Showstopper! The (Socially Distanced) Improvised Musical LIVE

Showstopper! The (Socially Distanced) Improvised Musical LIVE

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I confess I have never seen The Showstoppers in the flesh though I know many people who have. It’s rather delightful that I saved up my first Showstopper! experience to have it online in this socially distanced world in a format that the company describes as “nothing like anything our company has attempted before”.

As I think you all probably know, the performers in the show take suggestions from the audience for the context of the piece, the style of some of the songs and for where the plot goes – plus the title – and it’s all managed by compere and now mixer of live visuals Andrew Pugsley.

Using the YouTube comments’ feed, it works a bit like live action fan fiction. Many of the more verbal audience members on Friday night were clearly familiar with the excellent performers in the show: Ruth Bratt, Justin Brett, Pippa Evans and Adam Meggido, and the audience commentary was a joy.

Pugsley stopped the online action intermittently to feed in the most popular suggestions to the performers. Musicians Alex Atty and Duncan Walsh Atkins, plus Damian Robertson and Oscar Thompson behind the scenes, completed the company for Friday night’s exciting and entertaining performance.

Shows they played homage to included Hamilton, Follies, The Boyfriend, Jesus Christ Superstar and the Muppets with songs I titled ‘Walking Into The Past’, ‘We Have A Chance Here’, ‘The Good Old Days’, ‘With Cash In My Hand’, ‘President’ and ‘Everything Here Is True’ plus one for the sponsors, ‘Ride Free With Bird’, in classic rock‘n’roll style. The online audience was clamouring for the cast album to be released.

The company members work extremely well together and have the say yes! attitude of excellent improvisers in all formats and spaces. They make what they are doing look fun and full of goodwill. They are also keenly listening out for each other on many levels with lyrics, harmonies, character ideas and plot development passing smoothly between them.

Live in a theatre, they make use of each other’s physical signals such as gestures and intakes of breath and now they may be together in a studio but each is behind a Perspex screen and surrounded by technology so they can barely see and hear each other.

But it certainly works. In the interval film about the process of making the show they express their enthusiasm for this new format, calling it thrilling and exciting. They are delighted to be singing in the same room with each other, enjoying the fact that the show is definitely going on.

I am deliberately not giving the plot of the show away in case you can still get to see it. It was broadcast live on Friday night to over 400 devices and by Sunday night there had been around 1,500 views. It may not be available now, but perhaps the company can start a pay-per-view of their hopefully expanding archive of online shows. If you twist my arm, I will tell you (spoiler alert) this show’s title is ‘The Balloon Where It Happened’. I do hope you get to see it!

Clare Walters