FESTIVAL FEATURES | Eurobeat
Eurobeat i rst crept onto the Fringe radar in 2007 with a show called Almost Eurovision, which offered up the best bits of the continent- wide contest without any of those pesky politics. It’s had some familiar names appearing in it over the years, notably Great British Bake Off star Mel Giedroyc, who this year took to YouTube to reprise her 2007 role as Boyka in order to announce the new host for 2016. In fact, one of the most attractive things about this show is the star power. Centre stage is Lee Latchford-Evans (that’s Lee from Steps to me, you and the 90s). He plays Nikolae Nikovsky: the three-time winner of Moldova’s Got Talent, and sidekick to Eurobeat presenter Katya Kokov, played l awlessly by the iconic Rula Lenska.
When I speak to Lenska about the show, she is in full Fringe mode. The car is coming to take her to the Pleasance launch, and she only has a few minutes spare to talk to me about the production. That doesn’t stop her enthusing about it though, because that’s what this show does best after all: enthusiasm. ‘It’s innovative, it’s funny, it’s high energy,’ she says, explaining what drew her to the project in the i rst place, which makes sense: the show is as recognisably entertaining as she is.
Lenska has a varied CV, with everything from Footballers’ Wives to the Doctor Who serial Resurrection of the Daleks under her belt, but she’s no stranger to musical theatre like Eurobeat either, having starred in several West End shows (notably menopause musical Hot Flush and Make The Yuletide Gay, the Christmas show from the London Gay
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Men’s Chorus).
She’s taken a wee breather from musical theatre in recent times though, so the return of her famous vocal chords was something of a moment in itself. ‘It’s a musical and recently I’ve been doing more theatre pieces, so that was a challenge for me,’ she explains. ‘But it’s a great experience being up on stage with Lee Latchford-Evans every night and audiences seem to really enjoy it.’
Though the show is based on Eurovision, you don’t necessarily have to be a diehard fan of the contest to enjoy it. Even Lenska doesn’t rave about the contest, which proves how accessible the show can be for a wide range of audiences. ‘I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan,’ she says of the annual competition, ‘but that isn’t where the spoof is. The spoof is that it’s set in Moldova, which doesn’t have the technological capabilities to hold the show it’s trying to, and there’s music from some strange countries like Vatican City.’
Fair warning though, ‘music’ means Europop music. Dress-up-in- sequins-and-do-a-90s-style-premeditated-dance music. Sing-into- a-diamante-encrusted-microphone music. Cheesy-but-secretly-you- love-it music. But therein lies that essential Eurobeat charm: it’s loud, it’s lavish and, for our sins, it’s just like Eurovision.
Eurobeat, Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 29 Aug (not 16, 23), 9.45pm, £15.50–£17.50 (£13–£15).