The Story of Everybody Talking About Jamie & The Prom

Two incredible musicals: Everybody Talking About Jamie and The Prom.

The Prom, a Broadway musical comedy about a high school lesbian student who wants to go to the Prom with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo until the school forbids her to go to the prom with her girlfriend. Four Broadway stars heard about her story leaves their limelight to show their support for her and give her the prom she deserves.

Everybody Talking About Jamie, a coming to age musical about 16 year old British school boy Jamie New who has dreams of becoming a drag queen and wants to wear a dress at his upcoming prom.

Two incredible LGBTQ musical that were inspired by true prom stories.

Who is the real "Jamie New"?

Jamie New's character is loosely based on Jamie Campbell, a sixteen year old British school boy who has dreams of becoming a drag queen. Jamie Campbell grew up in a ex-mining village in County Durham with his mum. At 14, he came out as gay. Since he came out, Jamie has been dealing with prejudice, bullying, and homophobia. When Prom was around the corner, Jamie knew what he had to wear for his school prom. Instead of wearing a tux for prom, he decided to wear a dress to gain acceptance for who he is and what he wants to be. However, he was banned from his school prom after he wore a dress to the prom. His story has been told in a 2011 BBC documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 narrated by Jill Halfpenny and directed by Jenny Popplewell.

The Story Behind "The Prom"

The true story behind The Prom takes place at Fulton, Mississippi in May 2010, Constance McMillen, a then high school senior student at Itawamba Agricultural High School. When McMillen tries to fight back and got the American Civil Liberties Union involved, the school board decided to cancel prom altogether.

Devastated, parents from the school organized their own version for most of the students to attend. McMillen and her date attended the prom, but found only five other students in attendance including two students "with learning difficulties." A second private prom had been arranged by parents, to be held in the community of Evergreen, and the rest of the students attended that prom instead of the Fulton Country Club prom.

McMillen received love and support from celebrities like Green Day, Cat Cora, Lance Bass, etc. McMillen was invited by Ellen DeGeneres to come to her talk show, she was even invited to the Wanda Sykes show. McMillen received an Glamour Award for The Accidental Activist and a Stephen F. Kolzack Award at the 2010 GLAAD Media Awards.

Building the Prom

Broadway producer Jack Viertel came up with the concept for the Broadway show after seeing news reports about gay students not being allowed to go to their proms. He pitched the idea to Casey Nicholaw, who eventually served as the production’s director and choreographer. Nicholaw tapped Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin to write the book for the musical, and Matthew Sklar to compose the music. The musical story set in Edgewater, Indiana, a conservative town, with a similar story, with new characters including Emma Nolan as the loosely inspired McMillen character. The show premiered in Atlanta in 2016 at the Alliance Theatre, and then later opened on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre in November 2018.

Jamie the Star

Six years after Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, Jonathan Butterell, the show’s director, turned the story into a musical with Dan Gillespie Sells for music and Tom MacRae for book and lyrics. This time the story set in Sheffield and instead of his surname "Campbell" it was changed into "New" turning Jamie's story in to:

"Everybody's Talking About Jamie

The musical premiered in Sheffield, England at the Crucible Theatre in 2016.

Success & Adaptations

Both musicals have received positive reviews. Constance and Jamie have approved their stories being told as a stage musicals and have actually seen it as well. The Prom has nominated for Tony Awards, won for Outstanding Musical for the Drama Desk Award, and has been nominated for other Theatre Awards. The Cast of Prom performed "Time to Dance" at the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade featuring the first LGBT kiss in parade history. As for Everybody Talking About Jamie, the musical has three Whatsonstage Awards, nominated for An Atittude Culture Award, and nominated for five Laurence Oliver Awards.

Two Successful Musicals have been adapted into film adaptation.

Emmy Winning TV writer and producer Ryan Murphy adapted The Prom on Netflix starred Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Rannells as the four Broadway actors and Jo Ellen Pellman as Emma and Ariana Debose as Emma's girlfriend. The musical comedy film received some mixed reviews and some award nominations. Jamie was also adapted into a film musical adaptation on Amazon Prime. Newcomer Max Harwood potrays as Jamie New and Jamie Campbell "The Real Jamie" had a cameo role in the film. The film received positive reviews and some award nominations.

Trailers

Source

YouTube

https://time.com/5919651/the-prom-netflix/

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-01-24/review-everybodys-talking-about-jamie-ahmanson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Itawamba_County_School_District_prom_controversy