Riverdance - The Show on tour
It all began as an intermission act in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. It was so wildly popular that it was expanded into a full-length stage show that was both a popular and critical success in Ireland, Great Britain, and throughout the world. I'm talking about Riverdance, the spectacular revue that has been packing them in at Radio City Music Hall and, in a shortened video version, has become a major hit on public television stations.
The touring company of Riverdance is playing the Fox Theatre through February 1st. It's a breath-taking evening of musical and choreographic entertainment that combines all the best elements of international folk and show dancing, folk music (most of it Celtic), the Broadway stage, and the Las Vegas floor show. Music and dance purists may be offended by the slick staging and amplified sound, but the rest of us are going to have one hell of a good time.
There's a sort of story line to Riverdance involving the Irish experience from pre-Roman origins through invasion, famine, and emigration to America, but it's mostly a series of stunning solo, ensemble, and full-cast dance numbers alternating with Bill Whelan's sorta-Celtic songs and instrumentals performed by an all-star band backed up by a massive percussion battery.
The sets are simple but effective projections that provide a nice complement to the wonderfully varied and inhumanly precise dances. Those dances mix hard-shoe Irish show dancing with sequences based on Flamenco, Eastern European, and even American tap styles. Principal dancers Colin Dunne - who is also responsible for some of the choreography - and Eileen Martin are every bit as impressive as their original cast counterparts. They seemed to work better as a team, as well. I was also very taken with specialty numbers by Maria Pagès, tap dancer Tarik Winston, and the Moscow Folk Ballet Company.
On the musical side, noted fiddler Eileen Ivers stands out for her celestial work on acoustic and electric violin, as do Uilleann piper Brian O'Brien (although he didn't really need the orchestral backing), percussionist Noel Eccles, and vocalists Kate McMahon and Ivan Thomas.
In fact, what really stands out about Riverdance is the fact that everyone on stage is a star performer in his or her own right. There's so much talent on display in this show that it threatens to overwhelm the usually daunting Fox stage.
Riverdance continues through February 1st at the Fox Theatre in St. Lous, then continues on a national tour with stops in Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto, and Wolf Trap in Veinna, WA. Good seats are still available but they're going to go fast, so if you don't want to miss this blockbuster, call 314-534-1111 now for tickets.