Lord of the Dance

Good news and bad news, it was great and it is closing!

The three year run of Michael Flatley's high speed tap dancing closes July 28th at New York New York Hotel and Casino for yet another Cirque de Soleil project.

I protest! It was a great show with wonderful choreography, talented dancers, and all the Las Vegas first class showroom features expected from a strip show. We went Saturday night to a full house, it started on-time and the effort to produce a top show was revealed in all facets. Talent, theme, production, costume, continuity, song and dance in the wonderful Broadway Theatre. Would they really tear out this great venue? Lord is a bit pricey but you do get the quality bang for your buck: $60,and $70 for 88 minutes of top entertainment.

Everyone must remember the Lord of the Dance, Michael Flatley and his shows on PBS fundraisers which later toured worldwide including the MGM in Las Vegas. The theme is the same and the taste of Flatley's production is evident throughout. He does not dance in this show, but with his name on top of the title he holds the rights and responsibility to the show. The whole thing is just first class. I liked the dancers and the pace, dancing is a youngster's game and the effort here at 8 times a week is quite a load.

Flatley has three of these companies, which in itself must be a monumental job in terms of staffing and production. It is amazing, like judging boxing, that people see the same thing and have different observations and judgments as to what they saw. A local paper gave this a C- and I give it an A+, possibly in my case to my prejudice to dance and the effort of the talent. Certainly canned music (as always too loud) is not good, but the show had a couple of live songs and a couple of live violins. While the playing was not Josh Bell, Isaac Stern or Itzhak Perlman, strings always add a touch of class to any event.

From a review standpoint I would recommend this show to anyone anytime. The theme is a classic good vs. evil battle featuring neo-traditional Celtic dance. This is unimportant to my purpose, however, which is to be entertained and to enjoy the outstanding talent in it's top form. In an ensemble of 23 dancers some may appeal to you more than others and that certainly was the case here. I think the guys may have been a bit stronger than the girls, but it is always great to see all young people dance and this troop had some talent (particularly the two leads).

A+ a 98, please find another Las Vegas home.