Australian-born Eurovision parody musical Eürobeat had already received a fair amount of coverage in the press since its inception; now, fans in the UK have the chance to share in the fun themselves as the show hits the Edinburgh Fringe for the month of August. This Saturday, esctoday.com was there in the hall to see what the cast has to offer.
The excellent cast is headed by a hilariously on-form Mel Giedroyc, a self-confessed Eurovision Song Contest fan herself, who UK viewers will recognise as one of the panellists at the 2007 British selection Making Your Mind Up. With her male co-host, she presents the show and also forms the centrepiece of the bombastic interval act of the show, supposedly hosted from a proud Sarajevo. Together the pair send up years of dodgy presenters' scripts, suspect attempts at humour (and the English language) and unwittingly comedic duos, providing a hilarious frame for the grand 'event'.
The gathered crowd outside Edinburgh's Pleasance Grand were already buzzing with excitement as attendants handed out flags, hand clappers and badges to designate the country's delegation each audience member belonged to. There was a merry atmosphere amongst the packed crowd, and the auditorium was filled to the brim with punters, both Eurovision fans and non-fans alike. Sir Terry Wogan himself, UK Eurovision mogul, kicked off the proceedings, and the audience is treated to a whole show – from opening act to the songs, to a mock interval act and finally a real vote at the end of the contest.
Keenly observed parodies
There is something of that real, live Eurovision excitement in the air as each country takes to the stage, and the competition begins to hot up. One by one, Italy (making an unusual but welcome return!), Estonia, the United Kingdom, Russia, Hungary, Ireland, Greece, Germany and Sweden have their turn, in a series of keenly observed musical parodies. The music is by no means lightweight, with ten catchy plays on musical stereotypes including opera-pop-rap fusion from Italy, post-modern Kraftwerk style electronica from Germany and wonderfully kooky, utterly off-the-wall offerings from the Icelandic entrant, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Björk. Both score and lyrics are the source of much laughter throughout, with cheesey dance routines and visual gags carrying them off nicely.The audience were well behind every one of the entries, each song receiving crazed cheering and rattling of hand clappers; an actual winner would be hard to decide!
The overall winner is decided by text voting, with each member of the audience texting their delegation country and top five to a special number; the outcome is different each evening, and on Saturday it was Estonia's turn to narrowly beat Ireland into second place. The Estonian victor complied by promptly breaking down into tears during the winning reprise, a final touch of the send-up as the show draws to a close. As the lights came up, huge smiles still stuck to the faces of the audience said it all – the show provides ninety minutes of pure fun and laughter, for both enthusiasts of the contest and the layman on the street alike.
The show continues its run in Edinburgh throughout this month, with organisers having an eye on taking it elsewhere in the UK if its success continues. You can find out more about the show at the official website by clicking this link, or look into ticketing information at the Edinburgh Fringe site via this link.
