By Susan Whitney
Deseret News staff writer
Sold out in Orlando. Sold out in Omaha. Sold out in the Tupperware Convention Center in Kissimmee, Fla.
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By Susan Whitney
"RIVERDANCE," March 20, at Kingsbury Hall, 8 p.m. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes, including a 20-minute intermission. Additional performances: March 21-24, 27-31 at 8 p.m.; March 25 and April 1 at 7 p.m.; matinees March 24, 23, 25 and April 1 at 2 p.m. Tickets available through ArtTix at 355-ARTS (2787) and 1-888-451-ARTS.
"Riverdance" (the show) is snazzy (again).
E-mail: susan@desnews.com
Not every performance of Riverdance sells out, and not every city sees even one sell-out crowd. But the new Riverdance tour is definitely popular. Next week it comes to Salt Lake City for 16 performances. (None of which is sold out so far.)
Riverdance has been selling out in cities across the country. It comes to Salt Lake City March 20-April 1.
Joan Marcus
It's not easy to know why "Riverdance — The Show" is still such a draw. What is the allure after seven years? After Tap Dogs and other dance troupes have peaked and waned, why does Riverdance endure?
The beat is seductive, certainly. Those flying feet are intriguingly rapid and precise. Irish dancing is definitely unusual — that might explain some of its popularity — although it is not as unusual as it was before 1994 when Riverdance was performed at intermission of the Eurovision Song Contest and audiences went ape. These days anyone who watches television has surely seen Irish dancing.
Nor can Riverdance's popularity be explained by its stars. If stars were what Irish dancing is all about, then Riverdance would have died after its first year, after Michael Flatley left Riverdance to start Lord of the Dance.
In this 49-member traveling troupe there are stars — Tara Barry and Michael Patrick Gallagher to name two. They'll appear in the Utah show. But it must be said that the dancers who alternate with the main stars are also quite skilled. The choreography is often centered on the troupe in the chorus line, rather than on an individual.
So there must be something more about Riverdance, something besides Ireland and stars. There must be a better explanation for the popularity of "Riverdance — The Show." Perhaps the answer is variety.
Composed by Bill Whelan, produced by Moya Doherty and directed by John McColgan, Riverdance is has its roots in Ireland. But it is not all Irish.
You've got your uillean pipes, your button accordion and your Irish fiddles, to be sure. But the show includes many different melodies, as well as variations on the themes of clogging, stepping and tapping. There is a flamenco dance. There is a Russian dance, performed by members of the Moscow Folk Ballet.
And there are African-American tap dancers. Critics across the country have been unanimous in selecting "Trading Taps" as their favorite number. "Trading Taps" is an amusing and electric "tap off" between American and Irish dancers.
About the show in general, reviewers have used the words "grace" and "spark" and "style" to describe this tour. One critic called the show "mesmerizing."
Not every critic is completely enamored, naturally. Many could do without the voice-over "story," which purports to sound like an Irish legend.
One even went so far as to call Riverdance a "theme park" performance. Another said it is the antithesis of true modern dance. Yet another called it boring.
No matter what their personal opinion, though, every critic had to admit that the audiences aren't bored. Not this year, anyway.
'Riverdance' a bit pretentious but dazzling
Deseret News staff writer
Tapping before a full house in Kingsbury Hall on opening night, the Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe brought the audience to its feet. Of course, it wasn't just the dancing that was dazzling. The band, too, was dazzling — stacked on two levels, with light gleaming from a thousand surfaces.
Tara Barry, Michael Patrick Gallagher and members of the Irish Dance Troupe in a scene from "Riverdance."
Joan Marcus
There was glitter on the dancer's costumes, too, on Michael Patrick Gallagher's pants in the first act and on his chest in the last number. Even Tara Barry's lips and eyelids were strewn with sparkles.
In short, "Riverdance, the Show" is extremely Hollywood — as well as extremely fun.
Gallagher is an athlete. His feet and legs move so fast that they seem to vibrate rather than tap. Barry also is amazing. She seems unaware of gravity. Barry and Gallagher are especially lovely when they dance together.
There's more, of course. Niamh Ni Charra plays a mean fiddle, and Brian O'Brien plays the uilleann pipes, and Andrew Reilly coaxes some drama from a rather plain-looking drum called the bodhran. Also, soloists Aidan Conway, Lisa Kelly and Kirk Walker have intriguing voices.
If you like flamenco, you'll be glad to know Nuria Brisa is still with this tour. The dancers from the Moscow Folk Ballet are also incredible athletes; their dance is one of the best in the show.
Other show-stoppers are "Thunderstorm" and "Trading Taps." In the latter, three Irish dancers accidentally meet up with three American tap dancers. The Irish — with their regal bearing — and the fluid and energetic Americans challenge and imitate each other, and they're thoroughly entertaining.
There are times, during the evening, when you can't help but feel that "Riverdance, the Show" is a little full of itself, a little pretentious. Take the beginning, for instance, when the announcer calls it "Riverdance, THE SHOW," three times in a row.
Then there's all that stuff about The Forest and The Dark and The Heart and The Homeland. It makes no sense.
And how about intermission, which is supposed to last 15 minutes but stretches on and on to give the T-shirt and video and CD sellers more time to score.
The long intermission would have been a lot more annoying if the second act of "Riverdance" (the show) weren't worth the wait. All of the pretense would have been a lot more annoying if the dancing hadn't been so great.
