This is a good thing in the theatre. Showstoppers are wanted because that means that people are so impressed that it is likely they will tell others to come see the show. The etymology of showstopper is literally the word show plus the word stopper. The world show comes from the Middle English verb showen or s(c)hewen meaning to look at or show or the Old English verb scēawian to meaning to look at. It may also be descended from the Dutch verb schowen, the German verb schauen, or the Middle English s(c)hew(e) which is the derivative of the Middle English verb first given. The word stopper is a form of the word stop. The word stop comes from the Middle English verb stoppen or the Old English suffix -stoppian (as in the word forstoppian meaning to stop up). I may also be descended from the Dutch or Low German word stoppen or the German word stopfen. The all come from the Vulgar Latin word stuppāre meaning to plug with oakum wich is a derivative of Latin stuppa meaning coarse hemp or flax. Stuppa comes from the Greek word stýppē.
Interestingly, while the phrase showstopper is still positive in the theatre, it has been adopted by software developers as a negative term. In software development, it means when a snag in programming is hit so that the program no longer runs or doesn't run properly. Thus, it is a showstopper for the programmer.
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