Back in February, a brand new musical opened at the Sheffield Crucible. With music by Dan Gillespie Sells (The Feeling) and book & lyrics by Tom Macrae, “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie!” tells the story of Jamie New. He’s a 16 year old boy with a fascinating secret; he wants to be a drag queen and wear a dress and heels to his prom. The show is based on the real life story of Jamie Campbell, who starred in a BBC documentary, “Jamie: Drag Queen at 16”.
The minute you walk into the theatre, the set is visible with no curtain, and you are instantly drawn to the stage and the classroom setting. The show starts with the rabble and chatter of a class of year eleven’s and a teacher, Miss Hedge (Tamsin Carroll) who is trying her best to keep them in line! It’s a career’s class and they are all being warned to choose a sensible career - not everyone can be performers. But Jamie starts to day dream – he wants his name in lights and I was impressed with Jonathan Butterell’s (director) choices throughout.
John McCrea plays Jamie. Having originated the role in Sheffield, it is clear he lives and breathes the part. In some ways, Jamie is your typical 16 year old boy. He loves his mum, wants a relationship with his dad, has a dream and can be slightly selfish. However, as Jamie says “he wants to be a boy, who sometimes wants to be a girl!” McCrea is able to show all these nuances of Jamie with ease. You want him to succeed in his dream, whilst at the same time wanting to shake him when he takes out his frustrations on his ever loving, constantly supportive mum (Josie Walker). One of my favourite moments of the show is the song “Wall in my Head”, sung beautifully and laced with emotion by McCrea. When Jamie receives his first pair of heels, he is held back from totally enjoying the moment by memories of what his dad called him the first time he saw Jamie in a dress. You find out towards the end of the show what was said and a lot of Jamie's worries and insecurities begin to make much more sense.
Every gay, 16 year old boy needs, in the words of Pritti Pasha (Lucie Shorthouse), Jamie’s best friend, a “fag hag.” In most cases, this isn’t usually a devout Muslim girl but it worked and one of the most heart-warming moments of the show is when Pritti makes it clear to Jamie that he can be selfish, reminding him that not once as he ever asked her why she wears the hijab. Shorthouse is a wonderful actress and her singing voice as a pure and innocent quality. The song “Beautiful” which follows this scene is a showcase of this and, whilst the song is there to remind Jamie he’s a “little bit of glitter in the grey”, I felt at the same time Pritti needed to remind herself of this too; unwavering in not only her faith, but her friendship with Jamie. Shorthouse and McCrea’s chemistry shone and the final scene where Pritti stands up to Dean, the school bully, reminding him he’ll amount to nothing, Shorthouse easily made the transition from meek and mild to feisty, and the whole audience was left cheering!
Luke Baker, as Dean, also deserves a mention. I refuse to believe it’s easy to play the character who has to constantly call Jamie derogative terms, yet Baker makes the character believable. There are also a few moments throughout where I found myself wondering if Dean’s feelings for Jamie are more than just that of hate and Baker plays this subtlety well; you begin to consider that fine line between love and hate. The character of Dean doesn’t have his own song, and I do feel this was a missed opportunity. However, Baker shows Dean’s hidden insecurities well and you do start to feel a little bit of pity towards the character in the final scene, where he realises that maybe Pritti is right, and that he will amount to nothing.
A stand out moment of the entire show, for me, is Josie Walker as Jamie’s mum, Margaret, during the song “He’s My Boy”. The song highlights all the challenges, joys and up and downs of being a mother, and Walker shines. There were definitely tears all round! The relationship between Walker and McCrea was believable and throughout it all Margaret’s love for her son was paramount.
Mina Anwar as Margaret’s best friend, Ray, and in some ways a surrogate parent figure for Jamie in place of his estranged father, was hilarious and bought much of the laughter, with her “two for one, twox and kat kit bars from t’market.” The scene where Ray reminds Jamie just how much his mother has done for him was very touching.
The only lead to have joined the company for the London production was Phil Nichol as Hugo/Loco Chanel. He fit in to the show well and was excellent as the flamboyant owner of the drag queen dress shop where Jamie buys his first dress. My only issue would be the accent, as it constantly changed throughout and I couldn’t decide whether Hugo was meant to be from Sheffield or Scotland.
Finally, a mention for Kirstie Skivington and Ryan Hughes, who performed a wonderful contemporary dance routine during “If I Met Myself Again”. Whilst Margaret looks back on her life and when she met Jamie’s father (Ken Christiansen), who wants nothing to do with his non-stereotypical son. With wonderful, emotional choreography from Kate Prince, both Skivington and Hughes dance it beautifully.
Overall, “Everybody's Talking About Jamie!” is modern, fresh and exciting. The whole cast and creative team should be extremely proud of the show they have created. It was a pleasure to be able to watch it all over again and see the changes that have been made.
One of my main issues with the Sheffield production was that we never actually saw Jamie in his full drag queen outfit at the end of act 1, and whilst we still don’t, the solution to this is genius. I loved the new act 1 finale and the added projections throughout only add to this production.
