Jason Donovan camps it up in the desert

Jason Donovan is to star in a stage version of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert.

Adapted from the 1994 Oscar-winning film, the camp musical extravaganza will open in London next March.

The show has already been seen by more than a million people in Australia - where it is set - since it opened in 2006 and is the most successful Australian musical of all time.

The London production will succeed Spamalot at the Palace Theatre.

It tells the story of two drag queens and a transsexual booked to perform a gig in the remote town of Alice Springs. They travel in a bus, called Priscilla, in a road movie with added sequins.

Garry McQuinn, co-producer, said it was great fun and there were a few surprises even for those who knew the movie. "You can't create the Australian desert on stage. At one point we weren't even going to have a bus but in the end we thought we cannot do Priscilla on stage without Priscilla. But she has a few surprises up her frock."

Mr McQuinn said London was the obvious destination. "We think London audiences are far more open to new material - they are braver. Sometimes audiences in the rest of the world have to be led."

Donovan was a natural choice to star said Mr McQuinn. "I think he was considered for the role in the film so there's a little bit of history." Donovan came to fame in Australian soap Neighbours, where - by coincidence - the cast also included Guy Pearce, who starred in the original Priscilla movie.

But Pearce's part of Adam/Felicia will be played by Oliver Thornton, a veteran of West End musicals from Rent to Phantom and Les MisÈrables.

Joseph star Donovan will play Tick - Hugo Weaving on the big screen. Tony Sheldon will play Bernadette, the transsexual played by Terence Stamp in the film. Many of those who created it are involved, including writer Stephan Elliott and the Oscar-winning costumes team.