''Showstopper! The Improvised Musical'' is an

improvised comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, ...

, musical theatre show founded in London in 2008. It has toured the UK extensively, usually sells out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe every year, had its own BBC Radio 4 series in 2011 and performed a 10-week run in London's West End in 2015, for which it won an

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

. The idea of the show was conceived at a workshop that two of the creators attended in London. The objective of the show is to improvise a

musical Musical is the adjective of music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact def ...

based on suggestions from the audience. The audience provides the show setting, title and several musicals or musical theatre composers whose styles are then pastiched in the show. It is chaired by Dylan Emery and Sean McCann and stars Jonathan Ainscough,

Ruth Bratt Ruth Bratt is an English actress and comedian. Bratt has appeared in the BAFTA award winning BBC2 series '' People Just Do Nothing''. In 2022 she was at the Edinburgh Festival in "Starship Improvise" with the Mischief Theatre. Life Bratt was a ...

, Justin Brett, Matt Cavendish, Joshua Jackson, Ali James, Pippa Evans, Susan Harrison,

Adam Meggido Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as ...

, Philip Pellew,

Andrew David Pugsley Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derive ...

, Lauren Shearing, and Lucy Trodd as the core cast of comic actors.
Nimax Theatres, retrieved 06-09-2015 The core musicians are Duncan Walsh Atkins (keyboards - also musical director), Chris Ash (keyboards, reeds and deputy musical director) and Alex Freeman (percussion). The technical director (who also improvises the lighting) is Damian Robertson. The directors are Adam Meggido and Dylan Emery. After making a debut at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

in 2008, the show began a residency at the

Kings Head Theatre The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an off-West End venue in London. It is the second oldest operating pub theatre in the UK. In 2021, Mark Ravenhill became Artistic Director and the theatre focusses on producing LGBT ...

before transferring to

The Drill Hall RADA Studios (formerly The Drill Hall) is a theatrical venue in Chenies Street in Bloomsbury, just to the east of Tottenham Court Road in the West End of London. Owned by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the building contains rehearsal ...

. It has toured the UK,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, and in 2011 had
series of 30-minute shows
for

BBC Radio Four BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC ...

. From 2011 the show started a series of one-off nights at The Ambassadors and the Criterion in London's West End. Then in September 2015, it opened at the

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

(Shaftesbury avenue) for a limited run of 10 weeks. After the run, it continued with a series of one-off nights at the Lyric (also Shaftesbury avenue) and at The Other Palace Theatre. The show has occasionally featured guest performers, including the British comic actor

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little Britain'' (2003–2006, 2020) and '' Come Fl ...

,The Independent
''Little Briton with a large talent'', 05-05-2009 retrieved 11-02-2011

Mike McShane Michael McShane is an American actor, singer, and improvisational comedian. He appeared on the original British television show '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' (1988–97) and went on to appear in films such as '' Tucker: The Man and His Dream ( ...

, Channel 4 newscaster John Snow, Nicolas Parsons,

Jim Bowen James Brown Whittaker (born Peter Williams; 20 August 1937 – 14 March 2018), known professionally as Jim Bowen, was an English stand-up comedian, actor and television personality. He was the long-time host of the ITV game show '' Bullseye'', ...

, radical vicar and peacemaker Donald Reeves, actor and singer

Keith Jack Keith Jack (born 2 March 1988) is a British actor and singer. He was the runner-up on the BBC reality talent show '' Any Dream Will Do'', which offered the chance to be the next West End Joseph for the hit musical ''Joseph and the Amazing Techn ...

, a cappella group The Magnets and others. It has been honoured with several industry awards including the Mervyn Stutter Spirit of the Fringe Award and in 2016 won the

for best entertainment and family show. The theatre troupe responsible for Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is called The Showstoppers
The Showstoppers – The Improvised Musical
. They also have a children's show called The Showstoppers' Kids Show. The show was created by Adam Meggido and Dylan Emery with the backing of Keith Strachan and all three continue to run the show. The show has had two general managers - James Seabright (Seabright Productions) then Suzanna Rosenthal (Something for the Weekend). Seabright came back to produce the West End run.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Showstopper! The Improvised Musical Improvisational theatre West End musicals BBC Radio comedy programmes British radio game shows 2010 radio programme debuts 2008 musicals British musicals