I saw the show Tuesday, it’s second ever performance on the London stage, and there was no way I would have been able to guess that this was the case. Every cast member was secure and confident in their roles, and the scene changes were slick. I urge anyone to get their tickets to see this show now, currently still in previews, to see exactly why everyone is, indeed, talking about Jamie!
The minute you walk into the theatre, the set is visible with no curtain, and you are instantly drawn to the stage and the classroom setting. The show starts with the rabble and chatter of a class of year eleven’s and a teacher, Miss Hedge (Tamsin Carroll) who is trying her best to keep them in line! It’s a career’s class and they are all being warned to choose a sensible career - not everyone can be performers. But Jamie starts to day dream – he wants his name in lights and I was impressed with Jonathan Butterell’s (director) choices throughout.
John McCrea plays Jamie. Having originated the role in Sheffield, it is clear he lives and breathes the part. In some ways, Jamie is your typical 16 year old boy. He loves his mum, wants a relationship with his dad, has a dream and can be slightly selfish. However, as Jamie says “he wants to be a boy, who sometimes wants to be a girl!” McCrea is able to show all these nuances of Jamie with ease. You want him to succeed in his dream, whilst at the same time wanting to shake him when he takes out his frustrations on his ever loving, constantly supportive mum (Josie Walker). One of my favourite moments of the show is the song “Wall in my Head”, sung beautifully and laced with emotion by McCrea. When Jamie receives his first pair of heels, he is held back from totally enjoying the moment by memories of what his dad called him the first time he saw Jamie in a dress. You find out towards the end of the show what was said and a lot of Jamie's worries and insecurities begin to make much more sense.
Every gay, 16 year old boy needs, in the words of Pritti Pasha (Lucie Shorthouse), Jamie’s best friend, a “fag hag.” In most cases, this isn’t usually a devout Muslim girl but it worked and one of the most heart-warming moments of the show is when Pritti makes it clear to Jamie that he can be selfish, reminding him that not once as he ever asked her why she wears the hijab. Shorthouse is a wonderful actress and her singing voice as a pure and innocent quality. The song “Beautiful” which follows this scene is a showcase of this and, whilst the song is there to remind Jamie he’s a “little bit of glitter in the grey”, I felt at the same time Pritti needed to remind herself of this too; unwavering in not only her faith, but her friendship with Jamie. Shorthouse and McCrea’s chemistry shone and the final scene where Pritti stands up to Dean, the school bully, reminding him he’ll amount to nothing, Shorthouse easily made the transition from meek and mild to feisty, and the whole audience was left cheering!
Luke Baker, as Dean, also deserves a mention. I refuse to believe it’s easy to play the character who has to constantly call Jamie derogative terms, yet Baker makes the character believable. There are also a few moments throughout where I found myself wondering if Dean’s feelings for Jamie are more than just that of hate and Baker plays this subtlety well; you begin to consider that fine line between love and hate. The character of Dean doesn’t have his own song, and I do feel this was a missed opportunity. However, Baker shows Dean’s hidden insecurities well and you do start to feel a little bit of pity towards the character in the final scene, where he realises that maybe Pritti is right, and that he will amount to nothing.
A stand out moment of the entire show, for me, is Josie Walker as Jamie’s mum, Margaret, during the song “He’s My Boy”. The song highlights all the challenges, joys and up and downs of being a mother, and Walker shines. There were definitely tears all round! The relationship between Walker and McCrea was believable and throughout it all Margaret’s love for her son was paramount.
Mina Anwar as Margaret’s best friend, Ray, and in some ways a surrogate parent figure for Jamie in place of his estranged father, was hilarious and bought much of the laughter, with her “two for one, twox and kat kit bars from t’market.” The scene where Ray reminds Jamie just how much his mother has done for him was very touching.
The only lead to have joined the company for the London production was Phil Nichol as Hugo/Loco Chanel. He fit in to the show well and was excellent as the flamboyant owner of the drag queen dress shop where Jamie buys his first dress. My only issue would be the accent, as it constantly changed throughout and I couldn’t decide whether Hugo was meant to be from Sheffield or Scotland.
Finally, a mention for Kirstie Skivington and Ryan Hughes, who performed a wonderful contemporary dance routine during “If I Met Myself Again”. Whilst Margaret looks back on her life and when she met Jamie’s father (Ken Christiansen), who wants nothing to do with his non-stereotypical son. With wonderful, emotional choreography from Kate Prince, both Skivington and Hughes dance it beautifully.
Overall, “Everybody's Talking About Jamie!” is modern, fresh and exciting. The whole cast and creative team should be extremely proud of the show they have created. It was a pleasure to be able to watch it all over again and see the changes that have been made.
One of my main issues with the Sheffield production was that we never actually saw Jamie in his full drag queen outfit at the end of act 1, and whilst we still don’t, the solution to this is genius. I loved the new act 1 finale and the added projections throughout only add to this production.
I saw the show Tuesday, it’s second ever performance on the London stage, and there was no way I would have been able to guess that this was the case. Every cast member was secure and confident in their roles, and the scene changes were slick. I urge anyone to get their tickets to see this show now, currently still in previews, to see exactly why everyone is, indeed, talking about Jamie!