Rugby Theatre is very popular and regularly presents new productions that nearly always sell out. After their successful “Educating Rita” performances earlier this year, we booked again, this time with our daughter, to see “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.”
While I was aware of the film and theatre production, I did not know much about it other than it was a musical. When attending (Sat 22-Jun), we actually saw the last show of a successful one-week run. The theatre was packed.
The cast consisted of leads and an ensemble who were all amazing, and they captured your imagination with excellent vocals and choreography. A live orchestra accompanied them on stage, which was amazing. As they are tucked away in a small pit space, hopefully it was not too uncomfortable for them with all the hot weather.
From the opening number and throughout, the music was catchy and quickly became familiar and enjoyable. An experienced and professional cast of mixed ages and experience were all brilliant. Many performers, while singing in ensemble, also had individual solo moments to shine. The whole cast delivered vocally, and while an amateur theatre production, this set a very high standard.
Jamie was played by Louis Dutton and Pritti by Suriyah Mawee. Both were excellent leading the show and other notables of thr main cast were Kim Arnold (Margaret New), Danielle Burrows (Ray) and Natalie Van Spelde (Miss Hedge). I particularly enjoyed watching Natalie play the teacher and Jon Andrew’s also went down well as Hugo/Loco Chanelle. Almost too many cast to mention who were supported by an amazing ensemble and creative team. The drag queens and “Kids” also deserve mention. All amazing and it should be noted that they all put their heart and soul into their performances fully acting, singing and dancing.
As usual, the staff in the theatre were lovely, but I have to say that on this very hot day, the air con was not great. While the best of systems would struggle in this heat, the difficulty on this occasion was that if an air con system existed, you wouldn’t know it. I guess that is the issue with older buildings.
Certainly, after the show, we walked home to cool down. It must have been a nightmare for the performers when they were singing and dancing in a very hot theatre space. Full credit to the cast that they kept going.
While this production has now finished, if you saw the show, you will appreciate how excellent it was. I will have to try watching the film now and will certainly be keeping an eye on future productions at this theatre.
