties. She had a very glamorous life in her youth, but that's long behind her when Priscilla starts. She’s middle-aged and alone and has no prospects really, which is why she goes on this trip.
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.
The costumes in this show are incredible! What’s the hardest quick change you have to do?
Everything is hard! They are not designed to be worn with comfort. The shoes alone are crazy. Aside from the fact that they’re high heels, we have things like high heel scuba flippers and high heeled blunt stone boots. They’re almost impossible to walk in, let alone dance in. And of course I’m in a corset all night, which the other two boys don’t have to wear, and huge headdresses. I’m constantly trying not to fall over and at the same time look comfortable and elegant.
Have you ever had any onstage wardrobe malfunctions?
We’ve never actually fallen over. The bus has taken on a life of its own a few times. There have been occasions where you turn around and the bus has decided to drive itself straight at you and try to kill you! That was in the early days, though, when we were still very much in the experimental phase.
Are there any great ladies of the stage being channeled in your performance?
I’ve heard several from the audience over the years. I get a lot of Lauren Bacall. I’ve heard Celeste Holm, Greer Garson, Kathleen Turner and even Cate Blanchett. I’m not consciously trying to be anybody because I think Bernadette would have gone to see all those movies and patented herself off all those women. I think there’s a bit of everyone in there.
As a veteran of the show, are you a mentor to the Broadway cast?
Nobody comes to me [for advice], but one hopes one leads by example. From the very beginning I’ve been working at performance level so they could see where to pitch the show, and I think that helps everybody. They just jumped in, boots and all. I think the language and structure was unfamiliar to them so they didn’t really know if this was going to work. I went in with total confidence saying, “Just follow me, fellows, and we’ll all be fine.”
The camaraderie between you and co-stars Will Swenson and Nick Adams feels so genuine. Did you do anything extra outside rehearsal to form a special bond?
We hit a couple of the drag clubs in New York early on, mostly for Will’s benefit, him being the straight boy in the trio. And of course, as always happens, he behaved the most outrageously of the three of us. We had to drag him out at the end of the night. They’re both the most beautiful guys, and we all just adore one another, which makes our job so much easier onstage.
The show is coming to Broadway at a pivotal time in the LGBT community’s fight for equality. The production has even teamed with the It Gets Better Project. Is that in your mind as you perform?
It’s in the audience’s heads. It’s the response we get from the people who are suffering, from being excluded from society and being victimized—they’re the ones who are picking up on what the message of the show is. We don’t have to do anything other than tell the story. I can see that we’re making an impact because these people keep coming back and back and back and saying, “This show brings me so much happiness and it’s a safe place for me to come and forget all my problems and feel a part of the joy.”
So, what’s your life like after you kick off your heels and take off the faux lashes?
It’s a very quiet and dull existence offstage. There’s constant maintenance to stay well, and during the day I have to live like a monk. I have to be so careful of what I eat. I have to watch my weight. I don’t drink or smoke. I gave all that up once I started with the show. I have to get to the theater two hours before the show because the makeup itself takes an hour. Then I do a lot of stretching to make sure I don’t get injured by the shoes or the costumes. There’s also steaming your voice. I tend to go straight home after the show and get a couple of hours in front of the television with a bowl of soup in my lap, then off to bed. I did all my wild time when I was younger. I look at the kids in our show who go out partying every night and I think, “How can they do that?” Then I remember I did that for years when I was a young actor; never came home before sunrise. Now I can’t, and I’m just as happy.
Are you at least able to enjoy living in New York?
I’m a tourist in New York! I’ve been coming here since I was 20 for a month or so at a time, but this is my first time living here. To come with an Australian written show, playing an Australian character, in a show that’s been a hit around the world—who could ask for anything more? I go and see other Broadway shows and cabarets. People are horrified that on my day off I go to see two or three things a day!
After all the time you’ve spent with Priscilla, what about the show makes you the most proud?
Everything. I’m proud that it got on [Broadway] because Australia is not known for producing big musicals. We’re very lucky that we always get the best of Broadway and the West End. We’re providing performers who can do the material, and that’s why Americans and English producers love working with Australians. We’re real workhorses. However, it’s huge for us to actually bring something over and for it to have gotten approval around the world from audiences.
Do you have any new goals for the Broadway production?
I’d just like to see it run. It’s always the luck of the draw on Broadway, but this is such an audience show. They’re the ones adoring us and coming back and seeing it over and over again. I’d love the chance to stay with it and strut my stuff!
See Tony Sheldon in Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre.
