Everybody's Talking About Jamie - Sheffield Crucible/Apollo

One thing I have noticed is that all the Jamies so far have been handsome, skinny things. Why can't they cast an average looking person? Maybe short, fat, a bit spotty? More relatable. So far I feel like Jamie has been portrayed by privileged young men.

Couldn’t agree more! I would love to see a plus sized Jamie one day!

Posts moved to tour thread.

Back for the matinee today with a coach load.Always such a friendly welcome at the Apollo from the dedicated FOH staff.FOH are the unsung heroes/heroines of the theatre world imo.
The show itself is in fine fettle.Absolutely love the boy/girl dance number during,’If I met myself again’.Wonder if the audience numbers will hold up once the tour kicks in.
Love the sound design on this show.Crystal clear vocals in the dialogue and the songs.

Made it to the first show with the new class of 2020 tonight, so I've now seen all six Jamies.

Very smooth, in fact it finished a few minutes earlier than normal, but I rather think that was Noah rushing through his lines. He did say a loud "We Did It!" at the very end and was obviously happy (as you'd expect).

In a loud audience, lots of clapping and cheering, particularly for Noah and Melissa, including some mid song applause. Melissa really milked every ounce of emotion out of He's My Boy tonight.

I sat in the back row of the Grand Circle, the first time I've ever not sat in the Stalls. This was mainly thanks to a £10 ticket from the GILT sale. I'd much prefer to be close but it's a small theatre and the view really didn't feel distant even in one of the furthest possible seats from the stage.

The vocals were very quiet up there.

One thing about the Grand Circle is you don't see a cast screen if you go straight in there (different entrance). I did check the board and all the new class was on with the exception of Keenan Knight (Sayid). Marvyn Charles covered.

The new cast were all fine. Noah Thomas has a lot of potential, nicely camp, good looking, dances and moves very well, I saw him at Mountview and can appreciate what a step he's taken. Jamie is challenging for a first professional role. He had a lot of friends and supporters in. Singing was a bit mixed, but he certainly had the range. He'll get there.

Preeya Kalidas absolutely fine as Miss Hedge. Nice and energetic. Clear voice.

Hiba Elchikhe as Pritti. In her hijab, I had no idea this was the same person who was the lead in Brooklyn The Musical until I looked up more about her. Her singing did go more Scottish than Sheffield at times, but I guess it was more of a general northern accent. A generally pleasing voice.

Jordan Ricketts as Dean Paxton did the job. Good to see a younger looking cast in many of these roles and the opportunities being given to people fresh out of theatre training.

The drag queens (two of the three who were new) did their job perfectly. I picked up a few new visual jokes from them.

I think everyone else is established now and I've seen them perform these roles before, so the show has a good mix of old and new faces. Very few of the cast have made it all the way from the first London performance into year 3.

Also, I see that Jordan Laviniere is now listed officially as Understudy Jamie, so hopefully he will get some dates. They will soon have much more flexibility for cover as they can do what other shows do and move people between London and the tour.

All in all, a great first show for me in 2020 and I'm sure this one is in safe hands now for the upcoming year. Give Noah a few weeks to bed down and you'll have an excellent all round cast. This show should be around for a while, it's still selling incredibly well.

Surely Nimax would want the Lyric for new shows once it’s refurbished, I would think the Garrick would be a better option but TBH a lot can happen in 18 months.

A permanent ceiling would also mean they can reopen the balcony for the first time in a very long time

I saw it 2 weeks ago. I thought they were all good 'ish' but not great and the new Jamie definitely needs some work.

He had the acting down pat, but the vocals beyond his lower register need a LOT of work. He was very off in parts.

Roy/Del Rio was the same, his acting was fine, but the singing wasn't great.

The Mother was also weaker than the last time I saw it.

It was still enjoyable, but certainly not as good as when I saw it last year.

Good grief !

Ive tried around 3 times and never won even on a few weekdays so I don't think its that easy

Ah afraid not, but thanks for the heads up though!

Managed to keep my record of having seen all the Jamies last night, catching Jamie #7. That record may end soon, as I doubt I'll make the Australian tour.

This was also Jordan Laviniere's first appearance as Jamie and he was very good. Definitely continues the run of the first cover being better than the main actor (although to be fair to Noah, I saw his first appearance and he may have settled into the role more by now). Nice voice and didn't overplay the role. Jordan is also a much more experienced stage actor than Noah.

Yesterday was a night of cover roles, so you also had Gillian Ford on as Margaret, James Gillan as Hugo/Loco, Harriet Payne as Miss Hedge, Brian James Leys as Tray, Keenan Knight as Young Loko, Ebony Clarke as Bex, Rico Bakker as Levi and Joe Wolstenholme as Si. Polished despite all the changes. I won't review them all, but it did mean a lot of the cast looked rather young for the parts they played, some of them even younger than Jordan (who would struggle to pass for a 16 year old - but that's true of a lot of the Jamies).

The cast board was right for once and there were also prominent displays of the covers for the main roles, which was good to see.

Glad to have seen Gillian Ford on as Margaret. She is good, but didn't manage to wring as much emotion out of He's My Boy as many of the other actors. Harriet Payne was fine as Miss Hedge. It was odd seeing James Gillan as Hugo. Much soft spoken than the other people I've seen play the role. But glad that he's had the chance to go on after being such a long-standing cast member.

I had a very good seat. Picked up a central seat in the 7th row Stalls for £35 from TodayTix a few hours before the show. The theatre was pretty full, with the exception of a few seats that would be premiums, all around the area where I was sat. Perfect view.

A full fast standing ovation at the end, as you'd expect.

Jordan is on all week, so this also means you'll have the unusual situation of close friends Jordan and Layton playing the same role on the same night, just as different theatres. This probably isn't the strongest cast combination, so you might want to hold off until the new Hugo starts, but it's definitely worth seeing Jordan.

It’s just the next arbitrary date that has been chosen. DMT has had tickets available for stuff from Sept 2nd for ages now. I’ve rather hopefully rebooked for the ‘Hamilton’ matinee on Sat 5th. I’m not holding out masses of hope.