Imogen's A Theatre Nerd: Everybody's Talking About Jamie

I have been immensely fortunate when it comes to exposure to musical theatre and live-stage performances. When I was younger, my aunt used to purchase tickets for myself, my younger sister and my mother to see shows on the West End, some of which, I still have the programs for now. I remember the first West End show I went to was Hairspray when I was around eleven or twelve years old. We got to stage door after the performance and the programs we bought were covered with signatures from cast members that were delighted that we had enjoyed the show. The last time I went on one of those trips was when I was sixteen. I had seen Wicked with my family and not everyone had enjoyed the performance as much as I had. But I was still much too young to go to the theatre alone. However, my love for musical theatre in particular didn’t cease.

It was only recently, in October of 2018, that I went to another West End performance, where I saw Heather’s on tour with two of my friends, just weeks after I’d managed to purchase Hamilton tickets for myself and my mother in the new year. It was then that I realised I had happened across an expensive habit. Since then, I have made four more trips to see shows in London; Hamilton (twice), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Harry Potter and The Cursed Child and The Great Gatsby at Gatsby’s Drugstore.

I figured that, I would share some anecdotes about my experiences, because, honestly, I just love to share and remember the fun I had!

On 12^th June 2019, I went to see Everybody’s Talking About Jamie as a belated 21^st birthday present from one of my best friends, Emma. As both of us are anxious travellers, we decided that even though the show was going to start at seven, that we would meet at 1pm in Leicester Square, that way we could catch up and hang out as appropriate for the weather.

We were, however, very unlucky that it was raining and we therefore optimised on our travel-cards and retreated to the warmth of Stratford and Westfield Shopping Centre. We ended up spending an hour and a half in a coffee shop there, before heading back to Leicester Square and having an early dinner at Burger King. When we got to the theatre, we were, once again, caught in the rain and were advised to retreat into the McDonald’s down the street as it was too early for admission to the theatre.

We were lucky enough to be allowed in twenty minutes before normal admission time due to the weather. However, the weather would end up being the bane of our existence for the rest of the day.

I was immensely lucky, as a long-time-fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race, to have been gifted tickets to see Everybody’s Talking About Jamie when Bianca Del Rio was in the cast as Loco Chanel! Emma had teased me for insisting we shouldn’t go in June, and should go after the summer as the tickets could have been cheaper. However, instead we ended up getting tickets for June and seeing Bianca. Emma said that my reaction to her arrival was hilarious because I all but started screaming as soon as I heard her voice.

I tweeted about how star-struck I had been in the intermission and she liked, and retweeted my fangirl-ing onto her own account. This made me even more excited to potentially stage door at the end of the show.

After an amazing evening and an emotional performance, we went to the back of the theatre, programmes in hand, hoping to get them signed. The rain made a brief appearance and meant that some of the cast including Roy Haylock AKA Bianca Del Rio wouldn’t be able to do an appearance at the stage door as they didn’t have understudies. It was a reasonable but frustrating declaration, but still we waited, in the hopes to see some of the other cast. We were lucky enough to catch Layton Williams and bag a selfie! He even wished me a happy birthday, seeing the badge we’d bought. It was the best birthday celebration ever! I was so happy!

My advice in this instance would be to always be aware of the weather and how it may positively or negatively impact your experience at the theatre, you might not always be lucky enough to get early admission to a show because of the weather, nor might you be able to see everyone you want at the stage door.