Skip to main content

Review of Everybody's Talking About Jamie at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

Everybody's Talking About Jamie apparently, so this new musical leads us to believe, as it continues its first UK tour launched just a month ago. The musical written by local boy done very good Tom Macrae alongside Dan Gillespie Sells and Jonathan Butterell has been playing to packed audiences and rave reviews since launching in 2017, first in Sheffield and then in London, so we need to talk about Kevin's (aka A Small Mind) thoughts.

Jamie New has a dream, a dream not many 16-year-olds harbour. He dreams to be a drag queen. However, while his mother Margaret and her best friend supports the idea and encourages him to live the life he wants, others including his father and school "bigshot" Dean think other things. However, when Jamie meets shop propriety Hugo, he finds his dreams may well become reality.


Everybody's Talking About Jamie is proper theatre, feelgood, sharp writing and clinically but also nicely nuanced direction and choreography from Kate Prince. It is perhaps one of the most minutely created pieces of theatre around at this moment. Characters are brilliantly defined and performed stunningly by all the cast. Scene changes are perfectly defined and performed by the cast, constantly in character. Technically it's sublime from Anna Fleichle's design, Lucy Carter's stunning lighting, Paul Groothuis' quality sound, and some truly brilliant video design from Luke Halls. All in all, this looks and sounds perfect, and that is before delving properly into the performances.

In the lead, Layton Williams creates the campest of camp Jamie, likeable, watchable and quite a mover, even in the epic red shoes. It's an iconic role which I am sure is to live through the years, and Layton puts his own stamp on the role and one to be remembered.

It's not all about Jamie here though, and maybe many will actually leave the theatre talking about Amy Ellen Richardson as Jamie's mother Margaret as she is truly amazing. She brings huge warmth to the character and while her rendition of If I Met Myself Again (featuring an amazing contemporary dance from Kazmin Borrer and Ellis Brownhill) is a delight in itself, it doesn't quite prepare you for the show-stopping performance of He's My Boy. It's difficult to know how someone could imbue more emotion into a song. Simply incredible.

Shane Ritchie once again shows what a classy performer he is, proper quality old school as Hugo, and as always an incredibly safe pair of hands on stage and his brilliant performance of The Legend of Loco Chanel is right proper. George Sampson is superb as school bully Dean Paxton relishing in the role and constantly in character throughout scene changes brilliantly as well. Elsewhere Lara Denning is nicely wicked as sharp-dressed Miss Hedge and her contribution to And You Don't Even Know It is fantastic and full of humour. Sharan Phull also offers a lovely sweet performance of Pritti Pasha and her solos are filled with much emotion.

Macrae's script is funny, heartwarming and perfectly timed, while Gillespie Sells creates some superbly catchy songs like the title song and Work of Art, and onto the warm emotion of the light of Spotlight, If I Met Myself Again, and It Means Beautiful.

Everybody's Talking About Jamie is almost perfect theatre, offering something to everyone and transcending perhaps those who like plays and musicals, as the former will appreciate the precision of the work and storytelling of the show, while the latter will revel in the brilliant song right until the curtain call. Its a quality show and there is no doubt about that.

Get talking to your friends about Jamie, he rocks.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


Performance reviewed: Tuesday 10th March 2020 at the Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton.
Everybody's Talking About Jamie runs at the Royal & Derngate until Saturday 14th March 2020

For further details about the Royal & Derngate see their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Bat Out Of Hell - The Musical at Milton Keynes Theatre

Bat Out of Hell - The Musical was first realised as a stage musical back in 2017, opening at the Manchester Opera House. Since then, it has achieved significant international success. Now, as part of a new UK tour, it has returned to Milton Keynes Theatre, which it previously visited in 2022 during its global tour. The storyline of Bat Out of Hell , written by Jim Steinman, draws on the story of Peter Pan as a basis and evolves it within a dystopian world, where a group of teenagers known as The Lost live forever at the age of 18. This plot is both flimsy and initially confusing; however, within the music of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman, it finds a rough-around-the-edges polish that allows this weakness to shine through and succeed. At the centre of this group of teenagers is Strat, who, following an unexpected encounter, falls under the spell of Raven. Within this, a megalomaniac lurks, as all dystopian worlds require. This maniac is Falco, the father of Raven and Sloane's husband....

Review of Murder She Didn't Write at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Murder She Didn't Write , stopping off for a four-day run at Royal & Derngate on a lengthy UK tour, treads the now well-worn path of an improvisational evening of theatre entertainment. Unsurprisingly, from the title, this show from Degrees of Error's takes a murder mystery as its inspiration, with the story influenced by ideas from the audience each evening. Due to this, Murder She Didn't Write and a review are very much an individual affair. What I saw in my evening at the theatre will differ significantly from what the audience will see the following evening; however, the fine performers will remain. The touring cast, in no particular order, is Lizzy Skrzypiec, Rachael Procter-Lane, Peter Baker, Caitlin Campbell, Stephen Clements, Douglas Walker, Harry Allmark, Rosalind Beeson, Sylvia Bishop, Emily Brady, Alice Lamb, Sara Garrard, Peta Maurice and Matthew Whittle. For my performance, Skrzypiec, Procter-Lane, Baker, Walker, Bishop, and Clements were on stage alongsid...

Review of The Blue Road by R&D Young Company at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

I have a 100% strike record with the wonderful Youth Theatre group at Royal & Derngate, they have never let me down with a show and sometimes with those of Sweeney Todd and Kontact , have provided me with some of the very optimum theatre points of each year. The Blue Road, their very latest production for me is slightly less successful. However, it thankfully and perhaps not surprisingly, is nothing to do with the constantly talented bunch of actors that gather in this group. My problem lies in two places, of play selection and the way it is told. The Blue Road chronicles the story of a group of young people on the backend of a not totally described crisis, and this, unfortunately, is where we were more or less just two years ago with the Young Company and their show Immune . I have always been interested in these post apocalyptic stories and often love them, however for the same group to do two so close together feels a shame. They challenge certainly, but I am sure there ar...