MUSICAL REVIEW: Stowstopper! The Improvised Musical ★★★★

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical
The Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham
Saturday 27tth May 2017

When you read the words ‘Rent’, ‘The Lion King’, ‘Singin' in the Rain’, ‘Wicked’, and ‘Racecourse’, what comes to mind? Probably for the majority of the readers this means absolutely nothing, but for those who attended the Saturday 27th May 2017 matinee performance of ShowStoppers at The Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, they will know what these words have in common.

Founded in London 2008, ‘ShowStopper! The Improvised Musical’ takes suggestions from the audience in the form of favourite musicals and a setting to conjure up exactly what the title suggests, a fully improvised 1hr 30min musical, and it was truly fascinating to watch as they all completely made up a storyline and music which fitted into the genres to which the audience suggested as their chosen musical favorites at the beginning of the show. Even throughout the performance, as more suggestions from the audience were asked, they seamlessly were factored into the story, and all the improvisation professionals on stage did a fantastic job in delivering belly-aching laughs for the audience.

What’s so clever and brilliant about this kind of company is that you would really feel like you are getting exactly what you paid for due to the audience participation and the uniqueness to the production which you are witnessing that day, to which is incredible because it then means that you can keep returning to the production with it being a completely different musical altogether, and I believe that there is nothing quite like that anywhere else in this industry.

The show had so many layers within the production that were entirely suggested and voted for by the audience, even right up to the very last moment where the audience got to choose who when in the Cheltenham cup race between Theresa May’s Wardrobe and Jeremy Corbyn’s Sock Draw, and yes, you did read that correctly…

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is currently on tour before heading to the 70th annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival later this year. For all the information of the tour, click here!

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