If everybody’s not talking about Jamie, they are now!
'Everybody's Talking About Jamie' is a hit
Quayplayers Musical and Dramatic Society delighted with their production of hit musical 'Everybody’s Talking About Jamie'. that sells out Garter Lane for a week.
The show has a wonder title because everybody wonders just why everybody is talking about Jamie.
Turns out Jamie New (Andrew O’Grady) has his own interesting tale to tell as a 16-year-old cross dressing boy, with a girl’s myopic fascination with fashion and heels, who dreams of being a drag queen one day. Now…where would you find that on your CAO?
It’s Year 11 (15-16 year olds) and Guidance Teacher, Miss Hedge (Jennifer White) wants her class to focus on a career. Poverty and social class dictate her advice – fork lift driver/hairdresser/nurse/bricklayer) and ensure that this young group will never escape the cycle of poverty they are born into.
But she hasn’t reckoned with Jamie who has the imagination of an artist, the soul of a poet and the determination of a lion. Jamie, Hedge and Year 11 rocks Garter Lane with a thumping “And you don’t even know it” that is brilliantly choreographed by Michelle Condon. Movement pounds along, around and on top of classroom desks that are constantly re-arranged.
The beat comes somewhere from middle earth and the energy of the young cast is nuclear. The show is at its best in these classroom scenes. Characters quickly define themselves and the banter is infectious with poor old teacher bearing the brunt of the students’ comments – some things never change!
Classroom bully Dean (an intimidating Sean Murphy) stamps his mark; Becca (Alex Kavanagh), Bex (Saoirse Lehane), Fatimah (Eva Leech) and Vicki (Samantha Regan) romp though the show as the feisty “Girls” while the Boys – Sayid (Adam O’Neill), CY (Adam Du Plessis), Levi (Kingsley Ekedozie) and Mickey (Fionn McGrath) do likewise.
The Ensemble of Amber Searson, Ciara Giles, Ellen Casey, Colm Walsh, Aisling Condon and Maeve Kenneally complete a wonderful teen world of angst, fashion, romance and craic where arguments and reconciliations pound along in a complex web of teen relationships.
Year 11 are suitably marshalled by Jennifer White, as the long suffering Miss Hedge, whose best intentions are frustrated by her gang of lippy, witty 15-year-olds who know everything. Didn’t we all at that age?
Aoife O’Connor is a real show stealer in a very special performance as brainy Pritti, Islamic classmate and best friend to Jamie. Her support for Jamie is unwavering and her tender feelings and independent mind reveal themselves in “It means Beautiful” which is exactly what it says on the tin – just beautiful.
And her “I am” moment as she stands up to class bully and racist Dean is one of the standout moments in this show. We should all have friends like Pritti.
The interplay between Jamie and his class mates is the heart of this overly-complex plotline as Jamie struggles to gain approval and recognition of his place in the LGBT world as a future drag queen.
At three hours long, the musical is overwritten with too much backstory for the minor characters. At times I wonder if the show is a musical with a drama or a drama with songs – especially in Act 2.
The highlight of the show should be Jamie’s performance as a drag queen but Act 1 ends with Jamie preparing to go on stage and Act 2 begins with what happens afterwards. So we never actually get to see Jamie perform as a drag queen which should have been the show’s highlight.
However, Andrew O’Grady is sensational as the mercurial Jamie. His singing and dancing are filled with joy and his mature interpretation of this powerful role is wonderful.
All his relationships are complex – with his classmates, his teen bully Dean, his Dad, his supportive mother and his new found mentor drag Queen Hugo/Loco Chanelle. The triumph of Andrew’s performance is his navigation around all these relationships.
Greta Rochford gives a gutsy, earthy performance as Margaret New, the mother who adores her son and her “he’s my son” is a showstopper. Bill Stafford is a cruel and uncaring father whose rejection of Jamie, because of his sexual orientation, is a source of great dramatic conflict that never quite achieves closure.
Jenny Clooney is great fun as Margaret’s bestie and gets to deliver many of the best lines of the show.
And then there’s Conor Lyons as Hugo/Loco Chanelle who is more theatrical than a circus. Conor’s Hugo sees Jamie as a younger version of himself who understands the rocky road of Jamie’s journey better than anyone – especially Jamie himself. Conor is brilliant in this stand out role and camps it up for Ireland in the “Legend of Coco Chanelle”.
He is suitably supported by his hilarious menagerie of drag queens Brian Flynn (Laika Virgin), Jack McGrath (Tray Sofistacy) and Fionnán Dunphy (Sandra Bollock)—all of whom should definitely never be allowed out on the streets!
David Hennessy brings a very special imagination to this complex musical where drama and music combine to tell a very tender story.
There’s an edge to David’s work that I admire and the realism of downbeat Sheffield is always before us. Jimmy Brockie’s musical direction is a delight as he combines teen rock and lung-busting ballads with a range of tender moments of emotion.
Michelle Condon’s choreography is just right. The huge Year 11 dance routines explode across the Garter Lane stage in movement that never seems to stop while Brian Collins works wonders to keep the multi-part set moving.
If everybody’s not talking about Jamie, they are now!
