Showstopper! The Improvised Musical

‘Showstopper!’ is a completely improvised musical that sees completely new stories, choreography, music and dialogue being created live on stage each night. The performances are put on by The Showstoppers, a cast of singers, actors and musicians, with differing arrangements of Showstoppers taking to the stage for each performance. ‘Showstopper!’ has received a number of accolades including an Olivier Award and eleven sell-out years at Edinburgh Fringe. As the show enters its 15th year, the Showstoppers are embarking on a UK tour alongside their regular West End dates, with visits to Coventry, Colchester, Horsham and Halifax still to come. This week Showstopper! stopped at Cambridge Arts Theatre, and we were lucky enough to attend their final show in the city for this tour. Swipe to read our thoughts on a night of improvised brilliance.

The performance started with Sean McCann taking to the stage to answer ‘the call for a new musical’, before taking a handful of suggestions from the audience. Firstly, a decision was made on what tonight’s performance would be about. A host of audience suggestions were put to a cheer-based vote, with ‘Bohemian Fairy Folk’ being the winner. This was then followed by four suggestions from the audience as to what musical styles they would like to see this Bohemian Fairy story told in, with the suggestions being ‘Six’, ‘Jungle Book’, ‘Kristen and Robert Lopez’ and ‘Come From Away’. The final choice to be made was the show’s name, ours was humorously called Lusty in Hull. All Showstopper productions follow this initial format, with the obvious difference of audience suggestions each night. Once these initial audience-picked choices are made, it is over to the Showstoppers to bring this musical to life.

The Showstoppers who performed in this particular show were Justin Brett, Pippa Evans, Philip Pellew, Andrew Pugsley, Lauren Shearing and Lucy Trodd, with Jordan Clarke and Alun McNeil-Watson providing the improvised score and backing tracks for tonight’s show.

What followed was a musical crammed full of side-splitting humour, incredibly impressive musicality and a surprisingly gripping story. I mean, in what other circumstances could lines like ‘Share your sausage with a fairy’ and ‘There is no love fatter than a sausage in batter’ concoct narrative developments and extract genuine emotion? The first act ended with Sean McCann asking the audience to tweet further suggestions of what they wanted incorporated into the improvised musical during the second act.