Wales Millennium Centre – until 20 November 2021
Reviewed by Rhys Payne
4****
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie recently landed at the Wales Millennium Centre and I have to admit it was not what I was expecting at all! I thought that this musical would have been an extremely camp and high-energy drag celebration with Jamie discovering his inner drag Queen and showing off as much as possible. I don’t know why but I was kind of expecting a Priscilla Queen of the Desert style show but instead, it was a show focused on Jamie’s relationship with his mother, father, friends and classmates. For those who don’t know, this musical is based upon the story of Jamie Campbell who decided he wanted to go to his school prom in drag which gained a lot of media coverage at the time. (To read the full story of Jamie’s protest you can follow this link https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/e3ebeab8-a351-4289-8b44-7be088b365d4)
Due to this non-fictional inspiration, the musical is heavily based in the real world which many people in the audience will be able to relate to. As a teacher, I am fully aware of the type of language and profanity that students spout throughout the course of a lesson and this musical manages to capture that very well, also there are many references to social distancing and mask-wearing which help brings the show into the modern-day which in turn helps the audience to relate to the characters even more! This more realistic portrayal of the story allows the characters to not only be more likeable and relatable but also shows drag performers as real people who experience real-world things which is often not shown in media.
This show was headlined by the iconic Layton Williams (playing Jamie himself) who is probably most well known for his performance in BBC three Bad Education alongside Jack Whitehall. I personally have seen Layton in Hairspray, where he played the macho seaweed, and as Angel in Rent. I know that Layton really excels in these more camp dance-based roles especially if they include a pair of high heels! The way that he is able to perform the whole show and dance the way he does in these extremely high heels is incredible just in itself. Layton managed to perfectly balance the more emotional moments in the plot with the more high-energy sections with his performance of “the wall in my head” being very emotionally powerful. The other highlight for me was the performance of “ugly in this ugly world” which comes at a critical point in the narrative where Layton becomes overwhelmed with some of the relationships in his life. My only qualm was that at times it was quite difficult to hear what Layton was saying (especially during the higher-pitched sections of songs) but I think this was a general issue with microphones as many performers experienced the same thing!
I also really enjoyed Rhys Taylor’s performance as Hugo/ the drag icon Loco Chanelle. The song “The Legend of Loco Channel” was so wonderfully camp and theatrical that you could help but laugh at how over-the-top everybody was taking this origin story. The character always maintained this fabulousness throughout which made it a joy every time they graced the stage! I was also very surprised to hear that George Sampson would be involved in this show by playing the school bully Dean. George is probably most well known for his time on Britain’s Got Talent where he showcased his incredible break-dancing skills and performed that iconic singing in the rain number. I was really surprised by George during this performance as I remember him being a very adorable and likeable person on BGT but in this role, he was very easy to despise. Every time George grace the stage I boo’d inside my head which means that George did an excellent job of capturing the bully. Both Layton and George are both known for being very talented dancers so it was very interesting to see how they interact on stage with one another with neither flattering at all!
The highlight performance for me would have to be Sharan Phull as Pritti Pasha who is Jamie’s closest friend in school. Pritti is a very shy, reserved character who has big dreams of becoming a doctor and Sharon managed to performed the introverted aspects of this character so well that when this character reaches her eventual boiling point that I was actually surprised by the way she acted. This means that Sharon had perfectly performed the character with Pritti gaining more and more confidence as the show progresses! Their performance of “It means beautiful” was incredibly moving and powerful but still maintained the softness that this character begins the story with. I also thought that Amy Ellen Richardson’s performance as Margaret New (Jamie’s mother) was excellent throughout! As you would expect there are moments through the show where Margaret and Jaime do not see eye-to-eye and on top of this Margaret has to deal with Jaime’s often absent father! This character really demonstrates the extent that mothers will go through to make sure that their children are achieving their dreams and really does highlight to the audience the importance of having a supporting family truly is! Her performance of “He’s my boy” was absolutely out of this world with many people in the audience being brought to tears. I also found the performance “If I met myself again” not only amazing to listen to but also explored as a very interesting idea. The story talks about the mistakes Margaret has made throughout her life and how she regrets falling in love with her ex-partner but towards the end of the song she has a realisation that if this had not happened she would not have had her song that she loves so dearly! This number was accompanied by two incredible dancers who delivered an almost interpretative dance that related to the message that Amy was so beautifully singing about. She is clearly a very talented vocalist who knows how to evoke emotion through her singing from the audience!
After experiencing all the emotions throughout the course of this show we were treated to a wonderfully camp series of songs to end the show. During the finale number, the entire chorus and three fabulous drag queens grace the stage to wrap up the musical which was a very fun and energetic number that allowed the audience to leave feeling uplifted and full of joy! Not only was this number entertaining but it also contains a wonderful full-circle moment with Jamie taking the bins out in his new heels which was a nice touch.
Overall, this is a very fun musical that is firmly based in a world in which everyone is familiar with. It sticks heavily to the original story of Jamie Campbell and functions as an almost dramatised biography of the story of Jaime New and his protest again the dress code. I would encourage everyone (if they can) to have a look at the movie that has recently been released on Amazon Prime movie before seeing the show so you are aware of what sort of show you are going to witness beforehand!