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Review: Showstopper! The Improvised Musical (Cambridge Theatre)

Review by Daz Gale


⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️️⭐️


Creating a brand new musical can be a long and gruelling process that can take years of development, workshops and tryouts. Even after all of that, a musical can open and get scathing reviews - mentioning no names, of course. It almost seems as if it would be better to just make a musical up on the spot with no planning or rehearsal, just sheer spontaneity and hoping for the best. That is exactly what Showstopper does at every performance where each show is the first night of a brand new musical… and also the last. The audience plant the seeds only to watch a group of performers improvise to create an entire musical. Enjoying one last performance at the Cambridge Theatre ahead of a summer break to head to the Edinburgh Fringe, I made a long-awaited return visit to see what madness awaited me, but would this particular performance be able to live up to the troupe’s name and be an absolute showstopper?


Improv comedy group The Showstoppers have been entertaining audiences all over the UK for quite some time now, after Showstopper! The Improvised Musical debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008. It didn’t take long for them to hit the West End for occasional one-night performances, enjoying a 10-week run at the Apollo Theatre in 2015. Since then, you haven’t had to look too far to find a performance from them, with their latest monthly residency at the Cambridge Theatre, when Matilda has decided to opt for a quiet night in instead. I made a fair few visits to Showstopper, long before All That Dazzles even existed and was thrilled to be invited to review the show when it helped to reopen the West End during Covid in 2021. It has been a long five years since I was swept into the world of Showstopper and was keen to see if I loved the show as much now as I did back then. I needn’t have worried, as this group are very clearly experts in their field. They may be making it up as they go along, but you really wouldn’t be able to tell.



Showstopper! starts with a simple premise - the producer is on the phone and needs a new musical and there are just two hours to write one. Luckily for them, an audience full of musical theatre lovers are on hand to make suggestions. Those suggestions consist of a location or premise, which musicals to include as styles of song during the show, and the title - nothing more… until the interval, that is, when the audience get on instagram to give their suggestions for where the story can go in Act Two and what they’d like to see. Other than that, The Showstoppers have pretty much a blank canvas to create whatever they want, not realising the extent of their characters or the situations they find themselves in until it comes out of their mouth… often to humorous effect.


Suggestions the audience had this time included a vegan bakery in Leamington Spa and “Derek goes to Mount Olympus” but it was the simple premise of a runaway groom that won out this time, with an audience member naming the show “Groom on a Broom”. Other suggestions did creep into the story, with Derek becoming the name of the groom and the whole thing taking place in Leamington Spa. Sadly, Mount Olympus was absent, however. The fact this cast managed to craft a full story with arcs and redemption was pretty impressive, with even one late addition character providing a surprisingly emotional moment - not something I’d expect from an improvised musical. It’s fairly unbelievable that the entire musical could be made up so precisely on the spot, but that is exactly what Showstopper do each and every performance - the fact that the musical ended up being slicker and stronger than certain other musicals is a real testament to their skill.



The musical styles suggested this time around were Hadestown leading to a song referencing Orpheus and Eurydice, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button brilliantly replicating that distinct show style through performance and lyrics, and a big Celine Dion-esque style ballad for Titanique. It was the suggestion of Hamilton that created one of the best sequences of the night, however, with an overlong number that paid homage to ‘Satisfied’, ‘Helpless’ and ‘It’s Quiet Uptown’, flawlessly matching that clear Hamilton vibe while adding to the story. An Act Two suggestion of Dear Evan Hansen led to the most jaw-droppingly brilliant moment of the musical as a newly invented six year old flower girl commented on her troubled life locked in a cupboard with the genius number ‘If I Had A Window’. How something like that can be thought up on the spot, I will never know, but it really does speak to the genius of this tremendous cast.


A rotating cast of talented performers make up any performance of Showstopper, with our six showstoppers this time consisting of Adam Meggido, Andrew Pugsley, Heather Urquhart, Justin Brett, Lucy Trodd and Ruth Bratt, held together by “writer” Sean McCann essentially compering the show and pausing the action whenever a certain musical style or suggestion felt appropriate. The way the cast work together as a cohesive unit is remarkably impressive, with the ability to jump into characters that either pop into their head or are suddenly named by another. This is where the “Yes, and” method really comes into play with the cast all happy to push the story along through comic creations. It is evident the cast are all hearing the words for the first time as they come out their mouth with the sense of danger as they sing a line with no clue how to rhyme it until the very last second - the fact they manage this so fantastically the majority of the time again speaks to their talent.



All the cast members had moments to shine, be it Andrew Pugsley as the runaway groom or Justin Brett as his eventual broom (you had to be there), but the real star at this particular performance was an exceptionally strong Ruth Bratt with standout turns as three characters. First, there was her mother-of-the-bride, offering a very Edina Monsoon vibe and offering questionable advice, namely lying about everything. Then there was her scene-stealing drug store (not that kind of drug store) employee with an obsession for moving a table, and finally the most fittingly showstopping performance of the show as the six year old flower girl. While each performer reached a consistently strong level, Bratt more than proved herself as the biggest star of this particular musical - something nobody ever expected from a show that was initially about a runaway groom. That is the magic of Showstopper! - you never know what you are going to get, and nor do the cast.


It is a brilliant concept, and one that Showstopper! do better than most, leading to the most reliably impressive improv shows in the UK. No matter what show you end up getting on the night, the two certainties will be in how skilful the creation will be, and that there will be no shortage of laughs. I loved my trips to Showstopper! before this website was created, and that hasn’t changed in the years since, with no risk of this improv troupe ever getting old or stale, instead getting stronger and satisfyingly stupider as the years go on. Ironically, each musical deserves to be seen again and again - though I may never have the pleasure of seeing Groom on a Broom again, I can’t wait to see what they do next.


Showstopper! The Improvised Musical returns to the Cambridge Theatre on October 12th, with subsequent dates in November and December.


You can also catch them at the Edinburgh Fringe with dates and tickets at https://showstopperthemusical.com/


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