Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Leicester Curve and Touring

Ivano Turco and Kevin Clifton in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at Leicester Curve. Picture: Matt Crockett

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie continues at Leicester Curve until 20 July 2024.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

The Everybody’s Talking About Jamie tour comes to a fabulous finish this week after nearly a year on the road.  While it’s seen a couple of changes in the leads over its run, most of the cast have been with the production since its start, and continue to tell its heartwarming story with vitality and spirit even as it nears its end.

Premiering at the Sheffield Crucible back in 2017, the show was inspired by the documentary Jamie: Drag Queen At 16, and tells the true story of a teenage boy who longs to enter the world of performance drag. With Ivano Turco donning the heels alongside Strictly’s Kevin Clifton, the coming-of-age musical has been one of the biggest successes of British theatre in recent years, and is getting ready to hang up its wig and heels when it finishes at Leicester Curve this weekend.

Jamie New (Turco) daydreams about escaping his colourless life in Sheffield and instead becoming a drag performer, much to the annoyance of careers teacher Miss Hedge (Sam Bailey), who tells him to keep things real. Despite the full support of friend Pritti (Talia Palamathanan), mum Margaret (Rebecca McKinnis) and her best friend Ray (Sejal Keshwala), Jamie faces prejudice from school bully Dean (Jordan Ricketts) and abject disgust from his absentee father. Upon meeting gown-store owner and former drag queen Hugo (Clifton), Jamie learns the tricks of the trade, creates his drag persona Mimi Me and faces the inevitable backlash, discovering the real him in the process.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is an uplifting celebration of equality, diversity and the importance of being one’s true self, and it’s easy to see why audiences have took it to their hearts and continue to be touched by its message. The genuinely funny book (Tom MacRae) and three-dimensional characters gel into a cohesive whole that not only acts as a reminder of the importance of kindness and allowing others to be their authentic selves, but that also honours the power of the drag art form.

The mother/son bond between Jamie and Margaret is beautifully written and feels genuine, especially this late in the run with Turco and McKinnis having cemented their chemistry, and seeing such parental support for a child who feels like an outsider is wonderfully heart-warming. Ironically, the drag elements are some of the weaker parts, namely the ‘Legs Eleven’ drag queens who feel underused and lacking both fabulousness and fire, and the backstory of Loco Chanelle, which serves to fill time rather than adding much to the narrative, along with a lacklustre song (albeit brilliantly performed by Clifton).

The production sounds great, the pop-centric score (written by The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells and MacRae) is ear-catching from the very first listen, a great mix of punchy crowd-pleasers (with brilliant choreography from Kate Prince), and beautiful quieter character songs. It improves with repeated listens, and is full of the fantastic sense of personality and energy that resonates within the show itself. It also looks great, with some fantastic set design from Anna Fleischle, taking us back to the classroom via an industrial “Rubik’s cube”-style staging and clever use of video (Luke Halls) and lighting (Lucy Carter).

This late in the tour, the fear of actors on autopilot always creeps in, but these performances remain fresh, spirited, rich and layered. Each actor has found a way to make their character a second skin by this point, they’ve grown in depth and assurance, and they all gel together beautifully.

Turco is giving his best career performance to date as Jamie, delivering sass in spaces without forgetting the vulnerability underneath, and his versatile voice works well in both the showier numbers and the more introspective ones.

Clifton continues to defy the “stunt casting” label and is genuinely terrific in his dual roles, showing off a voice that few would expect him to have, and finding a warm likeability in Hugo while also staying the right side of caricature as Loco and being downright fabulous. Clifton has got better and better in every stage role he’s had, and his post-Strictly career is looking brighter than ever.

And McKinnis follows Dear Evan Hansen with another “flawed mum” and excels once again as Margaret, giving an earthy, gritty performance and making ‘He’s My Boy’ a moving experience.

It’s been fantastic to see Jamie back on the road again this time around, and having ‘Everybody’s Talking About’ it all over again. Directed by Jonathan Butterell, it really is a special, unique show that only grows the more time you spend with it. While it may initially appear to be about the creation of a drag persona, its real heart lies in Jamie’s journey of self-discovery and acceptance of the “real him”, and the show conveys it beautifully. Funny, heart-warming and uplifting, its likeable characters and fantastic songs really do make it a show worth talking about.

Rob Bartley