'Lord Of The Dance' is an Irish Dancing spectacle and feast for the senses, which was first performed 25 years ago by Michael Flatley. Flatley created new dance steps, never before incorporated into the Irish Dance, and made those steps and that style his own, creating a show around them and him.
The story tells of the creation of Dance, and Dance's Muse, personified as a Sprite is able to grant people the gift of dance by her penny-whistle playing. [she should have been shown how to move her hands and fingers across the whistle to make it seem more like she was actually playing it!] However, a huge battle between Good and Evil ensues as the current Lord of The Dance is being wooed by an evil temptress under the spell of the rebel leader who wants to become the Lord himself. A huge dance-off between the two sides results in a little Sprite magic allowing the Good to triumph and all is well with the world of Dance.
The story, nor indeed the characters or the routines have changed much over the 25 years. Once you've seen it, you need not see it again. That does not mean though that it is not still a fantastic, fantasmagoria of campness and egos - it is. The lead role of Dance Lord now taken by a young male dancer who seemed to be totally content with not only copying Flatley's dance routines but also his style and arrogance too.
But the ego-mania did not end there. Both at the start of the show and at the end, we were shown video footage on the large screen to the rear of the stage of Flatley and his troupe at various theatres over the years taking bows and accepting standing ovations, with an American-styled voice-over telling us just how great these shows and dancers are. If that isn't self-aggrandising, I don't know what is.
Using the same style of screen and raised walk-way at the back with the central steps leading to the dance area, the show also used the same computer generated graphics of real and imagined landscapes and buildings, sometimes with Celtic style symbols in the sunshine and greenery, and other times showing ruined abbeys in flames. The closer to the stage you were then the less effective these images became. The sound levels this evening were sometimes just about OK, but some of the time they were far too loud. Oh, and while I mention the sound, then the vast majority of the production relied on playbacks. The company had two live violinists - who played along with the backing tracks! - and a female singer, who again sang to backing tracks; all three talented. However, the playbacks also included the taps of the dancers, and every so often the taps on the playbacks did not match those of the dancers on stage, which was a little offputting. The best dance of the evening was when they didn't use any backing music at all, and the male dancers tapped out a military-styled rythm in their dance.
This is a two-hour extravaganza - a pageant of contemporary Irish Dance at its best. The dance routines are superb, there is no denying that, and the choreography slick, with split-second timing. And the dancers are absolutely at the top of their game. And with two standing ovations from this evening's audience, it seems clear that Flatley's now iconic style of Irish dancing and this show are destined to continue into the foreseeable future.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 14.7.22
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