By Imogen
Link: You can’t have the youtube link because it’s an
unlisted stream for people who have PAID. You can book tickets here for the
archived performance I’m talking about or for live performances in the future. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/showstopper-the-improvised-musical-livestream-tickets-121758513993?aff=SSwebsite
£9.50 or £6.50 for a single musical, £25 for the 3 remaining musicals.
Available until: the end of 11th October 2020. And
there will be a new one on Friday for the next three weeks.
Showstoppers is usually performed to a live audience
but because the Government are such twits (I would rather spell twit with an a
but I’m not allowed) the actors have to go on youtube and take suggestions from
the live chat. The host chose his favourite suggestions and told them to the
four actors, who chose their favourite from the host’s selection.
I’m not going to tell you what the audience came up with
because that would be totally against the spirit of Showstoppers. You should be
surprised when it happens just like the people who watched it live. (Or the
people who had to watch it later on youtube because it was Family Quiz Night.
Megan won. She usually does. When I was ten I knew a lot about the important
things like musicals and hot boys but Megan knows all kinds of boring stuff
like towns in Bedfordshire. Why would she need to know that? Bedfordshire must
be at least fifty miles away and the only place worth visiting is the Milton
Keynes Theatre. Unless that’s in Buckinghamshire. But who cares? I don’t need
to know things like that. That’s what chauffeurs are for.)
But I will tell you a few things about tonight’s improvised
musical.
It was set somewhere that would be difficult to put onstage
but not impossible.
They sang songs in the style of three musicals. One has been
in the West End since forever. One arrived quite recently. One had been there
for a while but it would have closed by now even if the coronavirus hadn’t
ruined our lives. The improvised songs are really good because the music and
lyrics are a lot like the musical which they’re inspired by.
They also had to do a big number in a style you don’t
usually find in musicals and they did a good job with that too.
I don’t think any of the songs were true showstoppers. This
is more a musical for admiring the insane talent of the performers than
admiring the story and the music. But the songs are still very good. Just don’t
expect a new Defying Gravity. Or not in this musical. If you want a new
Defying Gravity you can always book a future performance and suggest a song in
the style of Defying Gravity.
The audience had to suggest titles for the musicals in the
interval, the host chose his favourites and the performers made the final
choice. I think they made a very good choice. I would have chosen exactly the
same thing.
The four actors play lots of different roles. Jonathan Ainscough,
Ruth Bratt, Susan Harrison (who also appeared in These Folk, another
improvised show, which Jack reviewed) and Adam Megiddo and they are very
versatile. They all have great voices especially Susan. She has really nice
hair too. They can sing in every style they were asked to sing in. They’re all
very good at acting and they are very good at accents especially Ruth. The men
are very good too and they’re quite hot so I was happy.
Some people are very suspicious of anything that’s
improvised. Especially when it’s this good. It is possible they planned
it all in advance and they had friends in the youtube chat. But I don’t think
they did. Even if they did I don’t think that really matters very much. When
you buy a ticket for a musical you pay money to see talented performers doing
their job and that’s what happens in Showstoppers. You can’t prove it is
completely improvised and that the ideas thrown at them are completely new but
you can prove that the performers are very talented people because a lot of
actors wouldn’t have the vocal and dramatic range to sing in all these styles even
if they spent a year rehearsing. It’s totally natural to wonder but you’re not
going to work out the truth from watching the show so just enjoy the show.
That’s what audiences are supposed to do.
