Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Review

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie returned to the West End during its UK tour after its debut in 2017. The musical had a record breaking three year stay and is currently being shown at the Peacock Theatre for a limited time.

The story follows Jamie New, a 16 year old schoolboy, who according to a career test is ‘destined’ to be a forklift driver, but dreams of becoming a drag queen. The feel good modern day musical takes the audience through a journey of all emotions as Jamie looks to make his dream, a reality.

The musical is inspired by 2011 British television documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 directed by Jenny Popplewell, and was later turned into a West End extravaganza by director and co-writer Jonathan Butterell. The show contains real life issues of prejudice, bullying, neglection and being true to oneself, all of which Jamie had to overcome in his journey.

Ivano Turco became the fourth actor to grace the stage as Jamie, following in the footsteps of superstar Layton Williams, but he did not disappoint! Turco’s vocals were incredible and his stage presence was next to none as he portrayed all the pure emotions of Jamie.

Jamie’s endlessly supportive mum, Margaret New, was portrayed by Rebecca McKinnis and she was phenomenal! Her rendition of ‘He’s My Boy’ was a real tear-jerker, the casting team, led by Will Burton CDG, did a fantastic job with every selection.

Jamie’s incredible best friend, Pritti Pasha, was played by Talia Palamathanan and she too had a flawless performance. Palamathanan’s vocals particularly in ‘It Means Beautiful’ cannot be described as anything other than beautiful! She will surely be a West End star one day so keep a look out for her!

The show featured some acting veterans including the amazing Giovanna Fletcher and John Partridge, with the latter playing drag queen icon Loco Chanelle. Iwan Harries, the Head of the wardrobe department, did a great job of making the show feel real using everyday clothes with a huge contrast to the eccentric drag costumes.

The ensemble was brilliant, while portraying Jamie’s classmates they brought lots of energy to the stage. This was done through the choreography designed by Kate Prince, it was so fun to watch and for the majority of the show was very uplifting.

The ensemble were also an important part of rearranging the set, designed by Anna Fleischle, which was perfect to be easily transported from venue to venue whilst on tour. The set cleverly brought the Sheffield city vibe to the stage, but there was a clear contrast from the darkness of the outside to the brightness inside the Drag Store when Jamie first meets Loco Chanelle.

I loved the music by Dan Gillespie Sells. All the songs matched the vibe of the scene, the highs, and the lows, and were just so catchy, I had them stuck in my head for days!

Overall, the “Jamie Show” was an easy five stars. I absolutely loved every element and wasn’t disappointed by anything. I feel it’s a very appropriate storyline for the society we are currently living in and the finale was a real heart warmer where the cast sang about ‘A Place Where We Belong’, which is something everybody should have!

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Everybody’s talking about Jamie is only in London until March 23rd 2024, so be sure to get your tickets to this feel good drag queen extravaganza!

Access at the Peacock Theatre

Located a 15 minute walk from Charing Cross Station, the Peacock Theatre is just off of the Strand.

Upon arrival we were taken to a separate side entrance which led straight into the foyer, the lobby was small with only a few places to sit. The shop wasn’t accessible as it was downstairs so my carer had to purchase my items for me. There was also a bar which was downstairs and accessible via a lift but we opted to go straight to our seats.

I attended the show with my friend Sophie, who is also in a wheelchair, so we chose the seats at the back of the auditorium so we could sit together. The space was very tight and when we entered the auditorium, we were met with lots of steps directly in front of us so it was difficult to navigate into position. We had a great view of the whole stage and at the end people didn’t stand up so we even got to see the finale!

Overall the theatre’s access was good and the staff were helpful but navigating around the stairs to get to our seats was a scary experience.