'Boom Bang A Bang' For 'Eurobeat-Almost Eurovision'

'Eurobeat- Almost Eurovision' finally gets to the West End tonight after a 5 month tour.

This will have a limited audience but in a limited season will do good business. It was great fun when it started in Wimbledon back in the Spring so by now must be really tight and even greater fun.
Its camper than having a few drinks with SADM2!

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Updated On: 9/8/08 at 10:25 AM

Yes why not?
As long as its not the night of the 'Priscilla' launch!

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Light head!
Light heart!
Lots of drinks!
....you'll have a ball!
Don't forget your mobile!

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Oh don't let that spoil your night. I didn't vote!
Those production shots you've seen! They will live up to you're expectations!
Its such fun, cant wait to hear your report on it!

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"Now the question is can we arrange a BWW outing."

I missed this on tour, but it's probably just the right show for a BWW get-together so I'm potentially interested. My diary does tend to get filled up so I would need a few weeks notice.

I saw it in Brighton the night before Pride and absolutely loved it - haven't laughed so much in ages.

I realised why Estonia often wins though: as you enter the theatre you pick out a badge which is the country you will support for the evening, when you vote (don't forget your mobile!) in best Eurovision style you can't vote for your own country - there are no Estonia badges so more votes for them (plus the fact that the Estonia entry is one of the best and funniest - I almost voted for them but chose Ireland instead).

This is the perfect night out for groups of friends or work-mates, just a shame it's not around for Christmas as it would be ideal as an office theatre trip.

If you love Eurovision - you must see this show.

If you hate Eurovision - you must see this show.

That production shot (the four boys) is from the Melbourne season.

Seeing this again tomorrow with a friend who's very much one of those "I will rag on you mercilessly for following the Eurovision but will still shamefully watch it myself" types. It's not a moment too soon either: I need to wipe the memory of "Our House" from my mind as soon as possible...

It's in Wimbledon this week, I just thought it was utter tosh. I have to suspect that it's a case of "didn't know the original band, don't get why everybody's so worked up about the show." That's the only reason I can think of that I was bored out of my mind and facepalming half the plot while the rest of the stalls were in love.

Of course, not being able to hear or understand half the lyrics didn't help. I will say that the choreography was great, and the actors certainly tried, but it must have been a VERY slow year for this to have taken the Olivier because I found the book on par with "Never Forget" except preachier and more cringeworthy. I considered leaving at the interval, but my train ride was an hour each way and the thought of two hours on the train for one hour of show bothered me enough that I bucked up, bought a Magnum bar at the corner shop, and went back to slog through the second half.

On the upside, there's a lot hitting the New Wimbledon soon that I'm quite interested in seeing: the Joseph tour (which I'll likely skip due to time constraints), Flashdance, Carousel (at 1/2-1/3 the cost of the West End run), West Side Story (missed it at Sadler's Well), Witches of Eastwick, and Colin Baker headlining in Noises Off.

Still no report from lovepigeon...perhaps his head exploded from laughter.

And as for a BWW gathering, how about going during the final week?

Mark Shenton comments on the show in his blog this morning as well, and is more positive:

"If there’s one thing that inspires dread in a critic’s heart - or at any rate this critic’s heart - it’s the prospect of ritually enforced audience participation, and being issued with a badge on the way in that allocates each member of the audience an adopted country to support, a flag from that country to wave, and a set of clackers to make a noise with, it wasn’t looking good. But actually this is a show that surprises you at every turn, since each part of the experience has been so carefully thought through. And both the script and score are blessed with an infectious wit that makes this the most surprising, intentionally derivative and yet original new musical of the year so far."
Shenton's View

SADM: I may think the show is hilarious, but that doesn't mean I'm not in 100% agreement with you. A 4-6 week run in the Duke of York's would have been more appropriate than 10 in the Novello.

4 stars from What's On Stage:

"Eurobeat, billed as possibly the West End’s first interactive trash hit, is a send up of a cultural phenomenon, the Eurovision Song Contest, which is already out of sight in terms of self-parody. We’ve been through the irony tunnel and back several times on this score."

"Yet this spectacularly silly and enjoyable musical by Eurofan Aussies Craig Christie and Andrew Patterson – first seen on the Edinburgh Festival fringe last year - manages to combine cheap laughs and cheap music in a joyous theatrical combustion."

"There was stiff competition, mind you, from a hilarious robotic German entry in the Kraftwerk style, a Greek homage to Nana Mouskouri with the skimpily clad goddess Aphrodite consumed in flames (the least she deserved), and the KGBoyz from Russia – “new kids on the Eastern bloc” – glistening in their white latex gym suits as they performed, nay embodied, their “Ice Queen” counter-revolutionary composition."
Whatsonstage.com Review