This Man Transformed Into Felicia From Priscilla Queen Of The Desert And He Looks Faaaabulous

    And the glitter never goes away.

    Anna Mendoza
    by Anna Mendoza

    BuzzFeed Staff, Australia

    The amount of work that goes into hair and makeup in theatre productions can sometimes be overshadowed by the grander elements on stage. If you're seated way back, the finer details can often be missed.

    Sam Tabone / WireImage

    But in the latest musical production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which was adapted from the classic Australian movie, the drag makeup just can't be avoided.

    To appreciate the work up close, BuzzFeed invited the production's head of hair and makeup Connie Dyson and actor Euan Doidge to show what goes into transforming a character from a man to a drag queen.

    Doidge's Felicia is a cheeky and colourful character who joins two other drag queens on a road trip from Sydney to Alice Springs. Dyson said his looks tend towards the bright and fun side, with lots of glitter.

    "There’s an original design and with each new production and a new cast we work with those designers to adapt the styles to suit the performers that have been chosen for the roles," Dyson told BuzzFeed.

    It takes a lot of technical skill to make a person with very strong male facial features look convincingly female.

    "The tricky part of transforming a character from male to female is hiding the male features like a strong brow bone, moving their eyebrow to a higher position, changing the bone structure so it’s more female, and usually making the lips a lot bigger."

    Artists and actors spend a lot of time in the makeup chair during a full transformation. Doidge joked to BuzzFeed he's been told off for spending too much on his phone. He also said you develop a really close relationship with your makeup artist.

    "I learnt so much about my face and what looked good on my face. I had pictures from when I first started makeup and I thought I looked flawless. And then months and months down the track I really got a grasp of what suited me and Connie’s helped me so much with that."

    In the stage production of Priscilla characters switch from male to drag within minutes, and full transformations aren't physically possible.

    "The trick we use because the transformations are so fast during the show is that we have 130 masks which are custom fit for each performer," Dyson said. "They probably range from five to eight masks each, and all different colours airbrushed onto those that we use in different scenes to match their costumes. It means that we can change lots of fabulous looks really fast."

    Her team has to do several touch ups during the show.

    "There’s lots of lipstick and glitter on and lipstick and glitter off. We use sticky tape to get all the glitter off...we go through absolutely tons of that!"

    Actors are also taught how to do their own makeup.

    "This would be the third time that I’ve had to transform into drag [for a live production]," Doidge said.

    "I did a smaller version of Priscilla on a cruise ship and then went straight into Kinky Boots where I had to learn full drag makeup which has been so joyous for me."

    The costume Doidge transformed into when he dropped by BuzzFeed was the "Broken Hill" scene look.

    Via http://

    "I was so excited [the first time I donned this look]. It’s an iconic costume and image from the movie. So when I got to try it on with the whole piece and the donkey tail and the makeup, it’s super cool."

    Via http://

    "I was so excited [the first time I donned this look]. It’s an iconic costume and image from the movie. So when I got to try it on with the whole piece and the donkey tail and the makeup, it’s super cool."

    Via http://

    "I was so excited [the first time I donned this look]. It’s an iconic costume and image from the movie. So when I got to try it on with the whole piece and the donkey tail and the makeup, it’s super cool."

    Honestly...FAB!

    Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical is currently on stage at Sydney's Capitol Theatre until July 21, 2018, after which it will continue its Australian tour to Adelaide and Brisbane.