Episode 011: Everybody’s Talking about Jamie
“Jamie New is sixteen and lives on a council estate in Sheffield. Jamie doesn’t quite fit in. Jamie is terrified about the future. Jamie is going to be a sensation. Supported by his brilliant loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness, into the spotlight. Sixteen: the edge of possibility. Time to make your dreams come true.”
The musical is actually inspired by the 2011 British television documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 which was directed by Jenny Popplewell and was based upon the true-life story of 16-year-old British schoolboy Jamie Campbell, as he overcame prejudice and bullying to become a drag queen. The stage show premiered on 8th February 2017 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.
This week we are going to be reviewing Everybody’s talking about Jamie, the stage musical focusing on sixteen year old Jamie as he steps into the spotlight and follows his dreams to be a drag queen. I decided to review this musical as I got the chance to see it when it was in Edinburgh last month and international drag queen day happens on the 16th July, so I may be a bit premature, but I just couldn't wait any longer!
You can either listen to the podcast above, or you can read below for a majority of the transcript of the podcast! Now as always, our discussion will begin with a brief summary of the musical followed by spoiler free thoughts and feelings. This will be followed by an in-depth discussion of some of the key plot points that occurred and we will then finish off with my overall rating of the musical and a heads up about what we are looking at next time. If you have not had a chance to see Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and don’t want to hear any spoilers, then please feel free to skip the detailed section and listen to it afterwards if you so wish.
I had heard of the story of Jamie Campbell previously, but had never actually gotten a chance to see the documentary, musical, or film until I heard the show was coming to Edinburgh early 2022, so of course I had to get tickets to see the story on stage. The discussion today is just focused on my experience from the stage show, so apologies if it varies slightly from the documentary or the feature film centred around the same story. Who knows, we might cover those separately one day!
The story itself is an easy to follow coming of age story, and I think it's a very grounded premise that most of us can relate to, whether we grew up queer or not, since at the end of the day its about having to decide how you want to live your life as you grow up, coming to realise our parents aren’t perfect, and that sometimes the people that love us aren’t always related to us. The changes to the stage from school setting, to Jamies house, to clothing shop all happened seamlessly and there didn’t seem to be any issues, and the choreography to the songs all seemed really well fitted to the music and seemed quite engaging and fitting to the story.
The soundtrack of the musical was provided by the amazing Dan Gillespie Sells and the lyrics provided by writer Tom MacRae. Between the two acts there are 20 musical numbers, some of them reprises of previous numbers, and there is a good mix of pop tunes along with powerful solo songs. It was slightly difficult to hear some of the lyrics on the night I had gone as there may have been a slight tech issue, but thankfully the soundtrack is available to listen to online and overall I did enjoy most of the songs. With a musical you are rarely going to love every song, but none of them felt bad, it was all good or standard, at least for my preference.
In terms of representation, for the show I saw we had Layton Williams playing the role of Jamie, so it was great to have the focus be on a queer person of colour as it often does feel like the media is all about those cis-white gays, so it was nice to have that different representation. As well as getting young queer representation, we also have an older drag queen represented by Hugo / Loco Chanel, again showing us that it doesn’t all have to focus on the young kids but that older queer people exist and can pass on information and lessons to younger generations.
And on top of the queer representation, we also have Pritti, Jamie’s best friend, who is Muslim and I particularly enjoyed this aspect of the person for two reasons. One is that it does portray one of the issues in the UK which is the Islamophobia in schools that is still an issue for kids today since Pritti also faces bullying alongside Jamie. The second reason is that Jamie, the queer kid who wants to be a drag queen, being friends with someone whose religion is often shown at odds with that part of society is such a great message that we should see beyond someones labels and know & love the person instead. Being queer doesn’t mean religious friends have to cut you out of their life! So it’s fair to see I really enjoyed the queer and non-queer representation within the musical.
Last spoiler-free thing is that the show also handles bullying quite well, showing us not just the effects that an active bully can have on our own wellbeing, but what having some of our own family members reject us for who we are can do to our mental health as well. It all feels very well handled in the musical, with the characters feeling fully fleshed out, and on the official UK website of the show they even have a page dedicated to education materials that also focus on Identity, Relationships, and Self-esteem that schools can access to use with their students. So not just a fun show but an educational one too!
Final Feelings and Recommendation
I would definitely say if you're a fan of musicals and supporting your local theatres and arts venues, definitely go and see it when it's touring in your area. If you're not the biggest musical fan, I would still say it's worth a watch to see it live if you can, as it is a fun pop experience with a strong story behind it.
If you are dead set against the musical experience, but you would still be interested in the story then it may be worth at least checking out the documentary and potentially the film too (though I can’t promise there won’t be any musical numbers in that since I haven’t watched it yet)!
Overall, I would say this is a strong 7 out of 10 brilliant second hand dresses from an old drag queen! It’s a fun, pop filled musical that has some really strong and important themes for people to see whether they are queer or not, and there is a good reason it’s been nominated for and won several awards too!
SPOILERS AHEAD
Now, just a reminder that at this point, I will be going into a more detailed analysis of the musical which means there will be spoilers! If you haven’t managed to see Everybody’s Talking About Jamie yet and you don’t want anything spoiled, then this is your last chance to avoid the discussion. Or you can go ahead and close the page, go see the show or watch the related documentary and/or film and then come back afterwards to finish reading. I promise I won’t mind. Still here? Well then, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
For that start of act one, we have the careers teacher Miss Hedge trying to deal with a class, getting them to think on what they want to be when they are older, cause who doesn’t love being forced to try and plan what you will do for the rest of your life as a teenager! Like seriously, I don’t think anyone really sticks to those plans from high school because life doesn’t work that way and it’s always chopping and changing!
