Notes

Everybody's talking about Jamie.

Everybody's Talking about Jamie is a book musical and film musical directed by Jonathon Butterel in 2017 and later made into a film 2021, choreographed by Kate Prince. The original documentary was filmed to show the story of a young boy who was homophobically segregated against because he was born as a male and choose to wear a typical feminine piece of clothing (a dress to prom). However, while the musical is presented as quite comedic and light-hearted it still carries the same message that boys have expectations that not everyone fits into. Everybody's talking about Jamie normalises this while still making it entertaining. The team behind the coming-of-age stage musical varied from a live band to dancer to the star himself Jamie New (played by actor Jamie Mcrea) in the original west end cast). Butterel was inspired by the documentary and began holding auditions to fill 'a 16-year-old boy with strong vocal skills, and an appropriate stamina' as well as the rest of the cast. After Butterel had his chosen cast rehearsals began as well as dance rehearsals, costume fittings, but also the unforgotten things such as lighting, band rehearsals and sets. Jonathon Butterel had a strong vision on how he wanted his musical to look and feel. This was supported by Princes flashy choreography throughout the musical. Jamie New is consistently reminds us the focus is on him. Prince often uses props and set such as tables to create a power imbalance by placing Jamie higher than everyone else. This shows the audience that Jamie has confidence and forces him to stand out from the rest. This is supported by the lighting team who often will have a spotlight on Jamie and dimmer lights on everyone else. We can see this is ''And you don't even know it'', Jamie speaks to the audience when he describes his dream of wanting to be a drag queen and everyone one else is in darkness bringing the attention back to Jamie. Butterel created a relatable character in Jamie who was brought up in a British council estate and was bullied in school. The set and costume designers supported this by creating a school environment using props like desks and school uniform. Many of his audience would be able to relate to seeing or being someone who was bullied for being different which brings back to that internal judgement we have for people who are unique.