REVIEW: Everyone's Talking About Jamie

The director, Jonathan Butterell, saw a TV documentary about Jamie Campbell, a young man of 16 who wanted to be a drag queen.

He talked to Daniel Evans, the previous artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, about the idea of making a musical out of Jamie’s story.

The result is Everyone’s Talking About Jamie, a collaborative project bursting with energy and intelligence.

The music is by Dan Gillespie Sells, the lyrics and script by Tom MacRae.

A band of eight musicians are installed in a room with transparent walls at the top of an ingenious and elegant set.

At the centre of the musical is Jamie New, a leggy, brash, sensitive gay young man of 16 – brilliantly played by John McCrea.

The show opens with an explosion of humour and vitality – a classroom scene with Miss Hedge, a careers teacher, taking the lesson.

As with the real Jamie, the fictional Jamie is supported by his mum, Margaret, a wonderfully tender and understated performance by Josie Walker; and by his mum’s female friend, Aaliyah ‘Lee’ Begum.

Jamie’s mum and dad are separated but Jamie hopes that his dad will accept him for who he is. Jamie finds a kind of substitute father figure in Hugo, an aging drag queen who offers to help him fulfil his dream. His closest friend is Pritti Pasha, a devout and serious-minded Muslim young woman. Will the school allow Jamie to attend the end of year ‘prom’ in a dress? Surprise follows surprise.