‘You’re In The Soup!’- Showstopper, Lyric Theatre, London 25.07.2016

After 3 days apart it was back to London for me, and once again to see something different.

There was an offer going on Lovetheatre.com that my friend Jess had spotted for half price tickets for Showstopper! The Improvised Musical. I kindly accepted the offer, which led to my bank account being £35 cheaper.

Showstopper! was at first introduced as a workshop, in London by Adam Meggido, Dylan Emery, and Ken Campbell. In the Actor’s Centre they would take a group of actors with mixed experience in impro and then within a week ask them to perform a extemporised musical at least an hour-long to an audience. Sounds daunting to some but it soared and after its success it followed both Adam and Dylan to create a fully-fledged show, which has performed in many venues  but has recently been home at the Lyric Theatre, London on a Monday Night evening showing.

Not knowing what I was in for myself and Jess took our seats in the Stalls row G seats 2 and 3, I myself have never been in the Lyric before, but have past it many times on the famous Shaftesbury Avenue home of many of the London West End shows. The home show of the Lyric is the Michael Jackson musical ‘Thriller’ and it has honestly not been on that has appealed to me to go out and buy tickets.  With that being said our view from our seats were very good, only missing site of the right hand side but for tonight had cut off the band. I don’t think that it would be as restrictive in ‘Thriller’ so I would recommend to not be put off these seats if they are available. Looking around I could see that towards the back of the stalls there may be a bit of a over hang from the Grand Circle but other than that I couldn’t complain.

Showstoppers is a audience involved show from the start, as it is the viewers that help bring the story forward for the performers, and we are asked to help pitch a new musical to Mr Mackintosh, we are asked by the ‘director/writer’ for ideas and Act 1 we are asked to shout different musicals, composers, or themes that the actors will portray, and finalising with a setting and a name. Tonight’s performance in Act 1 we had Les Mis, Sondheim, Gesund, Waitress, Rent/Grease mash up, our setting stuck in a queue towards Dover (following the recent news…) and the name ‘Slow-Boat.’

First act carried the storyline of a recently married couple (a French woman and British gentleman) on route to their Honeymoon, but unfortunately are stuck in the queue and not moving. We then discover that the wife  has had a past, finding out that she has slept with both of her husbands brothers prior to marrying him. The Husband none the wiser, but his brothers are following slowly behind to warn him, and tell him the truth. We also get to meet other characters who seem to guide the story and assist with supporting the brothers and couples in a very friendly manner and a offering of soup! To help with the story, the writer/director would stop the performance and put in place a theme that the audience has chosen, to which the performers would go on to act, and each time we were astounded by what they produced, Highlights for me were the Rent/Grease mash up number about things you can do in a queue (to which our audience choice was perving/checking out good looking people) and the final number which find the husband discovering his wifes secret and learning that he is ‘in the soup!’

The second act is then brought together during the interval where the audience are asked to tweet the show’s twitter account on different ideas that will help bring this musical to a close, and the writer/director opens with reading some of those suggestions out, and mainly the ones that will make an appearance it all worked so well and the second act of the musical followed the storyline of how the wife slept with her husbands brothers, and then we find that she truly loved him and he was the one and pushed by the elderly couple to pursue her love it all ends on a happy ending where they put the past behind them and go on all to France as finaly the queue is receeding. Highlights for me during this act was the Waitress musical number ‘Close the Door’ and the finale (which I could not get out of my head on route home) very impressed that they managed to bring all the numbers they created in the final song!

I was a little gutted that they don’t sell programmes for the show (so sadly its just the ticket I can add to my collection), so you don’t know the name of the performers, luckily they have this information on the website so I was able to find out that tonights impro performers were:

Ruth Bratt

Justin Brett

Pippa Evans

Sean McCann (the Writer)

Adam Meggido (Co-Creator of Showstoppers)

Andre Pugsley

Lauren Shearing

How the performers can create something different each night is beyond be, but they all work so well off each other, and never put a barrier up (which I know from studying impro and University is a big no in this style of acting!) but flowed through each number and create something that you could argue is a better than some musicals that have been on the West End. Ruth Bratt was a favourite on the night, and tended to bring a lot to the storyline, always springing with new material to support the others. But then each performer had their input and you could tell that they were enjoying themselves, even with the cheeky giggle at times when even they didn’t know what they were doing, it just made it all that more intimate.

Showstoppers! The improvised Musical is one for those who want to partake and also if you have a love of improvisation. If you love ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ then this is the one defiantly the one for you, as it was very similar in the way it was portray to that of the tv show, and believe me a lot cheaper than the tickets they are selling currently for their show coming to west end in the future!

I didn’t know what I was in for but I am so glad that I saw this different but great production on its final night in the West End, and what a warm up for them all before they travel north to the Edinburgh Fringe. they have announced their dates, and times on their website here performing at the Pleasance Courtyard. If you get the chance to buy tickets or go and see it then do, and the bonus with this show is that you can go many times and each time you know your in for something new! I suppose that to me is what would bring me to go again, to find out what other talents and stories can be created for the audience to enjoy.

I wish Showstoppers! all the best for Edinburgh! but come back to the West End soon!