‘SHOWSTOPPER! THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL’ Has Extended Residency In The West End For The Third Year With New Dates Added
Showstopper Productions proudly presents:
SHOWSTOPPER! THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL
Winner - Broadway World Audience Award Best Show Edinburgh 2017
Winner – Olivier Award: Best Entertainment and Family - 2016
Winner – Chortle Award: Best Character, Improv or Sketch Act - 2016
Winner – Mervyn Stutter’s Spirit Of The Fringe Award - 2009
Nominated – Chortle Best Music or Variety Act - 2011
Nominee – Best Production – MTM Awards - 2009
Nominee – Judges’ Discretionary Award – MTM Awards 2009
3RD INCREDIBLE YEAR IN LONDON’S WEST END EXTENDED RUN ANNOUNCED
The incredible ‘Showstopper! The Improvised Musical’ has extended their residency in the West End at the Cambridge Theatre for the third year with new dates added throughout 2025!
Spontaneous musical comedy at its finest, this is the first ever long-form improv show to have a full West End run and to be nominated and win an Olivier Award! Completely improvised and genuinely entirely different every night, this is a must-see show!
For those who haven’t yet experienced the live phenomenon that is ‘Showstopper! The Improvised Musical’, the show is a fully realised musical created on the spot from audience suggestions. The cast transform suggestions for settings, genres, musical styles and even the name of the show into ingenious storylines with hilarious characters. From Lin Manuel Miranda to Stephen Sondheim, via a primary school, Ancient Egypt, or a mattress shop – if the audience can suggest it, The Showstoppers will perform it. It’s hugely funny to watch.
The majority of the cast also have much acclaim with founder member Ruth Bratt being part of the famous Comedy Store Players, the longest running impro show in the country; Pippa Evans being a regular on BBC Radio 4, has toured with I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue and wrote ‘Now That's What I Call A Musical!’ (that’s currently on UK tour). The pilot of Hopping, a new comedy from Lucy Trodd and Susan Harrison, aired on BBC Radio 4 and Matt Cavendish appeared on this year’s Royal Variety Performance with Mischief Theatre's ‘A Comedy About Spies’. Co-founder Adam Meggido directed the West End and Broadway hit show Peter Pan Goes Wrong. The incredibly talented West End star Miracle Chance (Roald Dahl’s The Witches at the National Theatre, Veronica Sawyer in Heathers at The Other Palace) has just joined the cast.
The Showstoppers also regularly run improvisation workshops and courses for beginners and professionals and have a successful podcast - The Showstopper! Podcast, with recent guests including Zizi Strallen, Rufus Hound and Reuben Kaye.
In the Autumn of 2015, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical became the first longform improv show to have a full run in the West End at the Apollo Theatre and continues to play monthly at the Cambridge in London’s West End. In 2024 they were in the Top 10 best reviewed shows of entire Edinburgh Fringe – for the second year running - no mean feat in their 15th year selling out the Pleasance Grand once more!
SOME OF THE CRITICAL PRAISE FOR ‘SHOWSTOPPER! THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL’:
“A consistent audience favourite.” - PLAYBILL ★★★★★
“So polished, it defies belief.” - DAILY TELEGRAPH ★★★★★
“Achingly funny... Worth seeing again and again.” - TIME OUT CRITICS CHOICE ★★★★★
“Magical, properly funny. A triumph.” - TIMES ★★★★
“Some of the superb musical pastiches they think up might make a few West End veterans blush. Brilliant.” - FINANCIAL TIMES ★★★★
“A success story that could run and never repeat itself.” - EVENING STANDARD ★★★★
“Staggeringly good. A must see.” - THE STAGE ★★★★
“Has everything you want from a blockbuster musical – it just happens to be made up on the spot.” - METRO
“Prepare to be wowed! Showstopper! might be the only West End show you ever need.” - CHORTLE
The dates are as follows: Cambridge Theatre, West End
21 July, 29 September, 20th October, 17th November,15th December @ 7:30pm
Find SHOWSTOPPER! THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter): @TheShowstoppers, Instagram @showstopperthemusical and TikTok @showstopperthemusical.
CAST & CREDITS:
Jonathan Ainscough: actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, director, writer, musical director and arranger. He studied Music at Manchester University, before completing a master’s in performance at the Royal Northern College of Music. He has worked for the Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, the Royal Exchange Theatre and the West Yorkshire Playhouse, and works for the award-winning charity Streetwise Opera, leading music and drama workshops with people experiencing homelessness.
Ruth Bratt is in all three series of BAFTA-winning show People Just Do Nothing (BBC2). She wrote and performed Trodd En Bratt Say Well Done You with Lucy Trodd (BBC Radio 4). She is part of The Comedy Store Players and is part of The Glenda J Collective alongside Josie Lawrence, Cariad Lloyd and Pippa Evans. Credits include Derek (C4), Mongrels (
Justin Brett has worked recently as Johnny Cash in Million Dollar Quartet (West End) and extensively in theatres across the UK. He also co-runs Duke’s Comedy Club. TV: EastEnders. Peep Show; Pulling; Dombey & Son; The Queen’s Nose; The Bill; London`s Burning; GhoulLashed; Spooky. Film: War Horse; Gulliver’s Travels; The Fallen; Brothers.
Matt Cavendish trained at LAMDA. Theatre: Showstopper! (Lyric, West End), The Play That Goes Wrong (Broadway/West End), Peter Pan Goes Wrong (West End and UK Tour), Lights! Camera! Improvise! (Mischief Theatre), Sleeping Beauty (Park Theatre), The Boys From Syracuse (Union), The Borrowers (Erica Whyman), An Intimate Evening with Ruthie Henshall, News Revue. TV: Christmas Carol Goes Wrong (BBC).
