Showstopper! The Improvised Musical – York Theatre Royal

Directors: Adam Meggido and Dylan Emery

Ask nearly any actor what the hardest thing to do in theatre is, and most of them will say, without hesitation, “Improvising”.

Ask them what could make improvisation even worse, and they’ll say “improvising songs”.

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical obviously does both.

The premise is simple – no script, no sheet music, not even a lighting plot. Five actors and an MC walk onto stage, the audience give them ideas, and a new show is born. It’s an insane premise, and it absolutely delivers. It’s totally unsurprising that the whole idea started as an Edinburgh Fringe show, it’s exactly the kind of thing that works there. Over 1320 new musicals and 14 years later, it’s still working.

The show your reviewer saw had the prompt ‘I’ve only got ten candles’ (a rift on another audience member’s suggestion of an 11th birthday party), and the challenge of weaving in Sondheim, Jason Robert Brown, Shrek The Musical and Carousel. Where would they go with that? The BBC Comedy Writers Room, 1964, just after The Two Ronnies took England by storm with the Four Candles sketch of course. 90 minutes later, the audience were clapping the finale of a LGBTQ+ self discovery story set against a backdrop of a murderous two liner comedian, with some stuff about an affair, a talented 11 year old and his 75 year old brother, and a snowboarding birthday cake thrown in for good measure.

OK, so the musical itself might have been a little chaotic, and not actually that good as a story in itself (the murder plot went nowhere and the end wasn’t exactly the clearest) but that’s not really what you’re there for. You’re there to watch some incredibly quick witted and quick thinking people blow you away with their ability to come up with musical numbers and choreography on the spot. And from the titular I’ve Only Got Ten Candles to the Beyoncé inspired All the Powerful Ladies they delivered. While leads Adam Meggido and Ali James were wonderful, the show was stolen by Pippa Evans as long suffering wife Irene. “Do you know how hard it is to make Dick Van Dyke out of marzipan?!” got the biggest laugh of the night, and no, context won’t make it make any more sense. The remaining actors (Justin Brett, Matt Cavendish and MC Sean McCann) rolled with the flow wonderfully too, as did band members Nathan Gregory and Jordan Clarke who never missed a beat. Extra kudos goes to Lighting Improvisers Tom Clutterbuck and Damien Robertson for setting the mood perfectly too.

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is undoubtedly a fun night out, although there might be an argument for keeping it to the Edinburgh Fringe one act structure to make the resulting musical a bit tighter. Things can get a bit dark depending on the prompts, but not to worry, the Showstoppers also do The Showstopper Kids Show, which promises to be far more family friendly. If you’re in York on Thursday 30th May, both shows are running and are well worth the visit.

Runs until Thursday 30 May 2024