Ukrainian representative MELOVIN takes the Eurovision stage for his first rehearsal on May 2nd at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal.
Impressive and literally fiery stage performance has all the potential to become the most discussed at this year’s Eurovision. After the furious staging at the national selection, MELOVIN brought to Lisbon turned on its head version of his entry song ‘Under the Ladder’. The stage act’s idea realised together with a Ukrainian stage director Konstantin Tomilchenko, who also staged Jamala’s winning “1944” performance back at Eurovision 2016.
Probably the most avant-garde and theatrical props of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest is a two-level gigantic piano brought to Lisbon by the Ukrainian delegation. The complex installation serves as a hidden spot for the singer at the very beginning of the staging and as music instrument on fire closer to the end. These props need a very sophisticated technical support. If operation button pressed a half second earlier or later there is a chance for MELOVIN to damage himself seriously. And let’s not forget about the fire need to be released exactly when the singer starts playing the piano.
‘Nothing but your will sets you on fire. Fire lasts forever’ - this line from my song inspired Konstantin Tomilchenko and me to create this theatrical staging. I wanted to keep the fire but kind of escalate the whole props story to another level. With Konstantin we share the same vision of how exactly my performance should look like and I also love what he’d done for Jamala, - MELOVIN says.
‘The installation looks impressive, and that’s exactly what we want to bring to Eurovision stage. I’m really worried about how it’s all gonna work together,’ – shares Konstantin Tomilchenko. – ‘We need to take extra cautions during rehearsals and at the Semi-Final.’