Showstoppers! The Improvised Musical – 6 June 2025, The Crucible
Review by Nicola Bourne.
Wowing its audiences since its 2008 debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Showstoppers group have landed at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre, on a tour direct from the West End, to share with us their Olivier Award winning Showstopper! The Improvised Musical. Created and directed by Adam Meggido and Dylan Emery, this musical does not arrive as a fully developed production and, as the title suggests, you can expect an impromptu performance, being realised only on the night of the show and relying solely on the audience for its inspiration!
You are first greeted by an onstage writer/director character, who takes a call from his producer and promises him that he has his capable writers with him and is sure he will have something for him soon. In, what can only be described as a high stakes gamble, you, as an audience, are those capable writers, invited to shout out your own suggestions, choosing not only the key themes, the setting or the musical style, but also the title. The audience votes for their favourite idea, and, if you think this idea has the potential to create something hilarious, you’d be absolutely right!
At the actors’ disposal last night, were a two-piece band made up of keyboard (Duncan Walsh Atkins) and drums (Georgia Ayers), although this setup does appear to change, with a group of alternate musicians on hand, which also includes a reeds section. The set was minimalist; there was a telephone and chair for the writer and a couple of platforms on wheels. There was also a screen that was used for simple costume additions and the storage of a few basic props, which were used brilliantly, getting a laugh for not necessarily being right for the occasion. I also wondered if the screen was used for covert, frantic conversations discussing plot and such like, between the players! Who knows?
The lighting design (Damian Robertson) was in good hands and I loved how, during our performance, the stage turned green during an Irish Eurovision song, describing the beloved Emerald Isle. There is a rolling cast of performers, but our stellar players for the evening were Andrew Pugsley, Susan Harrison, Philip Pellew and Ali James, who often played more than one character, which was really funny, when both of their characters needed to be on stage at the same time!
So, onto the storyline for our original masterpiece! Working with a theme of Dungeons and Dragons, in the style of Eurovision and incorporating influences from Steps and the musicals Mary Poppins, Heathers and Ride the Cyclone, and set in a teenager’s basement, we named our theatrical extravaganza “Dungeons and Drag Queens”. The show took shape immediately, with the writer/director interjecting occasionally and offering further crazy stage direction. In fact, the funniest scene, in my opinion, came from his instruction, during a Mary Poppins number, that the Theodopolopodous family should spell out their surname in song, which I’m sure added a few more “dopolopos”. I could swear they inserted a “Q” at one point and together with their use of inappropriate semaphore hand signals, they had the audience in stitches! During the interval, more ideas, from the audience via Instagram, were incorporated into the final piece, further proving the company’s assertions that nobody is planted in the audience. This provided an opportunity for a brilliant barbershop quartet number and a drag queen lip sync battle!
The fact that we left more than satisfied with the resulting musical, is an accomplishment indeed. The production was highly entertaining and hysterical, but amazingly, was also presented as a polished piece of work. The few minor mistakes, like forgetting someone’s character name, only added to the fun and could absolutely be forgiven under the circumstances. In fact, I’m not sure these errors weren’t for comedic effect anyway!
How on earth the cast rises to the challenge, not just once, but at each performance, is mind-blowing. You’re left wondering how their creative minds work and questioning how much time they must have spent honing their craft, also remembering the musicians’ abilities to create something so immediate, that the actors can jump on to. The cast just seem to sense each other’s intentions and don’t even talk over each other. It also appears that they have thrilled previous audiences with raps and Shakespeare sonnets, and have even “relished” suggestions that the musical takes place from the inside of a pickle jar! See what I did there?
So, if you’re game enough to see a show, where nobody, not even the cast, know what is going to happen, then you will be rewarded for your bravery. You will witness creative minds at work and get to see the premiere of a one-off piece of art, including beautiful vocals, dancing, comedy and the drama you’d expect from any musical. While you can shout out your outrageous suggestions to really test the cast’s talents, you can equally just sit back and watch the mayhem! You could even book again and see a completely different show! The audience certainly seemed to love their bespoke creation and left chuckling to themselves, as did I. Just imagine what fine musicals the cast could produce, given a little extra time!