United Kingdom Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance – A Lifetime of Standing Ovations: Cliffs Pavilion, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, 8.10.2024. (JPr)
When you have got within the title of this self-congratulatory present ‘a lifetime of standing ovations’ it’s clear what it’s all aiming in direction of and certainly whereas there was a variety of whooping and hollering, pantomime booing, some clapping alongside, there was no signal of the vaunted standing ovation till the very, very finish.
Who knew earlier than coming to Lord of the Dance – in case you hadn’t seen it earlier than – that there was going to be one thing of a narrative to observe? It was outlined within the shiny memento programme thus: ‘The Lord of the Dance story emerges from the goals of the Little Spirit. It’s a traditional story of excellent versus evil. In her dream the Lord of the Dance represents all issues good on the planet however me should struggle towards evil within the type of The Darkish Lord (Joseph Howarth) and his military of Warlords.’ There may be additionally Morrighan the Temptress (Olivia Allen) who ‘comes between the Lord and his real love Saoirse [Tiernagh Canning]’ and Erin the Goddess (Celyn Cartwright) who ‘places into tune the phrases that the dances specific.’ The Darkish Lord have to be defeated it appears in order that the world of dance has a future.
All this hints at fairly extra refined storytelling than we truly see on the stage the place we’re taken right into a futuristic, militaristic world the place the Darkish Lord and his warlords stomp about just like the cybermen in BBC TV’s Dr Who. These combatting them is the Lord himself (Matt Smith, a Michael Flatley younger look- and dance-alike) who’s surrounded by some uber-attractive female and male dancers. Apparently, it was important to the story and the struggle between good and evil to have the ladies take away their vibrant, scintillating costumes at one level to bounce in Victoria’s Secret underwear. Then at one other pivotal second of the story (!) for the boys to take their tops off as if this was a Magic Mike (or Magic O’Mícheál?) extravaganza.
It’s a comparatively brief present of two 45-minute halves. The plot – comparable to it’s – performs out piecemeal in varied scenes throughout its modest size along with songs in Gaelic and English, musical interludes from two fiddle gamers (Giada Costenaro Cunningham and Helena Gullan) …and far, a lot, a lot Irish faucet dancing with all the unique music for the flailing legs composed by Gerard Fahey. It opens after some form of druidic ceremony with the Little Spirit (Cassidy Ludwig) – initially an endearing determine high to toe in embellished gold – sitting centre stage taking part in the title tune ‘Lord of the Dance’ (a hymn written by Sydney Carter in 1963) on a penny whistle. By the point it’s repeated the umpteenth time you discover it exhausting to suppress a cheer when the Darkish Lord snaps the instrument in two, earlier than the Lord all too shortly repairs it!
The glory of the present is the large stage-wide LED display screen with the ever-changing photos of the fantasy world we’ve entered: typically the Lord’s pastoral idyll (with fluttering butterflies) or the hell-like world of the Darkish Lord. Recorded music helps the percussively insistent foot-tapping (additionally pre-recorded I consider) although it appeared the 2 violinists performed dwell. The hyperactive dancers – seemingly powered by Duracell – return to the stage repeatedly to line-up or face-off and repeat most of the similar steps; with the ‘Lightning bolt’ – additionally made well-known by the eponymous Usain, the previous athlete – changing into the Lord’s favorite pose.
Clearly, everybody has to look as if they’re having a good time, and I hope they’re. Definitely, the corporate of, principally ever-smiley, dancers’ obvious pleasure of performing unfold to the viewers ultimately and so they acquired their standing ovation. Was it deserved? Effectively, perhaps sure, for all their expertise and inexhaustible vitality, although maybe not for the fairly odd present itself.
Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance present in its varied incarnations has been touring the world since 1996. Listed as ‘Creator, Producer, Director & Choreographer’ Michael got here to fame with Riverdance which was first seen in the course of the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Music Contest. As marvellous of that was, I doubt anyone on the time would realise the phenomenon it could turn out to be and the worldwide fame it could convey Michael. He nonetheless tops and tails Lord of the Dance firstly as a disembodied voice accompanying some video movie speaking about his background in dance and the way his dance instructor used to tie his arms to his sides with a belt (Strictly are you listening in?) when he wished to bounce free. So, he started to create his personal type of Irish dance and finally Lord of the Dance ‘the most important promoting dance present of all time’ was born. Michael himself made his last look with the present in 2016 however lives on in movie and three Michaels have a light-hearted dance-off close to the tip exhibiting him in his heyday.
Jim Pritchard
Featured Picture: Firm of Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance
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