Showstopper! The Improvised Musical continues to play Mondays at the Garrick Theatre, London on 5 July, 9 August, 13 September and 11 October 2021.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
As a reviewer who has never seen Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, I came to the Garrick Theatre with an open mind and sense of curiosity. Walking into the theatre, the undetermined premise of the show is already in the air as the auditorium is filled with a reel of musical theatre numbers chopping and changing. On first impressions, my sceptical mind wondered if this was a way of conveying subliminal messages to the audience. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The improvised musical is comprised of an onstage band, crew and four improvisers. The set is minimal with the necessary props, some chairs, a table and a coat stand. All which can be used to create real-life situations on the spot.
To start proceedings, Dylan Emery, acting as the ’Director’ of the musical, receives a phone call from his producer ‘Karen’ requesting a new musical to be created on that very night. From this point on, the storyline is in the hands of the audience and improvisers to create the scenes. The audience dictates the storyline and themes by texting and tweeting in.
On the night in question, the audience decided that the show would be based around the murder of a dog at a dog show with music influenced by The Phantom of the Opera, Hamilton, Cabaret and The Lion King.
Adam Meggido, Pippa Evans, Justin Brett and Lucy Trodd began the show as Americans, with their characters shifting to British halfway through, which turned out to be a brilliant move. Meggido and Brett’s East End voices and cockney rhyming interludes were hilarious, even more so when the improvisers broke character to react to what the other performer had just said.
When the improvisers were asked for a flashback of all that had happened in the show, the disjointedness of the scenes which followed was in fact one of the highlights of the evening.
Chris Ash on keys and Craig Apps on percussion also brought musical joy, a feeling we have missed for the last six months.
The evening was full of variety, featuring several of the audience’s favourite musicals, while offering the perfect comedy tonic. The standout performances from all involved made you want to see it again to find out how the story unfolded next time.
Molly Kerrigan
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