PART 3 - STAR SPOTTING IN THE INTERVAL

At the interval we went mingling in the crowds on the lookout for Irish dance stars, and we found 'em!

Me with Ronan Hardiman and my signed copy of Anthem.
Don't like this picture of me! I look in shock and he looks like he's asleep.

ACT II

AIR FLATLEY

This was definately "one for the ladies" in the audience. It began with a girl in a green air stewardess costume. She was step dancing (not particualrly well, I thought. Maybe it was because she was in high heels, but more probably because this dancer has been hired for a more burlesque style of dancing rather than Irish dancing) and is joined by Michael wearing a Pilots outfit!

As you can imagine, the females in the audience were LOVING this! He posed for a moment and put on his shades, before being joined by the male dancers who were in similar costumes. The choreography formed a big aeroplane, and the green Irish girl was borne on their backs. On the screen behind them was video of clouds, giving the impression that they were flying. Very effective!

At the end of this, the green Aer Lingus/RyanAir girl performed a cheeky strip to an extended version of the guitar music from "Stolen Kiss/Cleopatras Spell" from FO2000. She ended up in an American stars and stripes bikini costume! Don't know who this dancer is, but as we say round here, she is really, really FIT!

AROUND THE WORLD IN 35 TAPS

Can't quite remmeber wherabotus this number came, but I'm putting it here because it sort of fits in with the Irish abroad theme. This was a spectacular dance, and for me, kickstarted the show. Up until the second act there hadnt really been much in the way of pure feel-good FUN that used to be in Michaels previous shows, but I really enjoyed this dance. Basically, individuals or couples dance, representing different nationalities. There was some American tap in there, ballet, Irish (Flatley style, with guys in Riverdance style shirts leaping around as if performing Reel around the Sun), Flamenco and Street Dance (featuring the amazing Zoltan Papp from Dance of Desire as a street dancer. He later told us that he had suffered an injury recently and so wasnt able to appear in a lot of the dances. But I certainly couldn't tell from his performance. He is incredible and deserving of a leading role in something!) This dance was full of high energy and the feel good factor was through the roof!

WHISPERING WIND II

To allow us all to recover from the previous dances, Michael comes out an plays a slow Irish air. According to a recent interview, the flute he plays in this number is a rare flute that was made in London in 1836, made of cocus wood and silver. It sounds beautiful, the music is similar to Whispering Wind. While he plays this, a male and female dancer perform a soft shoe Stolen Kiss style number, its all very romantic.

CELTIC TIGRESSES

From what I recall, this started off with a fiddlers tune, where the 4 fiddlers play a fast jig, wearing beautiful tigerskin costumes! They are then joined by a group of girls who dance, also in tigerskin catsuits. FOF Hyde Park gave us one catsuit, Celtic Tiger gives us a whole group of 'em! (Nothing can replace the memory of Gillian Norris, however...!) This was a lively and exciting dance from what I remember.

THE REVENGE OF THE FEET OF FLAMES

The dance begins with a sillouette of Michael on a giant red screen, dancing to the jazzy music for quite some time. Even when just watching a pre-recorded video of him dancing, its still amazing! Maybe Michael neednt retire, he can just record himself doing all the dances and project it on a screen while others dance with him, that way he can do shows till he is 103! (Hey, they do a similar thing with Elvis nowadays!) Michael then appears (I think out of the floor) on a raised platform in the centre of the stage, dressed in suits and with 1930s white shoes. This is a new Feet of Flames dance, very exciting, and there was an overhead camera so you could see his moves from above on the screens.

Towards the end, the platform ignited! Michael leapt off the platform and it EXPLODED with massive pyros that made everyone jump!

MADE IT MOYA! TOP OF THE WORLD! Oh YES! This is the business, this dance is! Michael as a frickin Cagney style gangster in a tribute to 1930s America and that whole jazzy style. Michael danced across the stage and was handed a gun by the fit aer lingus/ryan air/stars and stripes girl from earlier, and he machine guns the audience while explosions burst from the front of the stage. I hear a rumour he's using live ammunition on the opening night in Budapest, to all the press critics on the front row! :-P Michael left the stage and the female dancers perform a Fosse style dance. You can see a video clip of the rehearsal for this dance by clicking HERE. At the end of the dance Michael returned and did a great American tap solo! He is not only a master of Irish but of American tap, and you can really see the style come through here.

ARGH! ITS CELINE DION ! Oh wait...

I think it was about this time where we had another song. I prefered this to the first, I dont know who the singer was, she was also blonde with a very powerful voice, but the song sounded an awful lot like Celine Dions "All by myself" in places.

CELTIC TIGERS

There was a musical interlude where the band played. On the video screen was a video which summed up the history of the Irish people and also showed a number of famous faces from history that have been linked with Ireland, past and present. I didnt know the names of most of them, I recognised Ronald Reagan, Liam Neason, Bono, Barry McGuigin, Pierce Brosnon, The Pope... loads of people who have inspired Michael.

YANKEE DOODLE FLATLEY

Can't remember if these were two seperate dances or one big dance, but there was a absolutely brilliant Siamsa style dance where the troupe were in Stars and Stripes costumes while the screens showed pretty computer generated stars and stripes and american flags etc. The music was brilliant and the whole thing was so enthusiastic and energetic that you couldnt help applaud. Then there was a dance where Michael comes dressed in an outragiously patriotic American costume, leading the troupe in a dance with the music of Yankee Doodle Dandy! From what I remember, this was the last main dance of the evening, sort of a Victory dance. It was also the first time that we saw the Flatley trademark - the entire troupe on stage in a line, performing a big finale. The finish of this was very much like LOTD.

© Audrey Wigchers - www.gerardfahy.nl

© Audrey Wigchers

ONE MORE TIME?

Of course this wasnt the end, far from it! After much shouting and screaming, the troupe returned in completely different costumes for the encore! How did they get changed so fast? More to the point, how does Michael do all this dancing in very heavy clothes? No bare chested dancing in this show, its all heavy armour or suits for him! This was a Planet Ireland style finale (although I think there was music to it?) and ended again with a reprise of the Yankee Doodle Dandy theme tune.

Did we want one more? Yes of course! And we got one more. Then two more. Then three more... then four more... oh I lost count! Who cares how many times he did encores, we just didnt want them to leave!

Finally, he signalled the very last encore of the evening, and this was truly spectacular, with indoor pyrotechnics and fireworks blasting diagonally across the back of the stage! It was a health and safety fanatics worst nightmare but we loved it!

Shame this picture came out so blurry, but you get the idea!

Finally, that was it. Michael applauded his dancers, blew kisses to the crowds, and with a final pose the lights went out and they were all gone.

WHAT

A

SHOW!!!

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