TWSS’s Laura Sawyer and Carly Synnøve review the magic of Musical Theatre Bristol’s dazzling 2025 showcase.

A cabaret of exquisite talent from the student body: if you’d think the long-running annual “Showcase” by Musical Theatre Bristol (“MTB”) would have run out of material by now, you’d be sorely mistaken.

We were wowed by every micro-musical shown. It was amazingly well organised, especially considering the large number of people who came together to make it. The atmosphere was buoyant throughout, with the foyer post-show filled with flurries of bouquets, tears, and gushing compliments as friends, families, and strangers alike embraced one another and congratulated those who took part. The whole event is a real testimony to the joys of student theatre, and everyone involved deserves kudos for this incredible feat.

Moulin Rouge

Hey sister, soul sister…

‘Lady Marmalade’ started the show the right way, amazing us with the mesmerising vocal talent of the gitchi gitchi girls (Fran Green, Ellie Wilcox, Polly Tytherleigh, and Shayo Olaniyan). The choreography and engaging staging added to the impressive opening. We immediately clocked the cohesive costuming, with a red and black theme throughout, bringing the whole piece together.

For a jukebox musical, the songs really came to life when accompanied by the brilliant pit band, as conducted by Isobel R. K. Black (in the first act).

The Duke (the hysterical yet scary Joe Balls) and Satine (the powerful yet vulnerable Maddi Jabir) character combination centres themes of possession, objectification, and deception in the Parisian 1899 entertainment industry; though the humanity of the female characters was evident from the expressive acting.

A moving opening show.

Guys and Dolls

Luck was a lady this night because we were fortunate enough to experience this production…

An enjoyable intro video filmed on the Christmas Steps kicked off the show, with a stand-out being Esther Harris as the comedic ‘Nicely-Nicely Johnson’ in a wonderful bowler-hat-suit combo.

Mali Rowlands (as Sarah) and Amy Chapman (as Adelaide) slayed with their harmonic rendition of ‘Marry the Man Today’, which we took as middling seriousness and comedy. It’s terrible dating advice but very funny. For a show written in 1950 that was one of our least familiar shows of the night, this one really shone. The easy-to-follow nature of the production attested to a show well put together, making for a coherent story for those unfamiliar with the plot. Themes of morality, relationships, and struggle can be applied to today’s modern age.

The lighting, in particular during the sewer scene, was very well designed.

The director highlights how the musical ‘also often uses stereotypical gender roles and subverts them to ironic and humorous effect’, something we thought was used to great result.

Chicago

Come on babe, why don’t we paint the town…

A real highlight of a performance closed the first act, beginning with the ever-talented pit band captivating us with an overture before the stage was even illuminated. With sleek dance numbers choreographed by Izzy How, the ensemble shone as they executed Chicago’s iconic musical numbers with a sultry stylisation and some inventive lifts (including a particularly memorable splits-lift manoeuvre). With Maddie Nash as Roxie Hart and Faz Henderson as Velma Kelly, the women-led pair dominated the show as their characters reclaimed their narratives back from the media’s cruelly short attention span.

In all honesty, though, mentally we are still utterly transfixed by Henderson’s rendition of ‘All That Jazz’.

Heathers

Life CAN be beautiful when you’re watching MTB’s rendition of Heathers!

The cult classic was well executed, with a standout vocal performance from Lauren Shepherdson as Veronica Sawyer. The dark twist on the classic high school trope had its laugh-out-loud moments, whilst being contrasted both thematically and visually with uneasy moments such as a tense gun scene, amplified by clever use of silhouetting from the lighting design team. Charlie Mutimer delivered a convincing performance as the psychopathic JD, showing the chilling ease and subtlety with which manipulation can occur in a relationship.

A particular standout had to be the comedic duo of quarterbacks Kurt and Ram, where we found a carabiner-clad Ram (Sophia Christofi) to be particularly iconic and loveable in what is usually an otherwise admittedly obnoxious role.

Come From Away

Wow. Phew. Welcome to the rock…

Mesmerising harmonies and simple yet extremely effective staging from the smaller, more intimate cast powerfully told the real story of the village of Gander, refuge for the 38 diverted planes on 11 September 2001. Whilst the cast (of 10!) did not shy away from the emotional depth appropriate to the story (maybe we cried at parts of it, but there’s no proof), it served as a refreshing take on the power of community work and the good nature inherent to humankind. Through building vocal arrangements and dialogue from the actors that felt as real as if their characters themselves were speaking to us one-on-one, a beautiful environment was created — a reminder to remain hopeful and have faith in the kindness of strangers.

Oh yeah, we thought the chairography was super fun too.

Legally Blonde

Oh my god, oh my god you guys! Our metaphorical musical taste buds were satiated by the insane energy brought by the whole cast. Shoutout to whoever picked out Elle Woods’ dress — an absolutely gorgeous moment.

We enjoyed the thoughtful curation of plot — not trying to fit the somewhat convoluted storyline of Legally Blonde into 30 minutes — attested to co-directors Shayo Olaniyan and Seren Clayton.

Elle’s transformation from reliance on the men in her life to empowering independence towards the latter end of the show highlights feminist themes — a great role model, with her traits of motivation, positivity, sisterhood, and intelligence, as embodied by the incredibly talented Olivia McKenna.

Wrap-Up

An explosive first show of the 2025/2026 academic year. MTB’s Vice President Isabel Hay would like ‘to highlight the high female demographic of [MTB]’, adding that ‘The show has been produced by two female members of the society (Beth and I) and there are women in leadership roles across the departments such as music directors, directors, vocal directors and choreographers’.

The large turnout aided the vibrant atmosphere: it was touching to see the packed theatre of friends and family applauding their loved ones (as well as strangers!) as they delivered an entourage of passion, joy, and hard work. Although we only have space to shout out a few names, truly everyone who was involved in Showcase deserves one.

Find out more about how you can get involved at musictheatrebristol.com and bristolsta.com, and keep up to date with what they’ve got planned over the upcoming year.

Disclosure – we received free press tickets, but this is an unbiased review.