Julie: The Musical

JULIE THE MUSICAL

28.07.2023 @ The Other Palace [Studio], London (120 Capacity)

Written August 2023

Julie The Musical was amazing, especially as we bought the tickets only a few days before as a fun experience to end a week in London. We had no expectations whatsoever and we were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed the show.

The brand new original musical written by Abey Bradbury focuses around the life of historical LGBTQ+ icon, Julie D'Aubigny whose extraordinary life adventures come alive via live music, comedy & even a sword-fighting tap number. Julie is a musical celebrating her chaotic & crazy life, unapologetic queerness & shows that you can carve a place for yourself in a world not built for you, you never have to give up. The oddly comforting musical concentrates on Julie’s found family (a personal favourite trope of mine) that she gains along her journey to become the most famed opera singer in the world at Paris Opera House and her romantic escapades as she does so.

Similarly to SIX: The Musical, it was a small production with just the 5 actors on stage. The 5-piece was made up of super talented multi-instrumentalists, rotating between singing, playing or both, depending on the number. Sam Kearney (they/them) did such a phenomenal job portraying the titular character with perfect comedic timing, superb chemistry with every other actor & a showstopping voice I couldn't get over. The way each actor (other than Sam) takes on multiple roles without it becoming too confusing is truly amazing and really shows how versatile & modern this whole play is, everyone involved is amazingly talented and promises great things for the future of theater.

Something I didn’t realise till after the show was that one of the actor’s was not there and instead, Abey Bradbury (the show’s creator/writer) had stepped up to cover the role of ‘Thevenard & others’. 

After the show we managed to talk to one of the actors, Sophie, as she packed up. She was just as enthusiastic as we were about the show & was surprised at the fact we wanted to know even more about it and what goes on behind the scenes. She then pointed us in the direction of the show’s producer, Conor who was able to talk to me in even more depth about the live setup of the show and The Other Palace in general.

This new & flamboyant musical truly deserves all the awards and traction it gains - it's so phenomenal. It really shone a light onto queerness in the 1700s, and fueled the fire against reducing LGBTQ+ history in society, especially as sapphic representation is at a significantly lower level in mainstream media. The actors, crew & creator did such a good job putting on a great show & creating such a good, fun, safe & inclusive show. I can't recommend it enough and will definitely be seeing it again.