KEY POINTS:
Stars of camp musical spectacular Priscilla Queen of the Desert are used to the fawning reaction of their fans, but admit the delighted reception usually comes following the curtain call.
The crew were welcomed to New Zealand by one unlikely fan: "The customs officer [at Auckland Airport] said, 'I'll be throwing flowers!," laughs cast member Dean Vince, of their arrival.
The reaction is likely to be reciprocated once the lights come up on the first New Zealand performance of the show in Auckland tonight.
The stage show, an adaptation the 1994 hit film of the same name, tells the story of two drag queens and a transsexual who travel a sometimes bumpy road from Sydney to the outback in a bus in order to perform a cabaret in Alice Springs.
Dean Vince says the story is as much about the three lead characters learning about themselves, as it is the trip in the blinged-out bus named Priscilla.
Indeed it seems Priscilla acts as an additional character, the bus rotating and transforming throughout the show to provide a spectacular, ever changing backdrop to an otherwise plain performance space.
The stars emphasise the story - with its themes of love and acceptance - is accessible to everyone.
"They're drag queens, and their gay, but it's bigger than that," says cast member Michael Griffiths.
"It's as much about family and looking for who you are."
Audiences can expect an explosion of colour in the form of jaw-dropping costumes designed by the film's costume designers Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardener. Particularly impressive are the chorus of 1.5m-tall dancing cupcakes and a striking one-piece made entirely of jandals.
Key too are the songs that are the paddle that guides the show forward.
"You'll know all the disco hits!" says Griffiths.
Those include colourful interpretations of Go West, I Will Survive, What's Love Got To Do With It, I Love The Nightlife, I've Never Been To Me, Shake Your Groove Thing and Finally.
* Priscilla runs until Sunday, July 6 at Auckland's Civic Theatre.
