On his 16th birthday, Jaime New (Max Harwood) has always wanted to be an entertainer, specifically a drag queen. The sparkle, the attention, the makeup, the show, and the wardrobe! The feature film of the stage musical based on a documentary about being a drag queen at 16.
Directed by Jonathan Butterell (Finding Neverland), this musical is a coming-of-age story of Jaime New and his best friend for life, Pritti Pasha (Lauren Patel). Pritti, encourages Jaime to go for his dreams by taking the first step to drag queendom. Jaime, adores her, seeing her as the “best friend a boy who once in a while wants to be a girl can have”.
This film is a light, fun, jaunt that highlights a few heavy subjects. There is parental abandonment where Jaime’s father Wayne (Ralph Ineson), is neglectful. His mother, Margaret (Sarah Lancashire), trying to protect him from the world, yet unable to shield him from the realities. Ray, (Shobna Gulati) her mother’s best friend forever and Jaime’s godmother, who adores and is protective of Jaime as much as his mother.
Jaime, with encouragement from Pritti, takes his first step towards his dream into Hugo Battersby’s (Richard E. Grant) shop: Victor’s Secret. Hugo is Loco Chanelle, Jaime’s mentor in the craft who takes him under her wings. Grant gives a wonderful performance of the aging drag queen who lived the life of glamour and fun before the AIDS epidemic became prevalent and loved ones passed.
This musical overall, is a delightfully fun show that touches upon the difficult issues of the LGBTQA+ and families. The musical numbers are very well done, the choreography includes iconic moves from drag performance history and the singing certainly represents the iconic performances in London’s West End.
I heartily encourage fans of musicals to go watch this heartwarming story. I had a wonderful time.
4/5 and would see again
