REVIEW: Eurovision: Your Decision at Wonderville

It's almost that time of year, Eurovision! And this year it's being held on home turf, so what better way than to celebrate with a camp and fun live theatrical experience?! Well, ‘Eurovision: Your Decision’ is just that. 

A parody of all things Eurovision, this show takes us through some of the most iconic numbers we’ve seen over the decades, with accompanying VTs, two hosts, an audience vote and a mockery of the International vote givers, this really is just a bundle of laughs. 

A cast of four perform all of this and believe it or not, they pull it off! It is very clear that the show's budget is certainly reflected in the costumes and the wigs but it all fits in with the style of this show and is all part of the charm. Whilst it takes perhaps 10 minutes to get into it and understand where the humour is coming from, past the second number they had the audience on their side completely. 

REVIEW: Wonderville at the Palace Theatre

There are many reasons to support, promote and see this show in its West End run during August at the Palace Theatre before the real magic returns with Harry Potter and The Cursed Child later this year. We should applaud Nica Burns who runs the theatre and has encouraged young producers to stage new shows in the West End before it becomes viable for the bigger shows to return. We should thank those Producers who have assembled a good lineup of magic, illusion, and variety to entertain audiences. We should cheer the young energetic cast who deliver this two-hour show. But most of all we should thank the audience which on my visit included a diverse group of people with many young children who have ventured out to see the show. The resulting shared experience is fun, entertaining and a diversion from the past eighteen months.

Chris Cox, who is also the Magic and Illusion Assistant on the Cursed Child, leads the cast throughout with his jovial brand of mind-reading. It is the way he tells it that engages the audience. We never really believe that he can mind read instead relying on technology to provide the answers to the questions he poses but he does it with such enthusiasm, bouncing around the stage, griming widely that we can help but enjoy his showmanship. His mind-reading of a nine-year-old girl’s Fashion Designs including the brand name she has selected is a brilliantly executed routine. His second routine picking audience members to mind read from “Control Chris Cards” filled in at the start of the show is amusing and quick-paced but less convincing.