The ingenious and entirely improvised Showstopper! The Improvised Musical took to the stage at the Birmingham Rep with its signature blend of irony and creativity. Impressively, this Olivier Award-winning production – which boasts 11 sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, two West End seasons and its own BBC Radio 4 series – relies solely on the cast’s lightning-fast thinking and razor-sharp wit to transform suggestions from the crowd into a fully formed performance packed with pzazz.
The show begins with the audience helping a frantic writer, on an ever-looming deadline, come up with the premise for a new musical. Suggestions from the auditorium fly thick and fast – setting, music inspiration and a title – and from there, the actors gets to work creating an entirely original production. Participation doesn’t end there; the interval features interactive prompts via Instagram, which allowed us to shape the second half of the show too. The result is a unique collaboration between cast, band and theatre-goers.
Remarkably, the company still manages to build a solid story arc within the made-up storyline, complete with running gags, obstacles and just the right amount of chaos. The music is equally good, sounding like it could have come from a fully scripted West End score. With key changes, reprises and seamless style shifts, the cast and live band transition effortlessly from the drama of Phantom of the Opera to the sparkle of Dreamgirls, with even a few nods to ABBA, offering something that every audience member can connect with.
This is a production that gives the performers space to let their natural creativity and comic timing shine, thanks to their talent for spontaneous rhyme, strong vocals and quick timing. Minimal props and staging allowed them to transform and successfully convey the new characters, bringing vivid worlds to life with just a shift in posture or a clever line.
There’s something deeply joyful about watching performers and musicians so perfectly in sync – almost psychically communicating with such effortless ease. The audience remained engaged from start to finish, drawn in by the playful, ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ nature of this intuitive production.
