Often, the key to a good improvised comedy show is making sure that the audience forgets that what’s happening on stage is in fact improvised. Making it look natural, easy and unstrained. As it happens, the cast and crew of The Showstoppers’ Improvised Musical are far on their way to doing just that.
As with any improvised comedy show, this hour-long musical is based entirely on suggestions from the audience. As the show starts, the storyteller comes onto the stage, informing us that he is to write a musical and that he needs our help. Then follows a series of requests for suggestions from the audience, ranging from the setting and name of the show to the musicals from which this one will find its inspiration. On this particular night, we happened to find ourselves in a cigar-rolling factory in Mexico City, a workplace filled with love, drama, dancing and passion. Throw in the unexpected spirit of a dead catholic mother and the evil American factory owner and the show ends up being just as unpredictable as you would want a good improvised comedy musical to be.
It is important to specify that everything in this show is improvised, including the acting, the singing and all the music. Even before the first musical number of the evening has finished, it becomes clear to the audience that this entire production is the result of a group of talented performers and musicians coming together and clearly enjoying themselves in the process. Considering that everything is improvised, the quality of the acting and in particular the singing is surprisingly good, leaving an already positive audience even more satisfied.
Go see The Showstoppers’ Improvised Musical and you’re guaranteed an enjoyable evening thick with laughs and full of warmth, quality and humour. Improvised comedy can indeed be risky business, but these guys are sure to impress as they turn even the most obscure suggestions into wonderful musical goodness.
