Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is larky and full of laughs

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As audience members waited for the show to begin at the Panasonic Theatre on Thursday, an old number by George and Ira Gershwin wafted through the place. The crowd listened to, "You say ee-ther and I say eye-ther, let's call the whole thing off," but the show about to begin would be something more along the lines of, "You say this and I say that, let's make the whole thing up."

Created by Adam Meggido and Dylan Emery, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is just as it is advertised on the tin, as the British say. On opening night at the Panasonic, a game troupe of British comedians, improvisers, musicians and actors made up a musical on the spot. Each night is new: Extemporaneous and melodious hijinks.

If that sounds daft, it wasn't. If that sounds larky, it was. And if it sounds like a hard thing to pull off, I bet it was.

The show began with the evening's host and narrator (the affable and quick-brained Emery) taking a phone call from a fictitious producer. Said producer needed a musical, and needed it now. "Can we do it in two hours?" the host said on the phone. "We're on it." He got off the phone and solicited suggestions on plot, settings and musical-theatre styles from audience members, not a Sondheim or Fosse among them.

To help, the audience was given examples of past musicals. One was set in a German speech therapist's office. It was called Schindler's Lisp. Another, set in Ukraine, was named Crimea River.

We did say larky, remember?

Many suggestions from the crowd were shouted, but the one that received the most applause would be the musical's setting. It was eventually decided: A train at a dodgy border. As far as musical style, the audience was in favour of such musicals as Mamma Mia!, Pippin, Sweeney Todd, Chicago and Grease ("the musical, not the country").

For the production's title, the host solicited something short, pithy and emotionally resonant. "Cross Training" it is.

What happened over two acts and 90 minutes was off the rails in the very best ways. Sometimes on the mark, many times off, but, all told, a hoot.

The story was … complicated. It involved an Englishman and his daughter making their way to Turkmenistan in 1912 to bury their mother's ashes. A porter asked the daughter what she would like to drink. "Something that stains my teeth," was the girl's reply.

A pair of diabolical brothers – Russians? – were plotting against them. A diamond was involved, as was a volcano. The memory of a long-ago battle haunted almost everyone. That skirmish was called the Push to the Kush, which was funny for obvious reasons (which were not apparent). A plot twist involved a female brother who was not who she said he was.

Got it?

If the above story sounds bonkers, it was. But remember the witty cast had no time to prepare something more traditional or realistic, like say, a powdered-wig, hip-hop retelling of the founding of America, or something involving a demon barber who makes pie filling out of his customers.

The cast of Show Stopper! was delightful, with Ali James (as the swooning, balladically inclined daughter) and show co-creator Meggido (the take-charge Brit father and former army officer) particularly excelling at making it all up on the spot. The band kept things simple and moving along, which was its job.

What's particularly subversive about Show Stopper! is that it exposes the sameness of show tunes. If you've heard one keening, melodramatic power ballad in the theatre, you've heard many. As I left the theatre, a man behind me whistled the melody to Déjà Vu, a number from the show. It seemed awfully familiar, and, yet, it had just been improvised within the hour. Déjà vu, indeed.

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical runs through June 25 at the Panasonic Theatre (mirvish.com).