The ‘Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert’ Musical Has Cut Its Only Indigenous Australian Character
This uniquely Australian story just got a lot less Australian.
At a time when the dominant depiction of Australians in film was Mick Dundee, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of The Desert famously offered a different version of Australian identity to mainstream audiences — specifically, a non-heterosexual, non-cis gendered Australia.
While it was groundbreaking in its LGBTQI representation, one of the best scenes in Priscilla is when the three drag queens are rescued after their bus breaks down, by a young Indigenous man named Jimmy who then brings them back to his remote community. They each take turns performing for each other, one character plays didgeridoo to the beat of ‘I Will Survive’ and Jimmy dresses in drag. It’s the best.
It’s now been revealed that the character of Jimmy has been cut from the musical version of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which has run internationally since 2006. At a preview performance in Auckland, producer Garry McMuinn, told Maori Television that this was due to a lack of Indigenous Australian actors. “Frankly we cut it because somewhat we were embarrassed,” he said.
“We had Jimmy, who was played by an Aboriginal performer… and you know, brutally honestly, when we can’t find an Aboriginal to play that role — which happens throughout the world like playing in Spain — that’s a challenge okay, we don’t have it.”
Although earlier versions of the production included Jimmy, according to Maori Television’s interview he was eventually cut because he “slowed the story down”. One of the stars of the show, Ray Meagher (aka Alf from Home and Away) also attended the preview, and expressed disappointment that the Jimmy character had been cut. “When you go out there to those places on a bus, it’s unusual not to run into a few Aboriginals. So to have one representing that lot, because people want to represent their country why not a better reality of it,” he said.
“Some would say, ‘what are you doing sticking an Aboriginal in there?’ and others would say, ‘wasn’t it great that you truly reflected the people from that part of the world’.”
–
ht/Buzzfeed