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Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance was riding high on a bright reputation as a show business phenomenon when it opened at New York-New York on the Las Vegas Strip a little more than two years ago.
Its box office appeal was already an established fact, from New York to London and across the U.S., thanks in part to Flatley's charisma as its star and spokesman. Some watchers of the local showbiz scene speculated that, because of this widespread familiarity, the Strip version might enjoy only modest success. People who wanted to see it already had, or so
the argument went.
That's definitely not what happened as the show, which has done for tap and Irish dancing what Tiger Woods did for golf. The show heads into its third year with no sign that its appeal is waning.
"It's got a rhythm people enjoy," said a top entertainment official from another resort company who stopped by to check the show out shortly after its opening. He has been back several times since, bringing out-of-town guests who had put Lord on their must-see list. "Successful shows do not require complicated structure; they only need to send an audience out of the theater feeling good. Lord of the Dance gets the job done."
Flatley does not appear in the Las Vegas show, but his association with it is so strong that his name has become part of the official title in Las Vegas. Without Flatley's creative genius and showmanship there would be no Lord of the Dance.
The international hit features a cast of more than 40 dancers and musicians and 90 minutes of dazzling physical performance and eloquence. The story is based on old Irish folklore as Don Dorcha and his warriors challenge the Lord of the Dance. It's The Lord vs. the Dark Lord. In the end, goodness triumphs. All right, so there's no surprise ending. But on the way to the end, there are numerous skirmishes and challenges dramatized on the New York-New York stage in some of the most exciting choreography found on any Las Vegas stage in years.
Show times are 7 and 10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. During recent months there has been a Saturday matinee at 3 p.m. and an evening performance at 8. By the way, this is a show for the entire family. It should be noted that the matinee performance is one of the few on the Strip and the only one by a production of this size.
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This past Thanksgiving Holiday was made extra special with a family trip to Las Vegas to see Troupe Three (and the rest of Vegas, but who cares about that, right ~ just kidding!). I attended the 10pm show on Wednesday, November 23rd and the 9pm show on Thursday, November 24th. Here�s Wednesday�s show report: Leads were JAMES CRAWFORD (Lord), DAVID MCCABE (Dark Lord), SARAH MANNING (Saoirse), ORLAITH DONAGHY (Morrighan), ASHLING DUNNEY (Little Spirit), LAURA DUFF (Singer), and the violinists were BREDA SMYTH and GWEN SALE (�on loan� from T2). The first thing that struck me was how small the stage was�it was smaller than the one at EPCOT! The set is very much like the original set with the three towers on each side (accented with neon lights�hey, it�s Vegas!) and they still use the banners that come flying down during COTC and the girls pick them up after Celtic Dream. The majority of the costumes are new and we got a glimpse of those during their appearances on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. The one downfall of the show was the audience�I felt like I was sitting in the middle of a ghost town! There was not much clapping and yelling going on and I felt really bad for the Troupe that they weren�t getting much of a response. The one time they made any noise was at the end when JAMES was asking if we wanted one more encore. It was great to see some familiar faces up on stage. . . CIARA LENNON (wonderful dancer and beautiful smile!), KATE GOURLEY (another fantastic dancer!), CIARAN DEVLIN (who was having loads of fun in Siamsa!), JIM MURRIHY (who made a few �guest� appearances throughout the show and made a cute couple with CIARA in Fiery Nights!). . . also recognized LAURA DELARGY, NIALL HOLLY, and ATTRACTA QUINN from their days with T4. . . and dancers I�ve seen with T1 and T2 ~ GERALDINE BERGIN, DECLAN BUCKE, CATRIONA HALE, and PAUL DEVERS. Two noticeable absences were BRIAN MCENTEGGART who is back home with an injury but will hopefully rejoin the Troupe after their Christmas break. Also injured, but in attendance, was JOHNNY FINNEGAN�he had done such a fabulous job on the MDA Telethon and I was really looking forward to seeing him dance, too. Since one show wasn�t enough, I had to get tickets to another show�and front row was available! YAY!
Thursday�s show report: Leads were JIM MURRIHY (Lord), DECLAN BUCKE (Dark Lord), GERALDINE BERGIN (Saoirse), and CATRIONA HALE (Morrighan). It was like night and day when comparing this show�s crowd with the crowd from the night before! The audience was clapping and yelling as the lights went dim before the show started, so I knew that this night was going to be better already! JIM was fantastic, and DECLAN was fierce and mean! GERALDINE and CATRIONA I had seen dance the leads before when they were with T2 and T1 respectively, so it was great to see how they had grown into their roles since then! During DECLAN�s Warriors solo, he came over to our side of the stage, jumped down onto one of the black boxes in front of the stage, and had a good 30 second stare-down with my brother! LOL It was great! When the violinists came out for Strings of Fire, GWEN was on our side and she, too, came down onto the black box and further yet onto the floor! She came right up to me and said, �Jessica, how�s this?!� and was playing her violin right there in front of me! I nearly fell off my chair when she said my name! LOL And then when JIM returned to the stage for LOTD, he came right over to our side again, jumped down on the box, and pointed right at me and gave me a huge smile! :-) By now I was literally jumping in my seat with excitement! LOL Another thing about T3�s shows ~ there�s no intermission, so the show is done and over with in an hour and a half. KATE and CIARA were smiling again up on stage, as was PATRICK CAMPBELL who was having a great time in Siamsa. The one bad thing about the NYNY Hotel and Casino is that there are a million and one exit doors in the place, so it was really tough to catch the Troupe after the shows. About half came out the backstage doors, so I met CIARA and KATE there and congratulated ASHLING on her wonderful performances as the Little Spirit. But nearly all the lead dancers and musicians went out other ways. I was determined to find JIM, though, and thank him for the wonderful show he put on. So I went back inside the hotel and low and behold there he was at one of the sports bars just outside the theatre entrance! We had a wonderful visit with JIM before heading back to our hotel, the Circus Circus at the completely opposite end of the Strip. I must say that Lord of the Dance is THE most advertised show in Las Vegas! Every trolly that takes the tourists from one end of the strip to the other is decorated with the dancers� images on the outside of them. Inside, there are little 24/7 Vegas guides with LOTD advertised on the backs of every one of them. There are taxi cabs with LOTD signs attached to the tops of their roofs and there are signs all over the place at the NYNY Hotel & Casino advertising the show. They still have the little tvs inside the theatre entrance playing Troupe Two footage from their opening night in Boise, Idaho�that was fun to watch over and over again and seeing familiar faces like John Carey, Fiona Harold, Jim as the bad guy!, and the rest of T2. Since it was difficult to meet the Troupe after the shows, I only have a couple pics with them, but a lot of the NYNY Hotel and other sights along the Vegas Strip. I should have those pictures up by the end of the week, along with a great article on T3 that was in Las Vegas Style Magazine. THANKS T3 FOR THE FABULOUS SHOWS!!!
� 2000 [email protected]
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