Priscilla stage role for Donovan

Jason Donovan (right) stars with Oliver Thornton (left) and Tony Sheldon

Jason Donovan is to return to the West End stage in Priscilla Queen of the Desert - The Musical.

It is based on the Oscar-winning 1994 film about a performing trio of two drag queens and a transsexual who drive through the Australian outback.

The production will open at the Palace Theatre in March 2009.

Former Neighbours star Donovan, who has also enjoyed a singing career, made his West End debut in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1991.

The 40-year-old, who recently announced he was planning to release a new album, has been cast as Tick - one of the performers travelling in a bus called Priscilla.

World premiere

The new musical production will also star Tony Sheldon and Oliver Thornton.

The film starred Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Donovan's former Neighbours co-star Guy Pearce.

More than 500 costumes and 100 wigs are used in the musical, which had its world premiere in Sydney in 2006.

It has been seen by more than one million people and grossed more than £41m, making it the most successful Australian musical of all time.

Plans are also under way for a North American production of the show to open in Toronto, with another in Germany following in Autumn 2009. A Swedish production is scheduled for 2010.

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Clips from the stage musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert