And You Don't Even Know It!
By far the most modern musical on my list, and the complete opposite to The King and I, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie had its premiere in Sheffield last year before transferring to London’s Apollo Theatre. It quickly garnered headlines in the theatre, being a successful British Musical.
A string of awards followed, along with 5 Olivier nominations this year. However, it failed to win any, most likely due to Hamilton. Despite this, many people think it could have won quite a few of these if it weren’t for the Lin Manuel Miranda giant. While we will never know for definite, was the possibility there?
Well....? Possibly? It's the most realistic answer I can give. But let's get into the show itself.
Based on a true story, it follows a young lad in Sheffield called Jamie (obviously), who wants to become a drag queen - and to be accepted wearing a dress to his Year 11 Prom (for those who are outside the UK, Year 11 is at age 16).
The music is by Dan Gillespie-Sells from The Feeling (a band I really enjoyed as I was a teenager); however, I have to honest, it has a similar problem that Titanic in that there wasn't really a memorable tune except the opening And You Don't Even Know It. The strange thing is though is that it doesn't 100% matter in a sense, it is the story which is the focus of the show rather than the music - and this works very well in its favour. This is a rare occasion in which I could say that this could be a play rather than a musical and it would still be as good, or at least wouldn't have made much difference. Despite them not being that memorable though, the songs are performed well by the cast, both vocally and in the choreography.
Playing the titular character was the Olivier nominated John McCrea - I could see why he got an Olivier nomination (he lost to Giles Terera, Hamilton's A.Burr), though I'm not going to go any more into it, as I don't think I could add anything to what has already been said about him.
He's not the only spotlight though, as Rebecca McKinnis must also have a mention for her performance as Margaret New, Jamie's mother. The crux of the show is not the drag acts etc etc, but the relationship between Jamie and Margaret, and McKinnis' nuanced and moving performance was outstanding.
Contrasting her was Shobna Gulati's Ray, Margaret's best friend, who is also the comic relief of the show; she wasn't just bloody hilarious, but is also the type of person to call a spade a bloody shovel. From supporting Margaret to supporting Jamie, I need to mention Lucie Shorthouse, who plays Jamie's best friend, Pritti Patel, who is one to watch just by watching It Means Beautiful alone.
Finally, I need to mention the drag queen characters in the story: Hugo aka Loco Chanel, Laika Virgin, Tray Sophisticay and Sandra Bollock - I think enough is said...
They did a cinema broadcast of Jamie, but due to work commitments, I wasn't able to go - hence why I decided to take the punt and chose him as part of my London trip; and I'm glad I chose to. If you're in the mood for trying something a bit different, and like stories such as Kinky Boots and Billy Elliot, then Jamie could well be the show for you.
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