Lord of the Dance

Back in 1999 I saw Lord of the Dance while I was in Vegas (it was actually a backup because the show we originally wanted to see didn't have available tickets while we were there).

Back then I wasn't quite as open-minded as I am know. I enjoyed it, I suppose, but I don't think I really appreciated it back then as much as I should have.

I missed seeing Mairead Nesbitt by a year or so (that was before Celtic Woman, of course, so I didn't know about her then). She had transitioned from Lord of the Dance to Feet of Flames (basically Lord of the Dance 2.0) by then. I also missed Deirdre Shannon while she was with Lord of the Dance. She was performing in Lord of the Dance in the US at the same as I saw the show, but she was in the touring troupe, whereas the Vegas show had its own dedicated troupe.

I don't remember too much from a show that was that long ago, but I do remember being impressed by the two fiddlers.

I have the two Lord of the Dance DVDs featuring Mairead Nesbitt:
- Lord of the Dance (1997)
- Feet of Flames (1998) (a modified version of Lord of the Dance performed live at Hyde Park in London)

Both of the DVDs are very entertaining, although I do enjoy the Feet of Flames DVD quite a bit more.

I found that Feet of Flames had:
- Better picture quality
- A bigger and more spectacular set
- More of Mairead Nesbitt
- A really nice slow air performed on the flute by Michael Flatley himself
- Pyrotechnics
- Additional tracks
- Different choreography in some places
- Vocal numbers which I enjoyed more, including An Maghdainn Mara, performed by Anne Buckley. Anne does a great job with the song, but I don't think anyone in the world sings it better than Deirdre Shannon.


Both DVDs very good "making of" documentary features. I enjoyed the "making of" from Feet of Flames slightly more though.

The regular Lord of the Dance DVD had some cool shots up through translucent panels in the stage during the tap dancing. But for the most part, I found Feet of Flames better. While they're both entertaining, if you could only get one I'd recommend Feet of Flames.


Mairead Nesbitt in Lord of the Dance DVD

Tracks:
6. Strings of Fire (aka Duel of the Fiddles)
13. Fiery Nights ... she's performing the back, so not prominently featured
14. The Lament ... slow violin duet where she's at the front of the stage
20. Victory ... seen performing briefly
21. Planet Ireland ... seen performing at brief moments near the side of the stage

Side-note: Mairead's got the 90s hairstyle going in this one.

Mairead Nesbitt in Lord of the Dance DVD

Tracks:
7. Strings of Fire (aka Duel of the Fiddles)
19. Fiery Nights
20. The Lament
21. Celtic Fire
27. Victory
29. Planet Ireland
30. Encores

Side-note: Mairead has a few scenes where Michael Flatley dances with her for a bit. It's pretty cool. He's a lucky guy.

Special Features:
* Documentary: Making of Feet of Flames


A Few Decades Later...

Fun fact: Michael Flatley had his last performance for Lord of the Dance the same day I first saw Celtic Woman live, St. Patrick's Day, 2016.

For some of our newer forum members, yes, I know, I should have started seeing them 10 years earlier in 2006 when I first heard Lisa Kelly perform May It Be in an online video from the original Celtic Woman DVD. But I didn't.


Seeing Riverdance twice this year (once in Canada, once in Ireland) kind of renewed my interest in Lord of the Dance, so I decided to get a ticket to see Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games in a couple of weeks. It's only about a 15 minute drive for me and the tickets are quite a bit cheaper than Celtic Woman tickets (even for tickets close to the stage), so I couldn't really pass it up. It should be a fun show!

Thanks for the tips, Tom!  I just watched Feet of Flames and it was very impressive.  Máiréad Nesbitt was 19 years old at the time, wow!

Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games (Tour)

I saw Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games!

I actually had a mixed reaction to this show. It had lots of energy and the dancing was amazing! It was good, don't get me wrong, but I think you'll enjoy it more if you haven't seen the original Lord of the Dance or Feet of Flames (or at least haven't seen them in a long time). Explanation to follow.

I know shows change over time. They have to in order to stay fresh. Most of the time I don't like comparing new and old versions of shows because each version should be appreciated for its own strengths. In this case though, I think I have to compare this show to the Lord of the Dance DVD or Feet of Flames DVD in order to make my point (it's been almost 20 years since I saw the original live, so I can't use that for comparison).


Story:

The story is almost exactly the same as the original. For most of the pieces, the songs and choreography have been re-worked significantly. Each piece reminded me of its original counterpart, which I thought was pretty cool, but also ended up being a double-edged sword (more on that later).

There was a good plot twist (well, more of a tweak) in the second act. I don't want to give away what it was, but let's just say that one of the characters does something compelling in Dangerous Games that the character did not do (at least not clearly) in the original or Feet of Flames. I thought it added dimension to the character.

There were some aspects of the new show that improved the storytelling and made it easier to understand some scenes in the show. There was a big video screen at the back of the stage that helped set the scene far more effectively than the giant gate in the original show.


Dancing:

The dancing in the original and Dangerous Games is great! There was lots of energy and talent on that stage. It feels like I should be talking more about the dancing for an Irish dance show, but I don't have anything to complain about, so it wouldn't make for an interesting writeup.


