THE audition was unlike anything Noel Sullivan had experienced before.

“I have never had to dress in full drag, spend two hours doing make-up, then go in a room and run up and down in high heels,” he says.

Certainly nothing like that happened when he was a member of Hear’Say, the short-lived pop band that came out of ITV’s Pop Stars programme. But in the ten years since its five members went their separate ways, Noel has forged a new career in musical theatre, with parts in Flashdance – The Musical and Grease, followed by the lead role of Galileo in We Will Rock You in the West End and on tour.

Now he is bound for the Grand Opera House, York, from May 13 in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, The Musical, in which he plays one of a trio of drag queens heading by bus across the Australian outback for a cabaret job in Alice Springs. They will encounter all sorts of Aussie wildlife along the way in this very camp show with its non-stop soundtrack of disco numbers and outrageous costumes.

“It’s like I’ve been trapped in a glittery cell for a few weeks,” says Noel, emerging from the rehearsal room for a lunch break. The extravagant costumes, all feathers and glitter and glitz, are extraordinary. He’s used to wearing a white T-shirt and black jeans not frocks and headdresses that make Joseph’s Technicolor dreamcoat look dull and shabby.

“I’d seen the show in London so I knew what to expect, but the audition process was quite intense,” he says. “But beneath the costumes is a great story and I play the heart of the story. It has the most amazing music as well.”

He plays Tick, sharing the role for the rest of the tour with Aussie Jason Donovan, who can seen be at the Leeds Grand Theatre from July 1 to 13.

“Underneath all the camp flamboyance, Tick is coming to terms with being a father and some of the responsibilities that go with that,” says Noel, who appeared earlier at the Opera House in Love Shack and Flashdance – The Musical.

He’s happy with the way his career is going as musical theatre is where he’s always wanted to be. “People didn’t think I was capable of doing it,” he says. “That’s great because it gives you something to fight towards. After We Will Rock You, there was no question of my abilities.”

Hear’Say lasted two years before Noel, Myleene Klass, Suzanne Shaw, Kym Marsh and Danny Foster went their separate ways.

“It seems like a different life now,” says Sullivan. “I was 19 at the time and am about to turn 33. It was almost half a lifetime ago. It was an amazing experience and changed my life. It’s given me a good standing and I’m working on an album now.”

He was offered West End roles, including Joseph, after Hear’Say, but thought they were wrong for him at that point. Trying to build the respect of the industry was more important to him than a starring role.

“I just didn’t want to rush into it but build a career of longevity. I had already had a boom-and-bust experience of being thrown on the scrapheap at 21.”

Priscilla is his biggest, probably his most demanding, musical theatre role yet. There remain others he’d like to play. “The one I want to do hasn’t happened yet but they’re talking about a revival of it – Miss Saigon. That’s one of the shows I want to do,” he says.

Being on the road in musicals is “not the easiest thing I’ve ever done,” says Noel. “It’s exhausting. It’s pretty full on. People say you’re only working in the evening, but that work is like doing a 12-hour shift on a normal job, but I’m not complaining. The point of what we do is to let people escape for a couple of hours.”

Nevertheless, some scenes in Priscilla make him wonder what he’s let himself in for, especially the MacArthur Park big production number. “I’m in my pyjamas and dancing with some giant cupcakes,” he says. “I try to think of myself as Mickey Mouse in Fantasia. It’s just nuts.”

• Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, The Musical, runs at Grand Opera House, York, May 13 to 18; Monday to Thursday, 7.30pm; Friday, 5pm and 8.15pm; Saturday, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york
Leeds Grand Theatre, July 1 to 13