| Realta Show Reports |
| Here is Christine Rudock's brilliant review of Realta! |
| I arrived in the Lititz/Lancaster area on Wednesday night. Bright and early on the Fourth my brothers and I went to Lititz and spent the day with Debbie Munson and her family. Went to the venue that evening, and about 15 minutes before John's group was to come on stage I went looking for my front seat. And what to my wondering eyes should I spy but Karen Meyers, Irishlass (Kathy Bridge), and Sheila Lyons in the theoretical front row. Even though it was sweltering, they moved closer together so I could sit with them. Then Debbie came down to join the gang. (You will see some heads in my photos, that's because folding chairs had been set up in front of what should have been the 'front' row for parents of the "Queen of the Candles" court - a yearly feature of the July 4th event . I should have just moved up and sat there for John's show!) ....Realta, the Show! The dancing was incredible. But what can you say about dancers who have been trained by John! The dance step combinations were so fast and intricate. John's air time is phenomenal, as we can attest to! He must have leaped four feet above and sailed eight feet across the stage at one point! The nickname Air Carey is well and rightly deserved!! And the speed and intricacy of his footwork is absolutely incredible. Kicks were super high! The show was truly fantastic. Costuming was imaginative. In one scene John and the guys come on stage with chairs and are dressed in black suits, opened neck white shirts, black ties askew and fedora hats. Man they looked cool!! And they proceeded to dance on the chairs. This was a great number. John left the stage while Fiona does her thing with the guys. Then John reappeared on stage wearing a cream colored suit with black shirt. In this outfit he was to die for!! You should have heard the five of us ooh and aah with appreciation. Nice picture of this. (VEG) Fiona Kidd was really great. On a par with Bernie. Her dances with John were smoldering. She has a solo number wearing a very short dress, as short as Bernie wore in her FOF solo - short!! Fiona also wore this white gauzy western looking kind of dress with ruffles with a brown leather belt with long fringes that wrap around her as she dances with John. Sexy!! John's commemoration of the Fourth of July was to incorporate red, white, and blue costumes in one dance number. This was a robust number sort of like Siamsa but different. This is really bad of me but I can honestly say that girls' numbers were not as memorable as, say, Breakout. They didn't do any hard shoe dances except for the last number. The girls' costuming were not as eye-catching as the mens'. They wore typical black dresses with sparkly designs or flowing dresses a la Celtic dream. There were dances similar to Celtic Dream. The choreography was unique. Very intricate combinations of steps. The end of the show needed a little more oomph. The choreography was not as powerful as the music. John was pumped up at the end. He did 3 encores. But he should have stopped at 2 for it was WAY too hot and muggy for the kids dancing in the long sleeved outfits. He was so pumped I think he would have continued until he passed out!! John is at the stage of his careerr where possibly Michael wishes he could have started. I think with the right publicity and backing this show could be better than Jean and Colin's DODG. The show was nicely staged. Music was great. Some dance sections were a bit flat compared with the music. But this was the first live stage performance! John choreographed the acts he showcased in 2 months time. He said the ideas were in his head and he has quite a few more he can regal us with! I am looking forward to it. He said he has some really cool ideas for sets. I don't think we asked him what the storyline was going to be. DUH!! When he came out to meet us after the show, John was shirtless and dripping sweat. He apologized for being so sweaty - like we weren't!! We gave him hugs and kisses. I didn't get any pictures after the show because I didn't have my other camera with me. Stupid! The show was well received by the enthusiastic audience even though there was a heat index of 100 degrees plus!! A girl dancer was sick backstage from the heat and one of the boys was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where he was given fluids intravenously. The weather reminded me of when LOTD's Troupe 1 were at EPCOT in Orlando, FL in 2000. That's it for now! |
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