Credits
Review
Eurovision parody raises roof
Eürobeat hits Edinburgh Fringe
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.
Related polls
- POLAND: Your favourite song in the national final?
- ARMENIA: Your favourite song in the national final?
- The Netherlands decided: How much do you like Ik be verliefd (Sha la lie)?
- Cyprus decided: How much do you like Life looks better in spring?
- Iceland decided: How much do you like Je ne sais quoi?
- Denmark decided: How much do you like In a moment like this?
- Norway decided: How much do you like My heart is yours?
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I am just back from the show. OH MY CHRIST!!!! If you are in Edinburgh, Go and see it, it is FANTASTIC. It is funny and the atmosphere is fabulous. Possibley the best show I have seen at the Edinburgh Festival. Russia won it tonight!
I went to see the show in Edinburgh and it was fabulous. The songs were great and the cast brilliant. It was a brilliant evening and captured the essence of Eurovision, fun, high drama ,good music and the excitement of voting ! Well worth going to see.
Well, it seems to be fun....I think it is just a question of time till there`s somekind of ESC musical with the real songs. Wouldn`t be surprised.
@ Chris : The Liechtenstein entry is the German one lol 
Serbian IT, stop annoying everyone, you use always the same member number you child. Is it not time to go to bed for your afternoon nap ??? Means sleep as your english is not really....
To the all fans of eurovision and all members of esctoday.com , please ignore the comments of @ Serbian boy and @ Serbian girl, , because they are not from Serbia and ofcourse in Belgrade everyone is welcomed and we have nothing against Western Europe. They just try to put politics in this great show, coz they are obviously anti Serbs. They do not know the Serbian language and ofcourse do not respond of question which i wrote them and it was in Serbian.
We think they are maybe Albanians, but i wouldn't like to judge.
yeah serbian boy girl and hero are 1 person with a very boring live...i wonder that albanians can use computers haha
I bet Serbian Girl and Serbian Boy are the same person.
well we know it
stupid albanian girl
if nobody will win who will win the contesT?
so stupid
childish ^^
well i hope 2008 will bring some well known singers on the stage
fill it in yourself my friend, just look at yourself, read your own comments and I am sure you can fill those dots....
Ajdin, hello my friend, do not listen to Serbian Tw..., it's probably going to be Albania, around end december.
does anybody know when is the first national final?
William Francis
Thanks. I disagree about Daz, though. Imo, he and James Fox were the only decent UK entries since 2004 and just came ten years too late. By decent, however, I don't mean top 10 or so, just that he didn't make me want to run to some place where I can't hear what's going on anymore.
just read on flemish site that Eddy Wally wants to participate for Belgium. That my dear friends over here would be the max. He is probably the biggest joke ever. He is about 85-90 years old, dresses like Liberace, camp as hell, always accompanied by his cross eyed daughter Marina (fat and ugly) who leads his dancers (the Wally Girls). This guy performed in every continent, from China to USA to Australia etc... Everyone sees him as a joke BUT.... he sells lots of records and this for over 60 years. If it's true I could live with it.
togravus ceterum
I agree, but that is somthing both the UK public and Terry wogan himself dont understand! Hence Daz and Scooch
PS Nice profile!
the Eurobeat website lists the winners of the most recent show and it seems to be a race between Ireland and Estonia over who wins most. And Liechtenstein isn't listed as taking part.
Litchenstein isn't listed. I wonder why not. The Litchenstein entry for this show is very good. Russia or GReece usually win I've heard. It's highly recommended
silly serbian boy, he needs to go to school and learn that scotland is part of the uk
Well making fun of Eurovision is better than complaining about it.
john makk
Quod erat demonstrandum. The ESC is neither what you want it to be nor what I want it to be. A statement like 'The ESC should be ...' is perfectly beside the point because the ESC just IS ... whatever it is.
Seems some people here don't understand that the contest should be a harmless piece of fun, where once yearly people across Europe gather round the TV set to laugh and marvel at what some countries have chosen as their entries.
I'd rather have camp and fun than a contest full of screaming, wailing and depressing ballads anytime. Something that some of the 'new ' countries entering seem to be unable to understand.
Hi all, I went to see the original Eurobeat here in Australia and I went a bit cynical that my friends and I were going to see something that was poking fun of Eurovision, but the show (the Australian one) was made so well that you sort of forget it's a parody of Eurovision and is in itself a fun show which genuinely makes you laugh. It's hard to explain but I came out feeling a little sick with all the laughing and not at all offended by any so-called mockeries of Eurovision. I'm sure it would've been just as good in Edinburgh 
hi i went to edinburgh to see this show and im a huge eurovision fan this show is brilliant very very well observed comedy and ten great songs that you can sing after hearing them just like a great eurovision song if this show tours the uk make sure and get a ticket it is the best 90 mins iv had in ages well worth the money am now thinking of going back soon
It seems to be fun but possibly symptomatic of the problematic perception of the ESC in Western countries as well. The ESC isn't the camp and B music event it mainly was in the 70s, 80s, and 90s anymore. The serious approach of the countries that have joined since the middle 90s has changed this. Now there are two incompatible contests packed into one event ...
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