Most people appreciate how tough it is to get a new musical right, achieving the perfect balance of story, song, comedy and tragedy as recent flops like MADE IN DAGENHAM have proved.
All the more reason than to see this extraordinary little show where a handful of performers and musicians improvise a new musical based on suggestions from the audience EVERY NIGHT!
I’ve enjoyed watching the process several times and I can tell you the results are often laugh out loud funny as well as leaving you wishing you could see more of the unpredictable and hilarious results.
Highlights from previous shows have included Emotional Baggage (an apt title for a tale of First Class romance at Heathrow Airport, with songs in the style of Sondheim and Abba), Sweeney Cod (in which an ambitious fish and chip shop owner falls victim to unrequited love, with a touch of Kander and Ebb alongside the pineapple fritters), and To Bleed Or Not To Bleed (a high-stakes opera of communist vampires, channelling Mel Brooks and featuring an undead chorus).
Showstopper! was created by Adam Meggido and Dylan Emery. Duncan Walsh Atkins is Musical Director, with design by Simon Scullion, lighting by Tim Mascall and sound by Tom Lishman.
The cast includes Ruth Bratt, Justin Brett, Dylan Emery, Pippa Evans, Susan Harrison, Sean McCann, Adam Meggido, Philip Pellew, Andrew Pugsley, Oliver Senton, Lucy Trodd, and Sarah-Louise Young, with seven cast members appearing per performance plus a live on-stage band.
The Producers will be inviting critics to attend the show twice, to fully appreciate the uniqueness of each performance. I’ll be there!
Jonathan Miller, who first found fame way back in the 1960’s as part of the posh comedy group BEYOND THE FRINGE has achieved extraordinary success over the last few decades as the director of some of the best loved and most often revived opera productions in the modern repertoire.