The West End performance of “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” comes to The New Wimbledon Theatre, colouring the coming-to-age story of Jamie New. 

 

Jamie New is a 16 year old gay “boy, who sometimes wants to be a girl”. His glittery dream of wanting to become a drag queen is wholeheartedly supported by his loving mother Margaret (Amy Ellen Richardson) and her best friend Ray (Sasha Laytoya). Adam Taylor’s performance as Jamie was humorous, youthful, full of personality and pizzazz. His acting came through especially well in humorous moments of the musical which filled the New Wimbledon Theatre with laughter and Joy. Brilliant moments include when Jamie struggled to balance in his first pair of high-heels and when Jamie was in the toilet with his best friend Priti trying to fix his eyebrows and when Jamie came in the next morning after his drag queen with a flamboyant yellow scarf, sunglasses and bright fake eyelashes. 

 

The representation in the musical is another element it should be praised about, especially the representation of Muslim girls. This was achieved though the character of Pritti (Sharan Phull), a studious Muslim girl who dreams of becoming a doctor. Initially, Pritti was phased and weirded out about Jamie wanting to a drag queen, however, after Jamie’s explanation that it was “not sexual” and that it was like “dress up” Pritti supported Jamie throughout the rest of the musical. Pritti also resonated with Jamie as she also felt like a “weirdo” because of the fact that she was “Muslim girl”, but she became more confident and comfortable with being an outsider and said to Jamie that they are “weirdos together”. Sharon Phull’s beautiful singing in “It Means Beautiful” was also a touching and heartfelt moment. 

Amy Ellen Richardson’s impeccable singing and performance especially in the song “He’s my Boy” was another moving song, which resonated with many mothers in the audience of New Wimbledon. 

 

The collaboration between set designer (Anna Fleischle) and lighting designer (Lucy Carter) brought the whole musical to life. In particular, the school tables were also used to build stages during songs and were lit up. Moreover, Carter’s use of lighting in the ending party scene in which both sides of the stage were lit up in rainbow colours, ending the musical with a bang. Anna Fleischle was also the costume designer and the drag queen’s costumes at the end were spectacularly vibrant and full of glam, exactly like Jamie New is. 

 

And to answer the question, yes everyone should be talking about Jamie!

 

Find out more about tickets and shows on this website https://everybodystalkingaboutjamie.co.uk/