Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Apollo Theatre

Noah Thomas in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre, London. Picture: Matt Crockett

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie continues at the Apollo Theatre, London.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

While drag has been a prevalent genre of entertainment within gay culture for several decades, it is only in the last few years that it has truly become mainstream. True, in Britain we have the traditional panto dame, and Danny La Rue was a huge star in the sixties and seventies, but the likes of Ru Paul’s Drag Race have broadened drag’s appeal out into the wider world.

Riding on that wave – and, indeed, contributing to it – has been Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Tom MacRae and Dan Gillespie Sells’ musical, original produced by Sheffield Theatres, tells the story of Jamie New, a 16-year-old schoolboy who harbours ambitions of becoming a drag queen.

With a feature film adaptation and a UK tour both on their way, the London production marks 2020 with a cast refresh, mixing seasoned West End performers with a drag superstar and an exhilaratingly fresh new take on the title character.

It must be the dream of every musical theatre student to be cast as the lead in a major West End show before they have even graduated. That rarely happens – and nor is it likely that such a performer’s first role would be perfect casting. And yet that is what has happened for Mountview student Noah Thomas, whose youthful exuberance is perfect for Jamie.

The titular role bursts into life from the off, as a boring school careers lesson bursts into a catwalk fantasy in ‘You Don’t Even Know It’, allowing Thomas to demonstrate just how effortlessly he can command a stage. And if, on this first number, his solo work is a little bit pitchy in places – quite possibly due to nerves and adrenaline – it all plays into the characterisation of a youngster whose enthusiasm has no time to waste waiting for his experience to catch up.

Indeed, everything about Thomas’ performance elevates the role. From his impeccable sense of comic timing and his effortless high kicks in high heels, Thomas’ take on the confident, brash, hilarious Jamie is pretty damn near perfect.

That also extends to the portrayal of Jamie’s inner demons. Throughout the ply, drag is often described as armour, which when worn makes one invincible. That’s an image that requires the boy within to be especially vulnerable, and again Thomas exceeds expectations in his portrayal of a Jamie whose memories of the taunts from his estranged father have resulted in damaging levels of self-hatred.

It would be a poor show if only the central character was well realised, and this cast refresh surrounds Thomas with a supporting cast to match his talents. Preeya Kalidas perhaps gets the worst deal as schoolteacher Miss Hedge, whose persona needs to shift from supportive realist to the show’s antagonist as she forbids Jamie from attending his high school prom in drag, but her portrayal is as bright, spiky and charming as one has come to expect from her.

In Jamie’s extended family, Melissa Jacques excels as his supportive mum Margaret. She is given the show’s two big ballads, ‘If I Met Myself Again’ and ‘He’s My Boy’, and delivers on both occasions. She is accompanied by Sejal Keshwala as her best friend Ray, a delightful take on the comic neighbour and best friend.

Meanwhile Hiba Elchikhe, making her West End debut as Jamie’s best friend Pritti, demonstrates the fine voice that impressed audiences in Off-West End musicals Brooklyn and Fiver.

Completing the line-up of key roles is Roy Haylock, returning to the role of retired drag artist and dress shop owner Hugo, who becomes Jamie’s mentor as he explores his drag persona. Haylock – better known by his drag name, Bianca Del Rio – came to fame in Season 6 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, where he showcased his ability to couple off-the-cuff humour with an infectious warmth.

Both attributes are on full display here too, and while Haylock’s singing voice is perhaps the weakest in the show, he nevertheless imbues every line with the emotion the role deserves. And it is a true delight when Hugo’s alter ego, Loco Chanelle, comes out of retirement – played, of course, by Bianca Del Rio, despite the posters of Loco looking quite, quite different from Bianca’s comically exaggerated make-up.

Kate Prince’s choreography, which leans heavily on voguing and other moves from drag ballroom culture, continues to add to the delights of this musical. Together, all the constituent parts of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie come together to demonstrate that this is a show whose place on Shaftesbury Avenue is never going to be given up lightly.

Most of all, though, it is a showcase for the talents of Noah Thomas. This is the start of a professional career which, on the face of the performance here, is destined for greatness.

Scott Matthewman

Tickets for Everybody’s Talking About Jamie are available HERE.