Michael Flatley: Lord Of The Dance

(Riverdance)
Saoirse, the Irish Coleen: Bernardette Flynn
Don Dorcha, the Dark Lord: Daire Nolan
Morrighan, the Temptress: Gillian Norris
The Little Spirit: Helen Egan
Erin, the Goddess: Anne Buckley

Filmed at the Point Theatre in Dublin, “Lord Of The Dance” takes Irish dancing to spectacular new heights. Orchestrated and conducted by Anne Dudley, one of the original line-up for The Art Of Noise and winner of an Oscar for Best Original Score for the British smash-hit film “The Full Monty”, inspiring original music by Ronan Hardiman and exhilarating dance starring the sensational Michael Flatley with supporting characters Bernadette Flynn, Daire Nolan, Gillian Norris, Helen Egan and Anne Buckley, Lord Of The Dance is a rare and magical experience.

Michael Flatley takes to the stage in a stunning Celtic dance spectacular which re-tells Irish folk legend in a dazzling and updated style.

Join us when time stood still and Erin was goddess of all… The stories had all been written and everyone knew their parts. But the ancient clans, sitting in their stone circles, heard mumblings and the spirit’s dream was troubled. A new dark power had emerged to challenge the Lord Of The Dance.

There are 22 chapters and the listing is as follows :

1. Cry of the Celts
2. Erin the Goddess
3. Celtic Dream
4. The Warriors
5. Gypsy
6. Strings of Fire
7. Breakout
8. Warlords
9. Erin the Goddess
10. Lord of the Dance

Act 2

1. Dangerous Game
2. Hell’s Kitchen
3. Fiery Nights
4. The Lament
5. Siamsa
6. She Moves Through The Fair
7. Stolen Kiss
8. Nightmare
9. The Duel
10. Victory
11. Planet Ireland
12. Closing Credits

The picture quality of this disc is damn-near perfect, with artifacts only really noticeable on close-up inspection. This is quite important for a production such as this which uses a whole spectrum of vibrant colours, not least in the finale which is full of blue hues coming across perfectly.

There’s also plenty to shout about in the sound department as the orchestra kicks in and the dancing feet beat all around you.

In similar fashion to Dead Man Walking, the onscreen menus don’t respond too well when used in a PC DVD-ROM player, but the onscreen remote control bypasses this problem perfectly well once you get used to it.

Another thing to note is that on playing the disc you can’t skip past the Polygram logo and copyright info.

Extras :

Chapters : There are 22 chapters on this disc as described above in the track listing.

Cast and Production Notes : There are brief biographies for star-performer Michael Flatley and the production’s composer Ronan Hardiman, plus brief notes for dancers Bernadette Flynn and Gillian Norris.

Also Available : This option brings up a small list of other DVD titles available now or coming soon.

Languages : The dialogue and singing in this performance isn’t always in English but there aren’t separate soundtracks on the disc. However, the menu can be viewed in English, French, Spanish, Netherlands, German or Italian.

Overall,

Although DVDs have a large amount of space available on them, there’s probably not a lot more that could have gone on this disc, apart from make it a double-bill with Riverdance. It’s good to see, though, that Polygram aren’t restricting themselves to just one type of entertainment to release, but are also broadening their range of titles with this and The Original Three Tenors Concert. FILM : *** PICTURE QUALITY: ****½ SOUND QUALITY : **** EXTRAS: * PACKAGE: **

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Dom Robinson

Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.

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