Anyway we meet Jamie and they reveal to us that they want to be a drag queen through the song “And You Don’t Even Know It”, which is quite the tune. Obviously when asked by the teacher, he chooses instead to leave it vague, saying they want to be a performer, and Miss Hedge slaps this down by saying get real. It's the start of this theme we see of the school system demanding the children get real with their ideas and be authentic, but then when that child deviates from the average, it's time to smack them down as they won’t fit the pre-defined system.
Miss Hedge is definitely one of the less accepting people Jamie has to deal with, from her telling Jamie to get real when he wears make-up to school (cause boys wearing make-up is wrong somehow?) to her threatening Jamie he won’t be allowed into prom if he comes in a dress to even forcing Jamie to walk around the school when he is caught with makeup on his face in some twisted act to shame him. It’s fair to say she is a pretty shit teacher if this is how she is going to deal with young people, as she seems to be about crushing individuality and using shame as a teaching tool, which just isn’t healthy! I am just glad that when it comes to the prom, all the kids chant Jamie's name and refuse to come if he can’t and so in the end she has to step back from her silly position.
To counter the unaccepting nature of Miss Hedge and Jamie’s bullies, we have the sheer acceptance and love from Jamie’s mum, Margaret, his best friend Pritti, and the family friend Ray. His mum supports him following his dreams, even getting him a pair of red heels, coming to his first drag show, and signing cards from his dad to let him think he is still loved. It is so heartwarming to see a parent giving that unconditional love to their child, and letting them develop as their own person, and even if there is a fight between them when the truth comes out, she has done all this from a place of love and wanting to support her child.
Pritti is another source of strength for Jamie, helping him with his makeup but also talking sense into him by telling him not to go to prom in drag, but just come in a dress. He struggles with this, saying he is ugly when not in drag, but she challenges this and pushes him towards self-love. She is such a good friend, being such a rock when he is facing issues and giving pretty sound advice while pushing him to do what’s best for him.
I love hearing “The Legend of Loco Chanelle (and the Blood Red Dress” when we meet Hugo as Jamie is shopping for a dress. Such a good song and easily introduces us into this new character who wants to support and encourage Jamie to follow his dream of being a drag queen, as he even then goes to book Jamie for his first drag show at a local nightclub. It’s so nice to see an older queer person seeking to pass on their experiences to the next generation, and its great that Hugo becomes part of Jamie’s chosen family as that relationship develops.
When it comes to the club and Jamie’s first show, it's great to see the other drag queens (especially the brilliantly named Sandra Bollock) rally around to help boost him up after Dean calls him a minger outside and knocks his confidence. Again, it really reflects how at times we rally around each other in the queer community to boost each other up, and its nice to see this represented in the drag community too for main stream media, as no doubt a lot of people have perceptions that drag queens are just always catty with each other. Probably from some small, reality tv show I think you might have heard about.
There is an important lesson at this time that I do love. That drag is like a battle at times, pushing forward peoples boundaries and being used to show society that queer people are not to be feared. I would totally agree with that as a drag nun, using the art of drag helps me to attract attention to then start vital conversations with people on a whole range of things, plus it helps act as an armour in protecting my secular life from my activist life too!
One of the key things we also see at play in this show is how the rejection from our parents because of who we are can leave lasting damage on a person. When Jamie finally meets his dad in the hopes of building their relationship and finds out everything such as the money for the dress and birthday cards, he is also told by his dad that he is disgusting. It is a horrible thing for a parent to say to a child just being who they are, and the fact that Jamie has self-esteem issues in how he looks further shows the damage that parents have on their children, whether that is choosing to be absent from their lives or actively harming them through their actions & words. Parents need to be there to support their children develop into their own person, not just judge them for who they are because it makes them uncomfortable!
We do witness a homophobic attack on Jamie while he is wandering about after the argument with his mum, drunk on cider, by three local boys. Thankfully Hugo does show up to chase them away and encourages Jamie to go home where it's safe and make-up with his mother after their recent argument. It’s important to remember that being openly queer still has its own risks of these things happening, even in what are assumed quite accepting countries, so this was a stark reminder that even now growing up queer isn’t as safe or equal as our heterosexual counterparts have and that there is still a way to go in ensuring the streets are safe for anyone to walk alone at night.
Now as we reach the end of the show, we have everyone excited about prom and everyone looking super glam, with everyone fawning over Pritti as she comes in a stunning dress and her make-up. Well, everyone but our typical bully Dean. Yet we have been able to witness Pritti become more confident over the course of the musical and she finally calls out Dean, highlighting that he is constantly putting people down because he has nothing after high school and this is it for him. She makes a good point that sometimes those that bully us do so out of jealousy and issues in their own life and it is rewarding to see her finally standing up for herself, even if in a perfect world there wouldn't be a need to fight bullies if everyone treated each other with respect.
Yet as people are going into the school for prom, Jamie does wait till everyone is in before he calls out to Dean who has been hiding off-stage since he was smacked down. They have a real conversation and Jamie encourages Dean to just be nice for one night, extending that olive branch so that everyone can have one nice night before school is over for them all and they go live their own lives. It’s a nice lesson to try and impart that even bullies are people, and we can make a lot of progress with people if we extend those branches of peace and try to understand each other. Not that this means this is the approach that works for every bully, as it does take a toll on those who have been bullied, but it is nice that it works here as the show closes with Dean and Jamie walking hand-in-hand to the prom.