By Megan
Available until: 29th
December 2020
The Showstoppers are so clever. I
think if they were given all the ideas in advance and given a day to turn it
all into a musical, I think that would be very clever. But they make it all up
in the moment and their musicals are always good and interesting.
This musical has a Christmas theme. They are given six different story ideas to choose from. I’m sure they could have made all of them good but they chose my favourite so I was very happy. I really liked the idea of ‘a scandalous Christmas party with nuns and ducks’ too. Aashiq says that’s a real musical and it’s called Sister Quacked (which might look weird written down but it sounds a bit like Sister Act) but I think he might be joking.
The story they chose was one about
Santa’s elves and there are lots of different storylines with the four
Showstoppers playing all the characters. They were Ali James, Pippa Evans,
Andrew Pugsley and Philip Pellew and they are all really good. I haven’t seen
Ms James before but I have seen all the others. Mr Pugsley hosts when he isn’t
performing but he performs this time and Dylan Emery is the host.
The main storyline is a group of elves
who think Santa is working them too hard and that he’s maybe not a very good
boss. There is also a storyline with Santa, his wife and two of the people who
work closely with him. Then there are also three children who are looking for a
new home and find one with a really nice lady called Miss Sanderson.
The plots can go in some really
unexpected directions but even though it’s all improvised and they have to
think really quickly, they manage to keep all the storylines on track really
well and to link them up at the end. They also have lots of hats to help them
show when they are playing different characters, including Santa hats and elf
hats.
The title is decided at the start of
Act 2 like it always is. The Showstoppers have lots of good titles to choose
from but they choose my favourite again! The title they choose is clever and
funny but it has a deeper meaning which works really well with the play.
They are all really good singers. They
sing in so many different styles. Their voices aren’t that similar, they range
from Ms Evans who can do a really good rock voice to Ms James who can sing in
quite a classical style but they are all versatile so they can change their
voices to suit a style they have been asked to sing in and they are able to
make their voices blend together. There are some great roles including the
three elves, Ms James as Miss Candycane (she is very scary) and Miss Sanderson
(she isn’t scary at all), Mr Pellew as Santa, Ms Evans as Mrs Claus and Mr
Pugsley as a gnome. I also loved it when Ms Evans had to make up a special
language.
The music is really good. They sing in
lots of different styles including a patter song and an operatic carol and also
in the styles of musicals including Chicago, Hamilton, Wicked
and Six. There are lots of really good lines which I won’t spoil but
there was a good bit about splinters (but it’s not rude). My favourite songs
are the one which ends Act 1 (it is really beautiful) and the song in the style
of a very popular Christmas song.
It is a really lovely Christmas story
which I could imagine being made into a film. The characters, plot and music
are there already.
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