Festival Theatre, Edinburgh – until Saturday 2nd April 2022
Reviewed by Ellen Searle
5*****
It takes a lot to get an Edinburgh audience onto its feet, but this multiple award winning musical, with outstanding performances of the entire company, fully deserved the long and heartfelt standing ovation it inspired at the Festival Theatre.
The show, from an original idea by Jonathan Butterell, with songs by Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae, is based on the true story of aspiring drag queen Jamie Campbell, who wants to go to his high school prom in drag. Jamie (Layton Williams) faces barriers all the way, prejudice, fear and outrage, not least of all from his own father. But Jamie has what we all need when times are tough ~ people who know right from wrong and who are on our side.
Most important of these is his mum Margaret (Amy Ellen Richardson). There is much poignancy in the the show, and particularly in the beautifully portrayed relationship between Jamie and his mother. Margaret is devoted to her son in the way only a mother can be, and the pitch perfect expression of parental pride, pain and joy as she and Jamie both grow through their intertwined experiences is a triumph of writing, directing and performance.
The other three key allies of Jamie provide lightness and humor to offset this intensity, but they are also realistic and indeed inspiring characters. There is Margaret’s best friend, the indomitable Ray (Sasha Latoya), who supports and rallies, turning up at the right time, saying the right thing and bringing the right chocolate. There’s the steadfast best friend Pritti Pasha (Sharan Phull) standing up to bully Dean Paxton (George Sampson). And there’s the fabulous Loco Chanelle, the alter ego of Hugo, owner of the drag paraphernalia shop that Jamie nervously enters to buy his first dress (Rhys Taylor replacing Shane Ritchie who was unable to perform on opening night due to illness). All of these characters ‘get’ Jamie, but they are willing to challenge him, and are true to themselves. We can see ourselves in these characters as well as Jamie and Margaret, who we have been perhaps, and who we would like to be.
The acting and singing is pitch perfect, delivered with real nuance and depth. There is plenty variety in tone as each scene flows naturally and easy into the next, with the action reflected perfectly in the singing and dancing, from the rousing, bouncy ‘Everyone’s Talking About Jamie’ ensemble number, to Margaret’s soulful, heartfelt ‘If I Met Myself Again’, mirrored beautifully by a contemporary dance duet.
I have only one very minor gripe, and that is that we are deprived the joy of seeing Jamie in full drag, which I expected to see in the otherwise fantastic finale.
All in all, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is a delightful experience, and it is art. It stimulates our minds, opens our hearts, and inspires us. And, it may just provide one of the best evenings of entertainment this year!