Celebrating fourteen years as an unmissable Edinburgh Fringe phenomenon, after a successful West End run and honored with the Olivier Award, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is coming to Liverpool Playhouse. From Thursday 9 May to Saturday 11 May, audiences will be treated to an ingenious blend of comedy, musical theatre, and spontaneous brilliance.
Direct from London’s West End, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical won the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment and Family Show in 2016, completely improvised and genuinely entirely different every night with the cast crafting a brand-new musical from scratch based on audience suggestions.
Co-created and directed by Dylan Emery (The Showstoppers, BBC Radio 4, and Edinburgh Fringe) and Adam Meggido, who recently directed the Olivier-nominated comedy Peter Pan Goes Wrong (West End and UK tour). Both are also performers, joined by a crew of 16 West End cast members and 11 musicians. The cast includes Pippa Evans (Drunk History, Comedy Central), Ruth Bratt (BAFTA award-winning series, People Just Do Nothing, BBC2), Justin Brett (Million Dollar Quartet, West End) and Matt Cavendish (Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, BBC). Along with Jonathan Ainscough, Susan Harrison, Joshua C Jackson, Ali James, Sean McCann, Philip Pellew, Martha Pothen, Andrew Pugsley, Joy Tan, Lucy Trodd, Heather Urquhart and LIPA graduate, comedian Lauren Shearing. The ensemble changes on a day-to-day basis to bring the magic of improvisation to life live on stage.
Adam Meggido, co-creator and director said:
“Showstopper! has everything you could possibly want from a musical – song and dance routines, great characters, big stories – it just so happens that everything is 100% improvised, made up on the spot. The audience get to see us create the whole thing live in the moment. They discover everything at the same time as we do. More than that, they get to tell us what to do – move the story around, get us to improvise in different song styles etc. It’s wild fun, like a high-wire act for singing clowns.”
In 2008, the show originated as a workshop in London with Ken Campbell (Artistic Director of the Liverpool Everyman in 1980), where a group of inexperienced actors were tailored to perform an hour-long extemporized musical in front of a packed house. Now, after 16 years, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical has created over 1000 brand-new musicals on the spot. Each performance offers a surprising theatrical journey through impromptu storylines, songs, and dance, blending wit and humour.
Having charmed audiences at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for over a decade and enjoyed successful runs in West End, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is coming to Liverpool Playhouse from Thursday 9 May to Saturday 11 May and offering a one-of-a-kind experience that changes every night. Tickets priced from £11 – £36 are available at www.everymanplayhouse.com/whats-on/showstopper.