Miracle Chance trained at the Guildford School of Acting. For the National Theatre: Roald Dahl’s The Witches. In London’s West End: Be More Chill. Other theatre includes: Heathers (as Veronica Sawyer) at The Other Palace; The Rocky Horror Show, Unfortunate – The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch, Footloose and The Wedding Singer, all on UK tour; The Witchfinder’s Sister and Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch; The Christmasaurus Live at Hammersmith Apollo; and Loserville at the Union Theatre Music Miracle Chance sings with vocal trio The Wild Tonics, who have performed with The Fratellis on their UK arena tours.
Dylan Emery (co-creator/director) has performed at the National Theatre, Royal Court, Shakespeare’s Globe, Bristol Old Vic and many times at the Edinburgh Fringe as well as chairing The Showstoppers’ BBC Radio 4 series. He co-founded comedy outfit Grand Theft Impro, is half of Ghost Couple along with Ruth Bratt, is a member of ‘hard-bardics’ troupe The School of Night and runs The Crunchy Frog Collective, a website dedicated to improvisation in the UK. @dylanemery
Joshua Jackson originally hails from Oakland, California. He has a BA in Music and Theatre at Colgate University, New York and a Master of Arts from the Arts Educational School, London. His professional credits include: A Long Day’s Journey Into Night and The Tempest, both directed by Kelly Hunter; Planet 3 with Bigger Bang Studios; and voice work for Black Mirror and Keep It Real.
Ali James has performed in numerous pantomimes and musicals nationwide including Norwich Theatre Royal and QDOS Entertainment and has worked as lead vocalist for P&O at sea. She has created several roles in workshop musicals for Perfect Pitch and enjoyed success at the Edinburgh Festival with her sketch group Giraffe.
Sean McCann has improvised at Shakespeare’s Globe (with The School of Night), Royal Court, Soho Theatre, West End and Elsinore Castle Denmark. Also, BBC Radio 3 and 4. He is the veteran of 18 Improvathons (multi-day improv shows without sleep) in London, Bristol, Liverpool, Canada and Ireland, including the Toronto 55 Hour in December 2013 - the world’s longest-ever long-form. As a director, recent work includes collaborations with Instant Broadway (Andre Theatre, Oslo), Blue (for Bugiardini, Rome) and both Singing in the Dark and Shakespeare Inedito (Italy, touring).
Adam Meggido (co-creator/director) is
Ethan Pascal Peters (he/him) is a British-Caribbean performer, director, and writer from West London. He trained on the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts MA Professional Acting course (2020/21). Credits include Errol in Errol's Garden (Golden Toad Theatre); Ensemble in Perfect Show for Rachel (Zoo Co Theatre); Laurie in Little Women: The Musical (Dugdale Arts Centre).
Philip Pellew has been improvising for over 25 years including in: Theatresports at the Donmar Warehouse, Hamlet Improvised, The Impro Musical, Impropera and festivals around the world, radio and TV. He has UK and West End theatre credits and is a founder member of the David Glass Ensemble, appearing in Popeye, O The Wall, Gormenghast and The Red Thread. For 6 years he was part of the Lost Child Project working with marginalised children around the world.
Martha Pothen is a British-Indian actress from Essex. She trained at The Royal Academy of Music and the University of York. Credits include Snow White and the Happy Ever After Beauty Salon (Salisbury Playhouse), The Visit (
Andrew Pugsley trained in musical theatre at Circle in the Square Theatre School, New York. He’s recently been performing internationally with improvised horror show, The Society of Strange, and improv comedy troupe Panthercannon. Other theatre: Game Theory (Tristan Bates); The Mikado (The Tabard); MC for Singalong Oliver! (Royal Festival Hall); Wind in the Willows (Brewhouse Theatre). Voiceover: The Prisoner of Zenda (Naxos Audiobooks). @andrewdpugsley
Lauren Shearing trained at LIPA and studied improv in London and Chicago. She is half of double act Breaking & Entering and performs with Austentatious, Mischief Theatre, The Monkey Toast Players and Grand Theft Impro. She has taken part in London 50-hour Improvathons and was part of O The Top, Youtube’s interactive improv show.
Joy Tan (they/them) is a Singaporean Chinese performer and 2021 graduate of Mountview’s MA Musical Theatre programme. Previously seen as Abby/Thomas/Lara (A-Typical Rainbow, Turbine Theatre, 2022), Ensemble (The Crucible, National Theatre, 2022) and Zella (Jungle Rumble, Fortune Theatre, 2022). Credits while training include Small Alison/Joan (Fun Home, 2020), Charity (Sweet Charity, 2020) and Giuseppe Zangara (Assassins, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 2019).
Lucy Trodd is a writer-performer. In 2012 she made her Edinburgh sketch debut in Trodd en Bratt say Well Done You (now two BBC Radio 4 series/Finalists in the BBC Audio Awards 2015). Screen credits include Tripped, Fool Britannia, Doctors, Fast & Loose, DickandDom, Attachments
Heather Urquhart trained in physical theatre & studied improvisation at I.O Chicago. She improvises with The Maydays, 10,000 million Love Stories & has written a book on musical improv. She is winner of the award for best female performer in the Brighton Fringe Festival and a vocalist with Mercury Music Prize nominated Electric Soft Parade.
Musical Supervisor: Duncan Walsh Atkins has been musical supervisor for The Showstoppers since 2009. His other improvisation credits include the BBC TV series Fast & Loose and appearances with Mike McShane and Paul Merton. He also coaches musical theatre-based improvisation at classes and workshops around the UK.
Key Creative Credits
Set Designer – Simon Scullion
Costume & Props Designer – Gabriella Slade
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