Norwich Theatre Royal – until Saturday 29th June 2024
Reviewed by Boo Wakefield
5*****
Flamboyant, energizing, emotional, eccentric and beautiful – these are but a few words to describe the wonderful production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. It is the incredible story of a young boy’s journey to discover himself and unveil the complex and fantastic alter ego within him, the drag queen called Me Me Me.
Ivano Turco was not available on the evening we went but he must be brilliant if he’s better than his understudy Finton Flynn who stepped in to play Jamie New because his performance was exquisite; his vocals, flexibility and stage energy had the audience gasping and cheering-on the evolution of his characters relentlessly – the tempo never slowed. Just as magical was Rebecca McKinnis as Jamie’s mum Margaret New – the power and richness of her vocals filled the theatre and were simply incredible; her rendition of He’s My Boy was haunting and visceral and reduced me to tears.
Modern dance may not be to everybody’s taste but the rendition of the story of how Jamie’s parents met was sublime no mater your tastes in dance; Thomas Walton (Mickey) and Jessica Daugirda (Bex) blended energy and romance as their bodies moved to the fabulous voice of McKinnis singing If I Met Myself Again – it was sublime, taking the audience to another level.
Daniel Jacob, who stood in superbly for Akshay St Clair as Jamie’s Dad , deserves praise for his rendition of this complex role; and the class and poise of Kevin Clifton (of Strictly Come Dancing fame) as Loco Chanelle was beautiful. It would be wrong to single out just one of the pupils as their movements were totally in sync and their singing a joy. Taila Palamathanan as Pritti Pasha, Jamie’s best but social awkward friend, played her part with humour and passion – both she and Jamie have to navigate bullying, social pressures and prejudice on their journey of discovery.
The set (Anna Fleischle) was genius: one moment a classroom, with double windows at the back and the band in the higher one, almost as if they were in the next-door classroom, and desks strong enough to help the energetic dancing on and around them; and then, with just one member of the cast walking part of the set across we were transported into Jamie’s kitchen, and from there into Me Me Me’s dress shop – no stage darkening or black-clad stage-hands slipping on and off stage – it was all so slick and all in support of the tempo – three hours have never flashed by so fast.
The energy of this performance just grew and grew, ending in a long-standing ovation richly deserved, especially for Finton Flynn who, almost overcome with emotion, still managed to hit the last high notes perfectly. For those not able to go to performances in the West End, it is a real treat to be able to see such a high-quality musical at Norwich Theatre Royal.