I was sat looking at a box of rubber breastplates and three half-naked men dressed in corsets when I decided; Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is certainly a musical for the modern age.
The feel-good smash hit opened in the West End in 2017 and is now on tour, starring former Strictly dancer Kevin Clifton and X Factor winner Sam Bailey.
The show follows exuberant teenager Jamie New, a working class boy from Sheffield who has big dreams of becoming a drag queen, supported by his best friend Pritti Pasha, his single mum Margaret New and her best mate and surrogate parent Ray.
The opening number, And You Don't Even Know It, sets the scene; Jamie, played by the enigmatic Ivano Turco, struts across the desks in his humdrum classroom while he daydreams about becoming a superstar and his classmates - or ‘backing band’, as Jamie calls them - look on in awe.
He is joined by singer Sam Bailey, who manages to sashay over the desks in a staggering pair of red heels that most of us couldn’t even do the ironing in as strict school teacher Miss Hedge.
It would be fair to assume this is a show made for young audiences and, in a sense, it is. It’s full of teenage slang, pop culture references and gender-bending characters that Gen Z will be all too familiar with.
I can only imagine (as I’m sadly not part of that generation myself - I’m closer to the age that Jamie describes as ‘old, like 32’) that, as a teen, you'd see everything through the same eyes as Jamie and his friends.
They are vibrant, inspired, full of dreams and excited about all the sparkling possibilities of the future.
However, those watching the show from a, let’s say, older perspective aren’t left out of the loop.
Theatre-goers of a certain age might find themselves feeling fond of Jamie, but it’s his mum, Margaret, played by Rebecca McKinnis, that is more likely to resonate with those of us who are looking at puberty in the rearview mirror.
Her story is one of regret, of looking back at missed opportunities, of having to face the struggles of being a single parent and wondering what her life could have been like if she’d taken a different path like her son is soon destined to do.
It’s an energetic, joyous show in many ways, but there are moments - spine-tingling numbers He’s My Boy and It Means Beautiful and the reunion between Jamie and his father - that ground the musical with a sense of realism that perhaps older audiences can appreciate while the kids laugh at the classroom capers and double-entendres.
Former dancer Kevin Clifton delivers most of these cheeky one-liners as Hugo - or Loco Chanelle when he dons a sparkling blue dress and coiffed ginger wig - Jamie’s drag queen mentor who inspires him to perform on stage.
The last time we saw the glitterball champ grace the Canterbury stage was in the Christmas panto where he made his debut in Aladdin.
While that production also had plenty of drag, thanks to the city’s resident dame Ben Roddy, there’s a lot more F-bombs spilling out of the Strictly star’s mouth this time around.
Still, he looks fab-u-lous in his drag queen get-up, even Craig Revel Horwood couldn’t argue with that.
Having seen Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in the past, I wasn’t sure if the Marlowe audiences would be ready for this modern-day musical, but opening night is packed and there is rapturous applause and a standing ovation for Ivano as he saunters off stage at the end.
And, to be honest, that’s the exact reaction I was hoping for.
The show will bring (at times) controversial topics like drag, sexuality and gender to new audiences up and down the country - but, this time, rather than a heated social media debate, these ‘taboo’ subjects are all wrapped up in a scarlet satin gown with a pair of Jimmy Choos on the side.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Marlowe Theatre until Saturday, June 8. You can book tickets here.
You can also book tickets by calling 01227 787787.
