After months of keeping homebound theatre-lovers entertained, improv specialists The Showstoppers are heading out of their homes and into the West End to play six Monday night shows at the Garrick Theatre.
The team who turned their last West End performance at the Lyric Theatre in March into an impromptu live-stream event which has been viewed more than 112,000 times, will be back on stage for the first time in months on 16 November. Further performances will follow on 30 November and 7 December 2020, followed by 11 January and 8 and 22 February 2021.
Each performance will feature a selection of artists drawn from the rotating cast: Jonathan Ainscough, Ruth Bratt, Justin Brett, Matt Cavendish, Dylan Emery, Pippa Evans, Susan Harrison, Joshua Jackson, Ali James, Sean McCann, Adam Meggido, Philip Pellew, Andrew Pugsley, Lauren Shearing, Lucy Trodd and Heather Urquhart. The rotating musicians are: Craig Apps, Christopher Ash, Alex Atty, Jordan Clarke, Pete Furness, Nathan Gregory, Calie Hough, Chloe Potter, Duncan Walsh Atkins and Andrew Woolf.
Directed by The Showstoppers’ creators Adam Meggido and Dylan Emery, the creative team includes musical supervisor Duncan Walsh Atkins, movement director Ali James, set designer Simon Scullion, costume and prop designer Gabriella Slade, lighting designer Damian Robertson and sound design Oscar Thompson.
Capacity at the Garrick Theatre has been reduced to comply with Covid-19 secure guidelines. Measures in place include track and trace, contactless tickets, temperature testing, face coverings and deep cleaning of the theatre following each performance.
During lockdown The Showstoppers kept audiences entertained with the popular star-driven song-in-a-day challenges, Alternative Eurovision (which raised over £7,000 for The Careworkers Charity), the family-friendly Online Storytime adventures and two live-streamed The Socially Distanced Improvised Musicals.
The 24 Hour Song Challenges, Online Storytime episodes and the Alternative Eurovision Song Contest can be watched on www.showstopperthemusical.com. The livestreamed shows can be purchased on Vimeo for a small fee.
Created by Meggido and Emery, the Showstopper formula involves taking individual suggestions from each night’s audience and turning them into a brand new fully choreographed and scored musical.
Featuring a rotating company, the improvised musical theatre show was founded in London in 2008 and has proved to be a hit with audiences around the world. An Edinburgh Fringe favourite for 12 years, The Showstoppers have featured in their own BBC Radio 4 series and played to packed houses in the West End.
Angela Thomas
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.