Costumes:

I thought the costumes in Dangerous Games were great for the most part. They had some very pretty dresses, including some stunning, spectacular sparkly ones. The male dancers on the antagonist's side got costume upgrades too. They retained the sense of tackiness that was present with the original, but in the new show, they wear armor reminiscent of Judge Dredd or some other futuristic security force. The lead villain's new costume felt like a Borg (although this character was significantly more mobile). The peak of the tackiness was new costumes I'll call "Cybermen" (for my fellow Dr. Who fans). Those were kind of distracting in my opinion. I felt like I was paying more attention to their costumes  than the performance and even though I'm a sci-fi fan, this felt a little over the top. I think overall though, I was quite pleased with the costumes, both in general and relative to the original.


Acting:

The acting was a weakness of this Dangerous Games performance, in my opinion. It felt like the performers were good at dancing, but didn't have the same dimension in the other aspects of their performance as they did on the Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames DVDs.

The dancer that played The Little Spirit (the adorable flute fairy) in this Dangerous Games performance was a fantastic dancer, but Helen Egan (from the early DVDs) was just at a whole different level in terms of facial expressiveness. I really cared about Helen Egan's "The Little Spirit" because her insanely good acting skills made me care. The new Little Spirit didn't establish that same emotional connection.

That said, the chemistry between Saoirse (aka "good girl" dancer) and Morrigan ("the temptress") was great. The jealousy came across much more effectively in the new show than it did on the old DVDs.


Music:

The biggest difference and the thing I found the most disappointing in this new show was the music.

The original composer was Ronan Hardiman. The new composer is Gerard Fahy.

As I mentioned earlier, I thought it was cool that the new composer managed to make the new songs in such a way that they reminded me of the originals. The progressions and other characteristics of the songs were similar (except for a few brand new pieces) were similar to their original counterparts. They were fun, energetic, had good rhythms, and had a good irish flavour.

It's the melodies that were the biggest difference for me. The almost all the new instrumental songs felt bland and significantly less catchy than the originals. Quite frankly, they *butchered* some of my favourite pieces from Lord of the Dance.

The original "Victory" was an AMAZING tune! The new counterpart is not. It's not catchy. It's not nearly as powerful emotionally. It didn't make me want to cheer. It felt like a far less effective version of Victory Celebration, which replaced the beloved Yub Nub in the special edition of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

The first half of "Dance Above the Rainbow" from Feet of Flames was an outstanding piece! Similarly "Siamsa" was extremely fun to listen to! The songs replaced those two scenes it with in the new show were rhythmically similar, but the melodies weren't nearly as memorable.

Aside from those 3 travesties, most of the other instrumental songs I thought were just different and I wasn't disappointed in them.

Dueling Violins was similar to the original, except that nobody can replicate Mairead Nesbitt's energy.

The new version of The Lament (the slow, sad violin duet) was one aspect of the new music I really loved. I thought the new arrangement was far prettier and more effective at communicating emotion. The images on the video screen and the music complimented each other very well for this piece.

The vocal songs in the original were slow, traditional Irish songs. The new songs were contemporary, including pop and rock songs. They weren't nearly as spectacular as the songs performed in a show like Rocktopia, but they were still good and they were well-performed. For the most part, they added to the story and maintained the show's pace and energy well.


The Encores:

One of the features of encores in a Michael Flatley's old shows (aside from repeating the Lord of the Dance theme / dance multiple times at the end of the show) was that the lead performer would do a special solo dance without any music. I don't want to give it away, but I thought the solo in this show was pretty cool.


Crowd:

This was the second night of a back-to-back at the venue. Hopefully there were more people on night #1, because the theatre was about a third full (possibly less) on night #2. The crowd was ok. They sometimes needed encouragement to clap along to some pieces and the clapping wasn't particularly enthusiastic. The ovations at the end of the acts or big numbers was actually pretty loud and impressive for an audience that small though.


Overall Impression:

This is a good show! I enjoyed it overall, but some of the changes disappointed me, so I left the theatre feeling a little unsatisfied. If you haven't seen the original or haven't seen a previous version in a while, it's definitely worth seeing. If you're a big fan of the old DVDs and/or have watched them recently, just be aware that some of the things you loved about the old production may be lacking in the new one. Whether or not all the many good aspects of the new show can outweigh the shortcomings, you'll have to decide for yourselves. If you go see it, I hope you enjoy it.

if you ever had the opportunity to meet Mairead N. in person (I did)...you`ll be amazed at how TINY she is......she`s super lovely in person but SOOOOOO TINY.......so much talent in a little package. On stage you don`t realize her diminuative size but meeting her in person......she`s just soooo......compact 

if you ever had the opportunity to meet Mairead N. in person (I did)...you`ll be amazed at how TINY she is......she`s super lovely in person but SOOOOOO TINY.......so much talent in a little package. On stage you don`t realize her diminuative size but meeting her in person......she`s just soooo......compact 

I was a bit surprised. She packs a lot of heart and energy into that small space though.