Freemantle Media have confirmed production will commence on a talent show with a twist (and a really big wig budget) called ‘I Will Survive‘, a nationwide search for the next big queen of the desert, according to The Spy Report.
To be shown on 2012’s home of quality programming that the public have wholeheartedly embraced in all their pre-production glory (Being Lara Bingle, The Shire, Puberty Blues), Network Ten, the show will offer its contestants the chance to join the cast of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert on Broadway after a Sydney to Alice Springs ride on the silver bus that’ll retrace the stiletto steps of the original film, with contestants performing along the way. When the final four reach Alice Springs, they’ll jet off to New York to audition for the role of Tick, originally made famous by Hugo Weaving. Inspiration for your audition above and below perhaps:
The call has been put out for triple threat performers (singer-dancer-actors) to audition from April 15th in Brisbane, with the show expected to air later this year.
The original concept was never what you’d call commercial to begin with, but writer-director Stephan Elliott’s homage to camp hyper-coloured kitsch drag and disco culture became an unstoppable Academy Award winning, BAFTA-nominated film, and a GLAAD recognised international musical theatre production.
Whether or not the show will resonate with a contemporary audience who might’ve been too young for the original and have already been fed their fair share of musical television of late (Glee, Young Talent Time, Smash, Legally Blonde, Don’t Stop Believing, not to mention Australia’s Got The X Factor Voice of an Idol and RuPaul’s Drag Race) or if this production is just too niche remains to be seen through gigantic eyelashes.
But when you consider the abundance of these kind of musical theatre talent shows, niche no longer becomes the issue, but quality. Either way Australia, a big Broadway rainbow is waiting for you:
UPDATE: Even though word of the production has been kicking around for a while, FreemantleMedia and Channel 10 could not be contacted to confirm details of the production so acrylics crossed this isn’t a Kyle & Jackie O at the Logies style hoax.
