Sydney Reviews

Left – Tom Cunningham and Morgan Comer. Photo – Brian Doherty

Michael Flatley is extraordinary. In 1996 he debuted Lord of the Dance in Ireland and from there his shows have reached critical acclaim as he danced his way through sold out shows all over the world and a pair of shoes each week. His shoes alone are wonderful and the feet inside them are spectacular.

However, there is a new Lord of the Dance and although his dancing might match the great Flatley it is hard to tell as you never got the chance to immerse yourself in his fabulous foot work. Instead you try desperately to ignore the giant unicorns, waterfalls, ducks and butterflies that fill the stage. 

The thing about the dancers in the Lord of the Dance productions is they are astounding. You can watch them dance for hours. Your eyes are fed fabulous flurries of feet and staggering dance moves while your ears feast on the rhythmic beat created by those magic feet. This is all supported by Irish music where the fiddlers make your body want to get up and join them despite the fact your two left feet are gangsters concrete boots compared to the dancers on stage. There is a joy and excitement in the dancing. There is a thrill that fills your mind and it is glorious. All this comes just from the dancers. How lucky The Lord of the Dance is that their magic is in the humanity of the show, the dancers themselves.

Dangerous Games is Flatley’s latest Lord of the Dance extravaganza and it is more extravaganza than Lord of the Dance. The ginormous LED screen that fills the stage is overwhelmed with bright garish colours that show you unicorns in meadows surrounded with sparkling butterflies and waterfalls. The screen adds nothing to the performance. It dilutes the dancers and removes the complex and astounding nature of their abilities. Staging is such big business these days and where digital lanterns float about on a screen I wished they had been more creative and given me real lanterns. Or done without the lanterns and just let me enjoy the dancing.

It was hard to follow the vague storyline and the ridiculous images not only distract you constantly but also contribute to the confusion. Dressed in Mad Max regalia the Dark Lord and his army of Dark Disciples had a good energy but it was all lost as they danced in the dark only giving us glimpses of the greatness in their moves. Soldiers in the dark who glowed green looked menacing but at the end seemed to be good guys. The girls were all very sexy and beautiful but seemed to only be there for the men to ogle at and dance around. There was nothing for the audience to follow. No consistency.

It is the disappointment that sits heaviest. The dancing that you do see is mind blowing but you just don’t get to see it. There are glimpses, rare moments when the feet distract you from the everything else, where you get that feeling in your being that you are seeing something great. But those moments are all too brief. Morgan Comer is the new Lord of the Dance and he was great. He lead the dancers through their paces and interacted with the crowd. You want to see more of him, I mean you do get to see him with his shirt off which is nice but it is his feet I was interested in.

Flatley himself does make an appearance. Well Hologram Flatley does, in fact three Hologram Flatleys do and I could have watched him for days. Larger than life, in just a white suit on a black background Flatley shows you that he still has it. He shows you why you came to this church of music and dancing. It was to see this. To see the dancing that made Flatley Lord of the Dance.


Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games

Venue: Capitol Theatre, Sydney
Dates: 20 – 25 October 2015
Bookings: 136 100 | ticketmaster.com.au

ALSO Touring nationally – visit www.lordofthedance.com