Birgit Oigemeel – Estonian Eurovision Representative 2013 – First Dress rehearsal(Photograph courtesy of Birgit.ee)

Estonia take to the stage for their first dress rehearsal and my jaw has just dropped. What are they thinking of?? Birgit is dressed in a white flowing ball gown with some metallic trimming. She looks very pretty when they engage the most important piece of Eurovision technology – the wind machine. However this is where things go from pleasant ballad to total bonkers!

The first verse of the song is in black and white until the chorus where we jump into Technicolor – think of Dorothy landing in Oz and opening the door for the first time. But here is the crazy thing – not only is Birgit joined by 3 dapper male backing singers but over 100 cardboard cut outs dotted around the perimeter of the stage – and they are life sized cut outs of Mr Spock (Austria’s borg dancers must be very jealous), Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and other famous faces. There is one poor unfortunate member of the Estonian team turning them around to face the stage and then to face the audience? “It’s Life Jim but not as we know it!!”

This looks totally bizarre on camera and only serves to take you mind off the rather slow and lullaby song from Birgit. Again the stage is blue and hints of green but you are just waiting for the show to start.

Vocally Birgit and her backing singers sounded fine on all the rehearsals, but the staging makes no sense what so ever. With the new Star Trek movie opening this week they will be happy with the free advertisement, but I fear Estonia will be judged harshly for this staging and cardboard cutouts. One of my Dutch colleagues has just said that it looks like “Stargate” and you are being dragged through a wormhole to another dimension. This has gone from good chance of qualifying to “a new life form” that will not be met in peace. Just bizarre – who came up with this concept?

Author/Website co-founder and Editor in Chief Garrett Mulhall

Source – Eurovision Ireland