Strike me pink!
Australian actor Ray Meagher -- best known as gruff Home and Away patriarch Alf Stewart – will swap Summer Bay for the Australian Outback when he joins the cast of Priscilla Queen of the Desert in Auckland this October.
The Australian musical follows two drag queens and a transgender woman as they travel through the outback on a colourful bus, singing iconic pop and disco songs.
Along the way they meet Meagher's character Bob the mechanic, a "salt-of-the-earth" guy who's still searching for his place in the world when the drag queens land in his lap.
Meagher, who first played the role in 2007 and then on London's West End in 2010 and 2011, says Bob is "probably a nicer bloke" than Alf.
"Alf is like Bob on steroids, if you like. Bob's a far more laid-back character, far more accepting."
Meagher, who has played Alf since 1988 and is the longest-serving actor in any Australian television series, says that after some initial trepidation on the stage, he now feels confident and comfortable, and is "over the moon" to be performing in Auckland.
Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which last toured to Auckland in 2008, opens at the Civic Theatre on October 14.
Newshub.
