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Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is raking in awards
With music by Dan Gillespie Sells, ...Jamie won three awards last week.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the new musical by writer Tom MacRae and with music by The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells, has won three major awards ahead of opening at London’s Apollo Theatre next month.
The production won the Best Musical Award and the Best Musical Performance for John McCrea at the coveted UK Theatre Awards. The production also walked away with he Culture Awards at the Attitude Awards.
John McCrea at the UK Theatre Awards
Jamie New is sixteen and lives on a council estate in Sheffield.
Jamie doesn’t quite fit in.
Jamie is terrified about the future.
Jamie is going to be a sensation.
The story focusses on Jamie as he overcomes prejudices, beats the bullies, and steps out of the darkness into the spotlight.
The West End production sees John McCrea reprise his lead role, following acclaim at the Sheffield Crucible, as well as Josie Walker as Jamie’s mother.
McCrea and Walker are joined by Daniel Davids (Levi), Mina Anwar (Rayia ‘Ray’ Begum), Luke Baker (Dean Paxton), Courtney Bowman (Fatimah), Tamsin Carroll (Miss Hedge), James Gillan (Tray Sophisticay), Harriet Payne (Bex), Shiv Rabheru (Cy), Lucie Shorthouse (Pritti Pasha) and Kirstie Skivington (Vicki), all of which were in the original cast in Sheffield.
New cast members are Alex Anstey (Laika Virgin), Luke Bayer, Marvyn Charles, Ken Christiansen (Jamie’s Dad), Jordan Cunningham (Sayid), Ryan Hughes (Mickey), Daniel Jacob (Sandra Bollock), Cherelle Jay, Rebecca McKinnis, Phil Nichol (Hugo), Chloe Pole and Lauran Rae (Becca).
Jamie Campbell, the inspiration behind the musical, with the creative team.
The production is directed by Jonathan Butterell. Speaking of the production, Butterell, Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRea said:
“After Everybody’s Talking About Jamie was commissioned we spent three hours in a wig room in Sheffield in which we wrote the complete plot and framework for the show before catching the train back to London. The three of us just clicked and we were instantly a team. It has been a new adventure for all of us, this is our first musical and going from zero to West End has felt like a fairy tale. There is a bit of all three of us that has ended up in Jamie. We knew we needed a very special performer to play him and when John McCrea walked into the room he was the perfect embodiment. We hope that audiences will see a bit of Jamie in themselves too.”
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie opens at London’s Apollo Theatre on the 6 November 2017. Tickets are available now through Ticketmaster.co.uk.
