Everybody's Talking About Jamie

 

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Book and Lyrics by Tom Macrae

Music by Dan Gillespie Sells

Performed by TOADS Stage Musical Company on Tuesday 4th March

at The Palace Theatre, Paignton

Directed by Iain Douglas

Musical Director – Simon Carter

Choreography by Lucy O’Neill

 

This is a musical based on the true story of Jamie Campbell, a boy from a Sheffield Council estate who wants to go to prom in a dress and dreams of being a drag queen. What is a wrong with that? Jamie faces ridicule, bullying and transphobia throughout this musical story only to rise like a phoenix into the light. 

This production showed the truth of Jamie’s struggles and that of his supportive mum, his challenges with his homophobic father and the love of supportive friendship with Pritti. Shown in an inspiring way, to the point where tears rolled down my face and are now, as I write this. Having never seen a production of this musical I did not know what to expect but still felt privileged to be sat in the audience as the school bell rang to start. 

The stage was set with 13 red school seats facing to the back Cyclorama and one facing front. With three sets of LEDs lighting the pros in blue and fading down to a darker blue as the cast enter. The terrific energy of the school girls and boys of year 11 at Mayfield School as they blasted onto the stage and interact with one another was totally believable and as they perform ‘And You Don’t Even Know it’. Jamie sits front and centre stage reading a fashion magazine. 

At this point I knew this was going to be exceptional. The ensemble of the School Girls and The School Boys were beyond comprehension and professional. I could have been watching a West End production. The choreography by Lucy O’Neill was complicated and powerful and these actors performed perfectly, singing and dancing as one and throughout the production each character was singular and acted well. Becca played by an actor with pure stage presence was loud and forceful and very funny with her side-kick Bex. Fatima  played sensitively by this actor, looks up to Pritti as they are both Muslim, yet tries so hard to fit in with the other girls. Dean Paxton was brutish and vile as the school bully, portrayed well by this actor as his attempts to bully Pritti cause Jamie to stand up to him. The dance duet team of Levi and Stacey with balletic choreography and acrobatics was an exciting addition. Cy played by an actor with a lovely tenor voice. Every other actor in these two ensemble groups were believable, acting continuously, with high energy. Suffice it to say without  each of your individual performances the production would not have been so successful. You all shone. 

Their careers teacher, Miss Hedge,  played by an actor with a gorgeous voice and commanding stage presence, is villainous and a bigot, mocking Jamie for his dreams. She is unrelenting in her need to ‘keep it real’ and guide her pupils into their future, her way. This was a believable and realistic performance and I especially loved the shoes too. 

Pritti, Jamie’s ‘bezzie friend hashtag forever’ was beautifully played by an actor with charisma, a natural ability to perform and a great northern accent. Hilarious with one liner’s such as ‘ Everyone thinks I’m weird too, I’m a Muslim girl with a Hindu first name, I mean, thanks mum’, and sincerity when she sings ‘It Means Beautiful’  to Jamie. This heartwarming scene between Jamie and Pritti, received huge cheers from the audience and her scene with Dean and with Jamie during the Prom song was remarkable. 

The stunning rendition of ‘He’s My Boy’ was performed with such incredible emotion by the actor playing Margaret, Jamie’s Mum. This beautiful portrayal of love between a mum and her son was palpable to anyone watching and boy, what a stunning and powerful voice this actor has. Margaret’s best mate, Ray, and a second mum to Jamie is played with sass, toughness and a sharp wit by an actor whose comic timing is a natural as breathing. Dressed in kick-ass leopard skin suits and snake skin trousers with added brazen fashion items she looked the part and was wonderful to watch especially in ‘Limited Edition’ with Margaret and Jamie. Jamie’s Dad is homophobic and embarrassed by his homosexual son and wants his new wife to have a ‘normal’ child. The scene where he brutally tells his son this after Jamie sought him out was so believable it made me gasp with anger. 

Jamie’s support comes from Hugo Battersby or, as her drag name, Loco Chanelle at Victor’s Secret ( a drag clothing shop) and the drag-queens at Leg’s Eleven.  Hugo/Loco is a retired drag queen, performed by an actor, who is himself in real life a professional drag queen. This was a superb, heartwarming, emotional performance by an actor who is totally convincing in the role. He masters the stage as this character especially through ‘The Legend of Loco Chanelle’ and ‘Over The Top’.  His supporting ‘queens’ are not ‘borrowed from the tit box’ they are magnificent as Laika Virgin, Sandra Bollock and Trey Sophisticay. The scene in their dressing room with Laika in a bask, wig cap and dressing gown, Sandra in a black leather bodysuit and black thigh boots and Trey in leopard skin flowery head-dress and pink platforms was priceless and uproarious. Throughout the production these three actors worked well together, acting with confidence and they looked amazing.

Everybody was talking about Jamie during the interval and after the show. What a performance this young man gave. The actor portraying Jamie New did so with such commitment and credibility. He was that ‘little bit of glitter in the grey’. His acting was sensitive yet powerful throughout, with superior vocals. ‘Ugly in this Ugly World’ and ‘My Man, Your Boy with Margaret were sung with real understanding and compassion. This was an outstanding depiction of Jamie. 

The costumes were sourced personally by the cast except for the school uniforms and trick dress as were the drag queen costumes with assistance from Rob Palfrey (Hugo/Loco). 

The set worked well especially just using chairs in the school room as the stage space is limited. The kitchen flat was clever including the sink and window along with a wall phone, table, chairs and ironing board. The single bed and gorgeous pink lighting felt enough for Pritti’s bedroom and Victor’s Secret Shop with counter, flats and beautifully designed poster of the actor himself in drag looked awesome. Clever use of lighting the LED Prosceniums and the Cyclorama with differing colours gave a skillful and professional look to the various scenes such as yellow for the kitchen, pinks for Pritti and various blues and purples for the school room and proms scenes. The use of spots for Pritti’s and Margaret’s solos worked in building the emotion. Those clever sound operators had a task with most of the actors wearing personal mics and the orchestra being situated at the rear of the stage. Not a word was missed, every mic was up when it should be and the orchestra levels were perfect when I saw the performance. 

Directed with real sensitivity, this was a ‘Magnus Opus’ for Iain Douglas, in my humble opinion. Simon Carter as his musical director, produced the most amazing harmonies from his cast. Exceptional modern creative chorography created by Lucy O’Neil gave a contemporary feel to the dance numbers. Due to an incredibly talented cast this was a remarkable production which had the whole audience on their feet at the Finale.  I cannot find enough superlatives to express the joy I felt watching Jamie become the ‘Queen’ he longed to be and how I wish I could watch it again. Congratulations to Amanda Jenkins, Chair of TOADS for such a special and creative musical production and for your wonderful welcome.

Lyn Burgoyne Noda Representative District 5 ( Mid and East Devon )

 

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