#Tweetingit: A raucous, rude and riotous night out bringing together the best cabaret acts from around “Europe”…well sort of.
London Wonderground and Udderbelly came back with a bang on the 5th May and April 7th respectively with bigger and better line ups than ever before. Circus, comedy, cabaret, kids shows and outdoor bars.
Wonderground is the bawdiest, most extravagant, most outrageously hard-partying five year-old in the city, with an astonishingly eclectic array of shows to satisfy anyone’s entertainment needs. The Paradiso Spiegeltent and distinctive Coney Island bar bringing with it London’s very finest festival.
The first of my treats from this year’s Wonderground was the Alternative Eurovision. Now, I am a big fan of Eurovision anyway. Its camp, its silly, there’s over sexualised milk maids, Germans climbing the set, Graham Norton being rude about the other nations, competition and voting and a lots of outfit changes. Oh and countries form outside of Europe inexplicably being allowed to enter. What is there not to love?
Add to all of this some booze, a giant Spiegeltent and some fairly filthy songs from the best cabaret acts in London and you’ve just created a great night out!
The general gist is some top cabaret acts represent European countries providing hilarious and extremely rude songs. The acts were all fabulous – the elderly Ida Barr with her mashup of Rihanna and “If you were the only boy in the world” was brilliant while Frank Sanazi’s Russian entry satircal “Ukrainan Men” (to “Its Raining Men” tune) brought in the policitcal aspect of the real Eurovision. But douze points for me went to Ruby Darlings, whose song song about *cough cough* “non-biblical sexual activity” had me singing “do it in my front bum, but not in my bum-bum” (yes you read that right) all weekend.
However, Desmond O’Connor representing the UK, provided us with our much reached for win. His bitter sweet Ballad Of Prince and Victoria based upon Victoria Wood’s loved “Lets do it” gave us an idea of what would happen if the two beloved stars met at the pearly gates.
A truly fabulous and raucus evening. It’s a shame we have to wait another year for it to return. But do not fear, most of the acts who appeared will be on during the rest of Udderbelly and Wonderground and are certainly not to be missed.
Look them up at http://www.londonwonderground.co.uk/
Line-up: – Compere: Anna Greenwood (Guilty Pleasures) – Ida Barr – Eastend Cabaret – Des O’Connor – La Poule Plombèe – Lady Carol – Frank Sanazi – Kirsty Newton – Ria Lina – Ruby Darlings
Playhouse Pickings 