The Divas

The Three Divas (Australian cast)

The Divas were conceived to solve a problem - lyp synch!

At certain points in the evening” Musical Director Spud Murphy explains, “the three main characters, being drag performers, perform some so-called ‘miming’. I really hated the danger of saying to an audience that this show is mimed.” Director Simon Phillips agreed and remembered that Stephan Elliott, the film’s writer/director, had once talked about the idea of ‘desert drag goddesses’.

With this in mind, Phillips and Murphy came up with idea of The Three Divas - three performers who would sing certain numbers live as they were being lyp-synched simultaneously by the leads.

As you expect from Divas, anyone cast in those roles has to be more than a fine singer, they have to be drop-dead fantastic! The band delivers an authentic, up-front disco sound and, as Murphy says, “as soon as you have somebody that doesn’t have a kick-arse voice to go with it, disco can sound like your Uncle Fred singing along at your 21st birthday, you know what I mean?”

Not only that, the Divas have to deliver their vocal power while suspended high above the stage, supported by harnesses that run right across the abdominal muscles. “That is a big challenge for them,” says Murphy, “because the abdomen is where all their petrol comes from.” The other physical challenge is movement: anything big causes the whole body to swing like a pendulum, and never stop. So choreographer Ross Coleman developed a unique minimalist style that concentrated action to the arms, from the elbows down to the fingers tips. Digital choreography at its finest!

The Divas deliver on all these challenges, big time … as all true divas do.

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