Riverdance: The New Show

Well, after seeing Feet of Flames, this was a VERY very big disappointment. For all those who didnt, then go ahead, its worth it. But if you can, please so what you can to get FoF. Its far superior to this Riverdance. I saw it for the first time 1 year ago and normally, i re-view it every month maximum. sometimes, every week. This Riverdance lacks some of the features seen in FoF. And they're SO much comparable, that one cannot escape from the fact that it is... inferior in a whole variety of ways.

The dancing is amazing, the sets are beautiful and the music very good. Unhappily the editor chose to limit cuts to a few seconds, so that just as interest was aroused the image shifted off to a view of the auditorium or some other distraction. The musical continuity is perfect, but the visual continuity is sometimes puzzling. This may be a necessity in this live recording in Radio City Music Hall (perhaps this is a composite of several performances), but the choppy cutting is not.

In my opinion, Flatley ruined the first show with his ridiculous ego. He was disrespectful to his dancing partner, tried to upstage everyone and had no awareness of the spirit of Riverdance. It's well he left the show. Colin Dunne, the new male lead, is superb, and when he and Jean Butler dance together, magic happens! Eileen Ivers' fiddling is astonishing (as is Noel Eccles' percussion,) and Maria Pages' "Fire Dance" is worth the price of admission! When Pages and Ivers get together, near the end of the show for a musical duet, well, it's a genuine treasure. I agree, the editing isn't complimentary, but no technical shortcoming can quell this extraordinary tour de force. This is the one to get. There's never been anything like Riverdance! This is the real one!

This production must have been edited by some psychotic MTV speed freak. I don't think there was a single stretch of film that lasted more than 15 seconds long before an editing cut was made, which completely destroyed the flow of the dance. RIVERDANCE was a wonderful show, but this tape was a butcher job. See the original 1995 video, with Michael Flatley as the primary dancer, and get an idea of what it was really like.

Others have commented on the somewhat strange video arrangements. I think they were trying to capture what you'd be looking at when attending a live performance. The feet, the faces, the overall view. Unfortunately, it falls a bit short. But, having said that, watching Colin Dunne is nevertheless gratifying. It's an interesting contrast to Michael Flatley in the original video. The progression of the show is evident, changes from the original Dublin production are evident.

"Trading Taps" is the highlight of the video, in my opinion. Tarik Winston is unbelievable, as is his partner in the piece.

I think the audio was better in this version than the original video production (1995). In Dolby 5.1 on DVD it's excellent.

Despite the flawed videography, it's a must-own for Riverdance fans.