Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Musical Blackpool Winter Gardens Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Dottie Rood
So who is the ‘Jamie’ that everyone is talking about? In this hit musical at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens it’s Jamie New (played by Ivano Turco), this Jamie is a 16 year old boy living on a council estate in Sheffield and attends a state school, he wants to be a drag queen for a job in his future (and wear a dress to his school prom) and the story is about how he goes about trying to achieve this!
Before I go into how fantastic this particular version of this show was let me tell you where the idea came from. It’s based on a true story of Jamie Campbell who lived in a small, former mining village in county Durham, he knew when he was growing up that his desire to dress in girl’s clothes was perhaps not a ‘normal’ thing to do. He was 14 when he told his mum, Margaret, that he thought he was bisexual, she immediately answered him saying, “Son, you’re gay”, (he thought she might find it easier to accept him being bisexual as opposed to him being gay!), she had known this for quite a while. In the shows programme Jamie tells us about his Mam being his ‘rock’, she was a single mum for most of his childhood, but always supported his ‘differences’. Jamie was very proud of his differences and would make minor adjustments to his uniform and try lots of flamboyant hairstyles but he felt it was mostly his exuberance for life that let everyone know he was very happy being different and yes, he is gay. He did have to cope with some negative, nasty comments from school friends, he could mostly dismiss these, however he had a much bigger secret, he wanted to be a drag queen and he wanted to attend his school prom in a dress!
He decided he wanted to make a documentary about his experience and after going on the internet, typing “how to get a documentary made” he made it! The documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 went on television on 9th July 2011 on the BBC, it was a huge hit (and is still available on BBC iPlayer). Enter Jonathan Butterwell, Director and Co-Writer, who along with the help of Michael Ball and Daniel Evans, former artistic director of Sheffield Crucible, set the ball in motion for a musical based on Jamie’s life. They enlisted Dan Gillespie Sells, who wrote the music, and Tom Macrae, who wrote the book and the lyrics, who created Everybody is Talking About Jamie. The show was given a 3-week run at the Crucible in February 2017 and after Nica Burns, producer, saw it went from strength to strength still producing the brilliant show we saw last night.
The performance told the above story with humour, laughter, emotion, fantastic singing, fantastic dancing and a brilliant ‘feel good vibe’. It managed to portray the close bond Jamie Campbell had with his mum, played by Rebecca Mckinnis. The show also had supporting roles of his mum’s friend, Ray, played by Shobna Gulati, his best friend, Pritta Pasha, played by Talia Palamathanan, his formidable teacher (who was constantly telling him to ‘keep it real’) Miss Hedge, played by Hayley Tamaddon and Drag Queen, Loco Chanelle, played by Darren Day. The other cast members all played really good parts that brought the whole performance together. I found the story challenging (not in a negative way just in how some people in our society may be treated) in parts as we see Jamie struggle with rejection from his Dad and unkind comments and behaviour from others, however the songs were uplifting and the whole show ‘magnificent’. My standout moments were Pritti singing ‘Spotlight’ with year 11 girls behind her performing a fantastically timed number (using coffee cups!) to support her, Margaret singing, ‘If I met Myself Again’ and ‘He’s My Boy’ (this actually brought me to tears) and, of course, Jamie in the whole show (but mostly dancing in unbelievably high shoes!!). But I should add everyone performed brilliantly and I would highly recommend this show if you got chance to see it.
The show actually continues to tour in many U.K venues until 15th July 2024.
Blackpool Winter Gardens is a lovely medium sized theatre with lots of places to get drinks and food and had a lovely ‘feel’ to it.
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost from £20.75 to £23.50 (online)
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is at Blackpool Winter Gardens Church Street FY1 1HU
From Tuesday 21st November to Saturday 25th November 2023
For more information or to book tickets visit www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk or call 08447700593/01253629600
Additional information about the show can be found at: https://www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk/events/everybodys-talking-about-jamie/