Eurobeat: Almost Eurovision

This truly enjoyable sendup of the Eurovision Song Contest and of several famous European entries into it had the audience engaged and laughing throughout.  Although by and large the competition's performances (of which there are a great variety) were sung (and danced!) more than competently, the real entertainment in them lay in their comedic moves and lyric suggestiveness.  Jordan Kelly's tight, sometimes very subtle, choreography added a rare kind of comedy to the entire satire, and the contest hosts' nonverbal interactions added much to their verbal ones in painting the behind-the-scenes frictions colourfully that must accompany contests on this scale.  (And complementing this portrait was the clear discrepancy between the participating countries' voting and the declared winner.)  The dancing performances were energetic and fun.

Lighting, as I've come to expect of SUPA's productions, was entertaining in itself and was used to good effect in adding to the comic value of at least one act.  Costumes were remarkable in their variety.  Musical accompaniment was believable, professional, and well-integrated into each performance, and sound, often a little intense in the high frequencies, was otherwise faultless.

Be warned: voting occurs at the end of the contest, and it does not mark the end of the performance but merely interval.

A thoroughly diverting two and a quarter hours' entertainment.

John P. Harvey

Image is of the Russian competitors. Photographer: Mick Deutsch