York Stage Musicals head to the Australian outback on board Priscilla

From tonight to September 16 at the Grand Opera House, the trio will be putting on the glitz in sequins, lipstick, high heels and feathers as they climb aboard the battered old bus Priscilla to take a journey across the Australian outback in Stephan Elliott's musical.

Based on Elliott's 1994 film, The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, this heart-warming, uplifting adventure follows glamorous Sydney drag trio Adam, Bernadette and Tick in their search for love and friendship when taking their show on the road.

Jacob Husband will be stepping up to a lead role after appearing in YSM's Grease and Hairspray and as Ja’Keith Gill in Rock Of Ages. At 23, he is playing Adam, the trio's youngest, most hyperactive member, who takes to the stage as Felicia Jollygoodfellow, but doing so has brought its own challenges of balancing work and play.

"I knew there was a part in Priscilla that would really suit me but I'd have to fit it in with being a student nurse, studying at the University of York, where I'm a first-year student," he says.

"I'm working at Ripon Community Hospital at the moment and have a really good mentor who's been great with me, so I'm now wearing plastic gloves during the day and then running off to adorn myself in sequins at night."

Some of "the ladies from Minor Injuries" will be attending a performance and Jacob is sure they will enjoy seeing him in a different light. "I've been rehearsing in heels, getting a cheap pair, quite high heeled, to make sure I'll be walking correctly, as you really have to get that right," he says.

Alex Weatherhill, a professional performer, musical director and arranger, will be making his YSM bow as Bernadette Bassinger, the older, wiser, motherly figure of the trio. "Bernadette is a bit of a bucket-list part for me. It seems my entire performing career has been built on playing middle-aged ladies, though not a panto dame!" he says.

"In fact last time I was here at the Grand Opera House I was playing a middle-aged lady, Mary Sunshine in Chicago, in a cast with Ali Bastian, Stefan Booth and Bernie Nolan."

Alex was introduced to YSM artistic director Nik Briggs when directing a show for Scarborough Musicals and saw a YSM show for the first time when Daniel Conway, one of his pupils at Studio La Pointe in Garforth, took the lead role of New York banker Sam Wheat in Ghost The Musical in February 2016.

Now Alex is adding playing Bernadette Bassinger to his ever busy diary after touring with Sasha Regan’s All Male Gilbert & Sullivan Company. "I write the summer season rep shows at the Bridlington Spa Theatre, where the main show is halfway between a production show and a musical. This August we did Myths And Legends ['A clash of mythical stories and legendary music'], which was about a group of school friends going camping in the woods and searching for the secret of eternal youth," he says.

Jacob Husband, front, Alex Weatherhill and Joe Wawrzyniak in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, The Musical. Picture: Benedict Tomlinson

"We also did two shows where we promenaded around Sewerby Hall, Burton Constable Hall and Burton Agnes Hall: A Cowardly Night, all Noel Coward songs, and Berlin Nights, our Irving Berlin show."

Company regular Joe Wawrzyniak will play Tick, the more level-headed group leader, who is on his own journey of discovery. You may well recall Joe's outrageously good turn as Edna Turnblad in YSM's Hairspray, but he is quick to make a distinction between playing Edna and Tick, who glams up as Mitzi Mitosis.

"With Edna, you're not a man pretending to be a woman; you ARE a woman. In Priscilla, I'm a man dressing as a woman to perform, and I have to be as feminine as possible – when I'm not normally feminine at all!" he says.

"For me, it's been about 'people watching'; mainly watching drag queens and how they act and move. Our choreographer, AJ [Powell, the York Theatre Royal pantomime regular] has been giving us good advice on movement to give us a feminine quality.

"In I Will Survive, we have to wear big-legged trouser suits, so we've been imagining having big feet in the rehearsals with people saying, 'why are you walking like John Wayne?'!"

As the opening night fast approaches, Jacob is raring to go. "As a three we're well cast; we have chemistry between us and a bond with our characters. There's great banter and we're enjoying being a team," he says.

As a student, Jacob is on a learning curve, just like the character he plays. "Adam is the young one who hasn't learned lessons in life yet. He's over the top, but he learns to tone it down after it all gets a bit dark when he has a bad experience," he says.

After the storm, however, comes the rainbow: the chance to sing a Kylie Minogue medley, and who could resist such an opportunity!

York Stage Musicals present Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, The Musical at Grand Opera House, York, from tonight to September 16. Tickets for the 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm matinees on both Saturdays are on sale at £11.90 to £31.40 at atgtickets.com/york or on 0844 871 3024.