Celebrity judges, guest stars and the full line-up is today announced for The Showstoppers’ Alternative Eurovision Song Contest.
In tribute to this year’s cancelled Eurovision Song Contest, Olivier Award-winning musical comedy improvisers The Showstoppers will deliver Europop’s favourite night of the year - direct to the world’s living rooms with their very own Alternative Eurovision Song Contest.
Featuring brand new songs parodying your favourite Eurovision genres, The Showstoppers invite you to join them as they attempt to recreate the OTT production values, high camp, and musical merriment of the world-famous competition, in a hilarious evening complete with commentary and interactive voting, all from isolation in their own socially-distanced homes across the UK.
Each song will be written and recorded by The Showstoppers and the guest stars themselves in collaboration with the company’s musical directors – Duncan Walsh Atkins, Christopher Ash and Jordan Clarke.
Celebrity judges:
Christopher Biggins
Biggins has been a household name for 30 years. An actor, media celebrity, TV personality and compere, the Grand Dame of Pantomime and above all a generous good doer, he was crowned King of the Jungle as the winner of ‘I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here’ in 2007 and he won ‘Celebrity Come Dine With Me’ in 2009.
Arlene Phillips
Multi Olivier Award-winner and Tony Award nominee Arlene Phillips is a showbiz legend honoured as a CBE for her services to dance; she has worked with stars from film and TV, to theatre and arenas, as well as becoming one of Britain’s favourite television judges.
London Hughes
Winner of the prestigious Funny Women Awards, London Hughes is a stand-up comedian and presenter whose credits include Channel 5 ‘STAR’s Extreme Hair Wars’, ITV’s ‘All Star Musicals’, BBC’s ‘Mock the Week’, E4’s ‘Celebs Go Dating’ and ITV2’s panel show ‘Don’t Hate the Playaz’. Her show ‘To Catch a D*ck’ was nominated for Best Show at the Dave Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2019.
Claire Sweeney
Actress, singer, dancer and TV presenter, Claire was most recently seen on stage starring as Irene Roth in ‘Crazy For You’, Baroness Bomburst in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, and Velma Von Tussle in ‘Hairspray’ and toured in the hit show ‘Sex In Suburbia’, which she co-wrote, following its hugely successful run at the Royal Court Liverpool. She guest starred as Maxine in the hit ITV comedy ‘Benidorm’, and hosted her very own weekly musical theatre-themed show on Magic FM.
Tom Allen - Commentator
Comedian, writer and actor, Tom started as a stand up at the age of 22 and went on to win both ‘So You Think You’re Funny’ in Edinburgh and the BBC New Comedy Awards in the same year. He has appeared on ‘8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown’, ‘Mock the Week’, ‘Celebrity The Crystal Maze’ as well as the John Bishop Show and Channel 4’s Comedy Gala at the O2. He co-hosts ‘Bake Off: The Professionals’ and joined the 2018 series of ‘The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice’ as a regular contributor.
The Showstoppers Alternative Eurovision Song Contest Key Art Landscape no text.jpg
Presenters Pippa Evans and Andrew Pugsley
Photo Matt Crockett
Presenters:
Pippa Evans and Andrew Pugsley
The Man with the Stats:
Philip Pellew
Guest singers:
EGG - Costas and Maria for GREECE, ‘3 Gloves (Sexy Baby)’
Jordan Gray - Yana Novakovakova for CZECH REPULIC, ‘Sad Clown’
Josie Lawrence - Yosie Longrance for DENMARK, ‘Bink Bonk Bink (Cheeky Monkey)’
Mike McShane - Damathous Mamanappi for CYPRUS, ‘Wind In My Valley’
Showstoppers:
Jonathan Ainscough - Fergal Brogue for IRELAND, ‘If You’re With Me’
Ruth Bratt - OM for FINLAND, ‘Domino’
Justin Brett - Hej! for SWEDEN, ‘Hej! Fever’
Julie Clare - Marla for ITALY, ‘Only You’
Dylan Emery - Hakan for TURKEY, ‘Into Your Light’
Susan Harrison - Marika Elán for SLOVAKIA, ‘Identity’
Ali James - Kristina Jansons for LATVIA, ‘(Love) Come And Get Me’
Joshua Jackson - Le Bon Bon for FRANCE, ’Super Sweet’
Sean McCann - Archangel for RUSSIA, ‘I’m In A Shed (I’m The New King)’
Adam Meggido - Marco Felatio for MONTENEGRO, ‘Valetta’
Philip Pellew - Bim and Bo for PORTUGAL, ‘Familias Felizes (Happy Families)’
Heather Urquhart - Rama Stein for GERMANY, ‘Bundesliga Dankeschoen Schmetterling Muttersohnchen’
Lucy Trodd - Roxana for Azerbaijan, ‘Earth Cry’
Musical arrangements, production and keys: Duncan Walsh Atkins, Christopher Ash and Jordan Clarke.
Percussion: Alex Atty and Craig Apps.
Guitars: Dylan Emery and Justin Brett
From Azebijan to Turkey... the singers and their competing songs
From Azebijan to Turkey... the singers and their competing songs in The Showstoppers’ Alternative Eurovision Song Contest.jpg
Livestreaming on Facebook and YouTube from 8pm (UK time) on Friday 15 May 2020, catch all the action on:
Captioning will be available on the night at www.showstopperthemusical.com/alternativeeurovision
Money being raised is for The Care Workers’ Charity Emergency Fund : https://www.thecareworkerscharity.org.uk
Showstopper! The Improvised Musical
Showstopper! The Improvised Musical has been a rip-roaring success since the show started in 2008. It has had 12 sell-out years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, two West End runs, an Olivier award for Best Entertainment and Family Show and a BBC Radio 4 series. In the show, the audience meets a writer of musicals who is on a deadline – and needs their help. The audience shouts out suggestions of a setting, musical styles and the title of the show and they’re off! The Showstopper team – cast and band – then weave a brand-new musical in front of the very eyes of the audience, complete with hilarious characters, fabulous dance routines, beautiful songs, epic story lines, all sprinkled with the pizzazz of a Broadway show. During lockdown whilst The Showstoppers are prevented from improvising musicals together – technology isn’t yet fast enough to keep up with them across multiple locations! – the company have been entertaining audiences by turning their talents to writing and recording songs from their homes.
During this period they have completed 24 Hour Song Challenges for Elaine Paige, Ramin Karimloo and Derren Brown, featuring a subject matter and a musical style of each celebrity’s choosing plus two full episodes of The Showstoppers’ Online Storytime for kids. Online Storytime is based entirely on children’s suggestions offered on social media which is then improvised at home, recorded and edited into brand new content for families.
Both the 24 Hour Song Challenges and the Online Storytime episodes can be watched on
www.showstopperthemusical.com
The Showstoppers’
Alternative Eurovision
Raising money for The Care Workers’ Charity
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/the-showstoppers
Livestreaming on Facebook and YouTube
from 8pm (UK time) on Friday 15 May 2020
Show lasts 80 mins (approx)
May contain some adult humour
