Everybody's Talking About Jamie review, Apollo Theatre

Jamie New is 16. He lives on a Sheffield council estate, and he's happy being a boy. He just likes dressing in girls' clothes. He dreams of stepping out in high heels and sparkles, of being both himself and her. How likely is that to happen in a tough, working class, northern neighbourhood where the most that young boys aspire to is driving vans? You already know the answer. It wouldn't warrant a musical without a happy ending, would it...

Everybody's Talking About Jamie was inspired by a 2011 TV documentary on the real Jamie New but the poster for the show is strangely archaic. I went as a friend's plus-one expecting high camp - more emphasis on style than substance. Two hours later I emerged with mascara streaks and a big smile across my face. Fuelled by superb songs and a mixed young cast, Everyone's Talking About Jamie is an affirmation of life in all its rich diversity from hijabs to sequins.

For me, it's not Jamie's story that underpins Everybody's Talking About Jamie but that of his mother, Margaret. A single parent - Jamie's father has left, disgusted by his son's cross-dressing - she struggles with little money and no support to encourage and protect this child who doesn't fit the norm. Her second half numbers, He's My Boy and If I Met Myself Again reduced everyone in my row to tears. Life is gritty and shitty. And, inevitably, it's great. Hats off to John McRae and Josie Walker who play Jamie and Margaret with warmth and soul. Also Mina Anwar and Lucie Shorthouse who do terrific turns as their respective best friends, Ray and Pritti.


Conclusion: The only giveaway that Everybody's Talking About Jamie is the first musical by writers Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom Macrae, is the pacing. The first half of Jonathan Butterell's production sags a little and both halves would benefit from more theatrical endings, but the high energy cast plug the gaps. This is a family show that hooks from the start.


Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London SW1.   Run ends 21 April 2018
Photograph by Alastair Muir from The Stage