A musical composed entirely from audience suggestions, sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn’t it? You’d be right to assume this, but you couldn’t be further from the truth with ‘Showstopper!’ A brilliant evening of improvised comedy from start to finish.
The premise is pretty simple. The compare in charge of the evening (Dylan Emery) receives a call from a west-end producer in need of a show and works to make one within 2 hours. The place, theme and musical style are entirely down to the suggestions from the audience, then it’s up to the cast to create the musical from scratch.
Everything within the show from the compare, to the cast and musicians, work in cohesion to create the storyline. The musicians in particular do a tremendous job of creating music that fits the current point in the show and the cast then in turn do very well to create the songs on the spot.
What’s very impressive with the cast is the ability to make the suggestions work, though it could be said that a few suggestions weren’t very funny or very easy to work with, the cast manage to make every suggestion work. It also highlights just how well they all work together and showcases the talent to quite literally, make anything work. It’s a skill to create a 2-hour long musical with a storyline that’s engaging and humerus from a few suggestions they’ve only just heard. It must be said that performances from Ruth Bratt, Pippa Evans, and Adam Meggido were the highlights, Meggido’s Hamilton inspired pirate rap was thrilling to watch!
With the way the show is designed it means no show is the same and that only makes the show worth seeing over and over again.
A night of comedy that’s fresh, funny, improvised and brand new every single time... can’t argue with that, can we?
Review by George Butler
Rating: ★★★★
Seat: Stalls F17 | Price of Ticket: £35
