Question About The Accents In Priscilla

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 5/1/11 at 8:14pm

I just picked up my copy of the "Priscilla" OBC, and I can't stand the extremely cheesy the Australian accents sound on Will Swenson, and Nick Adams.

Do their accents sound that cheesy in the show?

Updated On: 5/1/11 at 08:14 PM

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 5/1/11 at 8:26pm

Their accents are pretty bad. My friend kept bringing it up during the show, lol.

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/1/11 at 8:36pm

Tony Sheldon is very good, given that he is actually FROM Australia.
Nick Adams is tolerable.
Will Swenson is the worst of them all, given he lapses his accent every few seconds.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/1/11 at 8:45pm

Tony and Nick sounds fine. Actually, I think Nick copies Guy Pearce to a tee-he must have listened to the film for some line readings.

Swenson is the weakest link in many areas. They need not renew his contract.

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/1/11 at 9:05pm

"Tony and Nick sounds fine. Actually, I think Nick copies Guy Pearce to a tee-he must have listened to the film for some line readings."

I just rewatched the movie and I definitely see the resemblance in voice and accent.

[shrekster224]

Posted: 5/1/11 at 9:30pm

Yea, Nick and Tony are doing the show much more justice than Will is. He's talented, but not right for the show. Nick was surprisingly good in a leading role, and Tony is really just great.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/1/11 at 9:39pm

The Asian accent is the worst.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 12:52am

What drives me insane is how they say "Together" in "Go West".

[Patash]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 4:50pm

I'm not going to defend anyone's accent in the show as I have yet to see this cast, but try to realize there is no such thing as AN Australian accent, just as there is no such thing as AN American accent. Not all Australians talk alike any more than all Americans talk alike.

Now consistency with the accent from one actor is quite a different matter.

[Calvin]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 4:56pm

I saw the show with a friend from Australia. I asked him afterward who (besides Sheldon) he thought had the accent down the best, and he said Swenson. So...take that for what it's worth.

[greeny11]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 4:59pm

Just listening to the cast recording (not the best way of assessing how great the accents are), Nick's accent doesn't sound too bad really. Will's is dreadful - he sounds English rather than Australian.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 5:00pm

I think Nick shines in the role and does it incredible justice. He is Felicia and uses his persona to great effect. Felicia is how everyone pictures Nick and he works it.

WhatI find ridiculous and offensive is the need to keep Cynthia an angry, broken English speaking Asian whore with a ping pong ball shooting crotch. I honestly think the character could have been re-worked to not be so stereoptypically offensive and one dimensional.

Elaine plays a camera toting tourist and a Asian whore. Oh how far we have come.

[mee.who]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 5:06pm

I spoke to a couple from Australia during intermission several weeks ago who also found Swenson's accent to be the most accurate following Tony Sheldon's. They took the biggest issue with the exaggerated accents in some of the smaller parts, particularly Shirley in the Broken Hill scene.

I think Swenson does sound more exaggerated on the recording than he does in the show though.


Updated On: 5/2/11 at 05:06 PM

[Patash]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 5:15pm

"I honestly think the character could have been re-worked to not be so stereoptypically offensive and one dimensional."


Ummmm. Aren't we talking about Priscilla here? Any character that is not sterotypically offensive and one dimensional just wouldn't belong in the show.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 6:43pm

"Ummmm. Aren't we talking about Priscilla here? Any character that is not sterotypically offensive and one dimensional just wouldn't belong in the show."

I guess, but as a gay man, I've known Ticks, and Felicias and Bernadettes. They are flamboyant but based in truth.

However, I think its time to put the "Me ruv you wrong time" Asian woman stereotype away.

[dramarama3]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 12:42am

As an Australian, I'm just gonna go ahead and say that there is something incredibly false about all the accents in the show (Sheldon included). They're just a bit exaggerated really. However, I found Swenson's to be among the most believable, if we're comparing it to how us Australian's actually talk, rather than the gross queeny slur that permeates most of the characters.

[PortalGamer]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 1:53am

Why have an accent in the show ? No one talks like that . Its quite bad really .

[PortalGamer]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 1:53am

Why have an accent in the show ? No one talks like that . Its quite bad really .

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 1:55am

Because a show set in the Australian Outback would sound quite dumb with Americans...

[Square Peg2]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 5:20am

I'm Australian, and I haven't seen the show or heard the cast album (and am therefore totally unqualified to comment ... and yet here I go ... ah, internets!!), but based on a rehearsal video I heard, I also thought Swenson's was the most authentic accent other than Sheldon's.

How hilarious that the Aussies seem to lean that way and the Americans towards Adams. Can't help but wonder if Americans perceive Aussie accents to sound somehow different to the way they actually do.

[alterego]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 7:50am

Many on here thought the Kira character in XANADU spoke with an authentic accent. Trust me, as an Australian the accents on the PRISCILLA CD are a hell of a lot more accurate.

[Patash]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 8:58am

"Can't help but wonder if Americans perceive Aussie accents to sound somehow different to the way they actually do."

Well, many Americans think all Aussies must sound exactly like Crocodile Dundee and when they don't, they assume the accents are false.

Just like some people would insist that a British actor doing a flawless Minnesota accent totally doesn't sound American. Or one doing a Boston accent is letting his own British accent get in the way of the "proper" American accent (whatever that is).

[theatreguy]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 9:06am

alterego, if anybody thought Kerry Butler's accent in Xanadu was supposed to be authentic then they weren't paying attention.