Showstopper! The Improvised Musical continues at The Other Palace, London until 16 March 2019.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Adam Meggido and Dylan Emery’s Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is an improvised musical that implores the (often ludicrous) whims of the audience to establish setting, storyline and musical numbers at a seconds notice.
The concept of improvisation is the real showstopper, ensuring that the production does not fall victim to the complexities of an over-produced West End production. The set, lighting and costumes are unremarkable, and a restrictive colour palette of black and red, and lighting that is merely dimmed and brightened, whilst basic, serves a purpose.
The unremarkable enhances the remarkable acting skills of the seven member cast who are puppets to the suggestions of the audience.
Time is frozen by actor Emery who injects audience opinion into the most crucial scenes of the performance, through a hands up approach and at one point even Twitter. The effect is surprisingly seamless, and whilst there are inevitable imperfections due to its impromptu nature, the audience is enabling and raucous laughter covers up any lapses in pace.
In summary the performance is tailor-made to fit the opinions of the majority, creating an almost two hour long inside joke between cast and audience. It is an intimate experience, and even more so because of the relatively small theatre size – you can’t help but feel close to the characters, both in proximity and design, as you both choose and witness their reactions, words and musical numbers.
It is difficult to write a review on a production that changes with each performance. However, an Olivier Award is clearly a testament to its ingenuity: the cast’s ability to tackle any scenario and concoct a performance complete with makeshift props (at one point a carriage was magicked out of two umbrellas), songs and dance numbers is admirable. Yet ironically, the blips in improvisation and patched up mistakes are the most entertaining and memorable moments of the performance.
The only downfall of Showstopper is that to fully understand and appreciate the comedic value of its musical numbers, it helps to be well versed in the styles of iconic theatre performances such as the Rocky Horror Show and The Producers. The musical numbers (again selected by the audience) are exaggerative parodies, clearly displaced in an obscure setting of choice, and while they are met with much laughter, some audience members are left puzzled.
Did Showstopper live up to its name? I would argue yes, but in the most unconventional way precedented. The glitz of a West End production is amiss, yet the concept of improvisation and the fact that it has been executed in a 1,000 different ways to date, and will continue to do so, makes it a true Showstopper.
Jessica Lochan-Jenkinson
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