Hot on the heels of Serbia was Russia with young Alexey Vorobyov, or Alex Sparrow as he is calling himself in Düsseldorf. Expectations were sky high, with rumours of a completely revamped stage show and choreography. Needless to say, Russia didn’t disappoint.
The staging of Get You is quite impressive, with a platform up on the stage and two smaller LED screens on either side. To begin with, the props form a kind of funnel effect, bathed completely in darkness. The main stage backdrop has a smoke/thunder and lightning effect projected onto it in black and white, as Alex sings a new acapella intro completely in Russian, before launching into the more familiar, upbeat sound of Get You.
Vocally, Alex comes across as being very confident, turning in consistently excellent performances. He has three dancers on stage, as well as two backing singers who are hidden out of sight behinds the smaller LED screens. The choreography shows signs that they have obviously put a lot of thought into it, and although at times challenging, it in no way affects Alex’s vocals. The stage and floor are used very efficiently, with the dancers circling the platform while Alex moves around, standing both on stage and on the platform. The show reaches perhaps it’s most spectacular climax when Alex makes a somersault from the edge of the platform onto the stage. The choreography does leave you breathless, with the dancers and Alex bounding energetically around the stage.
Outfit wise, Russia seem to have gone with a Grease musical theme, with Alex and his dancers sporting black leather jackets, white T-shirts and black pants. A great and very effective gimmick are the LED panels on the back of each jacket which aren’t obvious at first until half way through the number when they suddenly begin to light up against the ever changing colours of the smaller LED screens.
In my view
All in all an imopressive first rehearsal from Russia, which makes me wonder why they haven’t been tipped as one of the top contenders for this year’s title. Compared to previous footage, Alex’ performance appears to come on in leaps and bounds, and the improvements to the choreography routine are very evident and improve the overall presentation dramatically.
The opinion expressed in "In my view" are those of the author and are not necessarily the one of EuroVisionary.com.
