Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the feel-fabulous West End musical hit, has arrived in Los Angeles, an across-the-pond stop in its 2022 UK tour that’s worthy of an all-out L.A. celebration.

16-year-old Sheffield high-schooler Jamie New’s desire to earn a living doing drag (and his single mom’s wholehearted support of said goal) might seem the stuff of YA fiction, but it’s not, as Great Britain discovered in the 2011 television documentary Jamie: Drag Queen At 16.

Fast-forward to 2017, when composer Dan Gillespie Sells and book writer-lyricist Tom MacRae turned Jamie and Margaret Campbell’s story into a joy-filled musical that so captivated South Yorkshire audiences that it promptly transferred to London, then toured the UK, and a few years later got turned into a big-screen movie musical that won justified raves.

And now that original Sheffield production has arrived in L.A., ready and able to hold audiences captivated from its infectiously tuneful start to its get-up-and-dance grand finale.

Layton Williams’ Jamie dazzles from the moment he informs his assembled classmates and teacher Miss Hedge (Gillian Ford) that he plans to earn his living in drag (and not driving a forklift truck as his job aptitude tests have recommended).

Though Miss Ford pooh-poohs the notion that there’s any possible future for Jamie in false eyelashes, falsies, and heels, our young hero finds support not just from his salt-of-the-earth mum (a spectacular Melissa Jacques) but from his hijab-wearing best chum Pritti Pasha (Hiba Elchikhe) and Mum’s salty bff Ray (Shobna Gulati, reprising the role she plays on screen).

Still, it’s not until Jamie visits a local drag shop and meets House of Loco owner Hugo (Roy Haylock, aka Drag Race superstar Bianca Del Rio) that he realizes his seemingly impossible dream just might become reality sooner than expected, and right there in Sheffield at the city’s drag nightclub Legs Eleven.

Far less supportive (i.e. not even the teensiest bit on Jamie’s side) are school stud/bully Dean Paxton (George Sampson) and Margaret’s ex (Cameron Johnson as Jamie’s Dad), who has so thoroughly disavowed his son that if Jamie still believes his father loves him from afar, it’s only because Mum has been sending their son birthday cards signed “Dad.”

Though it may not take a rocket scientist to figure out that there wouldn’t be a musical about Jamie New if his story didn’t have a happy ending, it’s the getting there that makes the musical about his life so very worth seeing.

Seals and MacRae’s catchy songs (from dance-club-ready anthems to power ballads like Margaret’s heart-stopping “He’s My Boy” and Mother and Son’s “My Man, Your Boy”) are pretty much all of them winners, and ensemble members Richard Appiah-Sarpong, Zion Battles, Kazmin Borrer, Ryan Hughes, Jodie Knight, Talia Palamathanan, Harriet Payne, and Jamie understudy Adam Taylor not only pass credibly as teens but prove themselves consummate triple-threats every song-and-dance step of the way, with Kate Prince’s seemingly nonstop choreography giving them ample opportunities to strut their multitalented stuff. (Battles and Borrer earn bonus points for the stunning pas-de-deux that accompanies Margaret’s “If I Met Myself Again.”)

Under Jonathan Butterell’s pitch-perfect direction (he receives a “from an idea by” credit as well), Williams and Jacques in particular dig deep into Jamie and Margaret’s unbreakable bond while delivering the vocal goods in such show-stoppers as Williams’ “The wall In My Head” and Jacques’ “He’s My Boy,” the latter of which receives the evening’s loudest (and eminently deserved) cheers.

Elchikhe’s stereotype-defying Pretti is a particular standout. It’s a real treat to see the movie’s Gulati back as Ray. Ford and Sampson go a long way towards making a pair of antagonists more than mere cardboard villains. Johnson ably tackles the challenges of playing the worst possible absentee father any gay boy could be cursed to call Dad. And casting Jamie as biracial (and his castmates with diversity in mind) only makes the current production richer.

It’s great fun to see Haylock (whose drag alter ego Bianca Del Rio won RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2014) in understated out-of-drag mode as an Americanized Hugo and fabulous as all get-out as “Miss Loco Chanelle.”

Loco’s partners-in-drag Sandra Bollock (Leon Craig), Tray Sophisticay (James Gillan), and Laika Virgin (David O’Reilly) could give Gypsy’s unlikely trio of strippers Mazeppa, Electra, and Tessie Tura some stiff competition in the sass department.

Swings Simeon Beckett, Emma Robothan-Hunt, and Rachel Seirian are on hand to go on stage at a moment’s notice.

Anna Fleischle’s scenic design is a never-ending marvel of ingenuity and her eclectic costumes run the gamut from white-and-blue school uniforms to Loco’s “blood-red dress” (and everything in between), with added design kudos due Lucy Carter (lighting) and Paul Groothuis (sound), and Luke Hall (video).

Last but not least, Sells scores as orchestrator, Theo Jamieson as music supervisor, and Richard Weeden as musical director. (Maggie Swing is US production stage manager.)

With Everybody’s Talking About Jamie set to resume its UK tour at the end of the month, Angelinos have just until February 20 to be the only US audience treated to this wonder of a musical.

It’s not for nothing that Everybody’s Talking (or at least Should Be Talking) About Jamie. Expect to stand up and cheer Jamie’s triumphant tale. I certainly did.

Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles.
www.CenterTheatreGroup.org

–Steven Stanley
February 1, 2022
Photos: Johan Persson

Covid Protocols:
“Center Theatre Group requires all audience members to provide proof of full vaccination (and booster shot for anyone who is eligible) along with a government or education issued photo ID upon arrival. Per the guidelines set by the CDC, “full vaccination” means that at least 14 days have passed since receiving the final dose of an FDA-authorized or WHO-listed COVID-19 vaccine. There is no waiting period required following a booster shot. Please see below for more information regarding eligibility for a booster shot. We will also require guests to wear masks at all times in the venue.”

Tags: Ahmanson Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Jamie New, Los Angeles Theater Review