Showstopper - U.K. Tour 2021

Fantastic - Really happy they're getting a proper residency again, a very talented company and I've laughed my arse off at every show of theirs I've seen.

I saw this at the fringe. Everyone else thought it was much more exciting and funnier than I did. The cast were very talented however and I was impressed with them throughout. It'll suit the OP well, I think. Seems like the perfect space for it.

You have mistaken "rehearsed" and "honed over hundreds of performances" for "set out beforehand". I've seen the show three times and it was completely different each time.

What do you mean by "deliberate misinterpretation", by the way?

They’ve also announced seven performances in 2019 at the Lyric Theatre.

28 January, 18 February, 11 March, 13 May, 17 June, 15 July, 23 September.

The early dates are unusual considering that they have the residency at The Other Palace going on at the same time.

Ignoring the clear audience winner for the setting - it wasnt even close and yet somehow a suggestion that got a far lesser reaction was picked and then a couple of the suggestions for scenarios etc were shall we be polite and say amended away from their original context.

Its not a show for me.

On nights they’re performing at the Lyric they aren’t doing the Other Palace, although technically they could as during their last West End run they were simultaneously touring.

I don’t want to spoil the magic of Showstopper but people’s insistence that it’s rigged or in some way manipulated is patently false. At the beginning of the show they will always go with the ideas they genuinely believe have the most support, if different parts of the auditorium get behind different ideas I imagine if you’re onstage you will hear what the front stalls are cheering for more.

With regards to settings, they have to reasonably be able to get 2 hours out of it. Last year the winning suggestion when I saw it in Ipswich was “the back of a Ford Granada” which was clearly impossible to do, so they followed a family who owned a Ford Granada whose children had been conceived in the back of it. Similarly when the setting was “the inside of a pickle jar” it became the day to day workings of the kitchen the pickle jar resided in with the pickles getting their own song.

Every song, line and scene is made up there and then on the spot. These people know each other very well so they can anticipate each others’ actions in advance and adapt around them. The person in the chair knows when to jump in to tighten a slightly meandering scene or when to get more from a scene. Like I said I’ve seen the show 60+ times now and I have honestly seen 60 completely distinct musicals. The only similarities there have ever been are when they base a song around the same song from a musical e.g. I think I’ve seen 2 or 3 Circle of Life homages from Lion King (although with totally different lyrics).

It’s okay if Showstopper isn’t personally your thing but these people are immensely clever, it’s no coincidence most of them are comedians or musical theatre performers when they aren’t in the show. There is no misdirection or manipulation or attempts to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes and in my opinion they’re the most talented, in tune and utterly brilliant group of performers you’ll find in the UK.

I'm also fully in the camp of believing it's all improv and if anything, those thinking otherwise just proves HOW good they really are.

Fun fact I learnt the other day, the company members have to spend a year in improv classes and working with each other before they actually go in front of an audience, which would explain how amazingly they all work together!

Please make sure you address those concerns to the theatre itself too! I decided to wait out on getting a TOP membership in their first year of it and I'm kind of glad I did, but it's good for them to know all this to iron out kinks

Fabulous opening night tonight - we had a musical set in a funeral parlour entitled “Stiff”, with music in the style of Sondheim, Six, The Little Mermaid and Columbian Salsa.

Anybody wishing to see this, there are a few deals about. If you book via the Other Palace website you can get a £10 discount on £39.50 and above tickets by using the code “JAZZHANDS”, you can also get a £5 overall discount if you book for both the 5.30pm and 8.30pm performances on a Friday. The website From the Box Office also has some sporadic deals throughout the run, including a £5 discount on the £25 front row tickets on select dates.

Wednesday night (23rd) is press/gala night and the 1000th performance of Showstopper, there are - I believe, still a few tickets left, and on Wednesday 30th January they’re doing a post show Q&A.

I am, yes! See you there

“Pasty! Pasty! 100% Cornwall”. That show closing crowd pleaser is always a winner!

Except it was performed for the very first (and last) time.

My first ever visit to Showstopper saw the production of A Lotta Dancin’, a two hour musical chronicling the adventures of the St Ives Allotment Society, the hideous crime of their marrows being tampered with, pasty crones, sheep crawling over the audience (including me), a shock gay relationship to close the show, two weddings and much more.

And great songs in the style of Rent, Wicked, 42nd Street, Little Women, Sweeney Todd and Once.

Now, the jokes about vegetables were stretching things thin, but there were some very funny sequences, including Vicar of Dibbley style meetings and lots of one liners. Some of the plot (and one major character) were completely forgotten. But I’ve seen “real” musicals that were much less memorable.

And the marvellous Kiwi character of Gary The PE Teacher brought the second half to life.

A decent crowd, not full, but receptive. And the front row is the perfect place to sit thanks to a low stage.

And I heard someone saying on the way out he was heading for a pasty. Advertising works.

Will certainly go back. Just hope I haven’t been spoilt and all these musicals are this good!