Lord of the Dance - Dangerous Games

On Thursday evening I excitedly headed to the London Palladium to see Lord of the Dance Dangerous Games. To give my excitement some background I spent a few years of my childhood learning Irish Dance and competed in a couple of Feis. I also saw Lord of the Dance at Wembley and met the man himself, and apparently I’ve seen Riverdance although was too young to remember.  I’ll be going back to see Riverdance this December.

So when I heard that a new Lord of the Dance show was coming to London I couldn’t wait to see it. However, and it really upsets me to say it, I just didn’t enjoy the show. It felt slightly cheap, gimmicky and too provocative than is actually necessary.

Moments in the show where the dancers were all in unison and wearing more traditional costumes were fantastic. Unfortunately these moments were overshadowed by gimmicks that felt unnecessary. The set itself was very, in a word, naff.  It was made up of a large screen at the back, which showed various mystical, futuristic scenes. While I understand the idea it just didn’t come across well. The colour of the stage floor itself was a beige/white colour and this made the whole set appear slightly amateur, particularly for audience members sitting in the circle (as I was). The costumes themselves also felt amateur, with a couple of noticeable mishaps in the show. All of these together just made the show feel a bit unpolished.

I hate to be so disappointed with the show but just as I tried to like it, something else took place that just put me off. At one moment all the girls were dancing in dresses, beautiful soft shoe dances. However suddenly the music changed and they stripped into just a bra and pants, to leering comments from men behind me. I wouldn’t say I’m a prude but sexing the show up like this was just completely unnecessary and also I felt quite sexist. While the men were shirtless in the second half they were never presented in such a provocative, and cheap, way. There was a big divide between men and women in this show which I don't think is necessary in 2014. 

The idea of the show is a fight between good and evil, over who will be crowned the Lord of the Dance. The narrative was lost at times, and it tended to loose its way. I felt quite uncomfortable at one point when the robotic evil characters were marching with the iconic Michael Flatley arm pose, it was slightly too reminiscent of another recognisable march for comfort.

Nadine Coyle from Girls Aloud was also in the show, singing a few power ballads. Although her voice surprised me (I hadn’t expected her to be so good) it again just felt a bit gimmicky and didn’t really add anything to the show. Although it did work well when she sang with male dancers in hard shoes accompanying her.  There were also two violinists who performed a few times, although obviously talented I hated the false grins and tiny tight dresses that took away from the music. All the other music in the show was pre-recorded. When there is a pit in the theatre it seems such a shame not to have a live band, that would have made a big difference to the show. 

Just to put the cherry on the cake of a somewhat disappointing evening, a large group of teenage tourists were sitting behind us and, without sounding too much like an old woman, were so badly behaved! Talking all the way through, kicking the backs of our seats, jeering at the stage. I lost my nerve in the end and asked them to be quiet. Come interval time we moved to the other side and the usher did say they had expected them to be trouble. To the credit of the Palladium they did deal with it well although overhearing the amount of complaints I think that the group should have been asked to leave.  I think that the issue of tourists seeing shows to tick it off their “to do in London” list needs to be addressed, as a few shows I’ve seen have been spoilt by audience members who don’t really want to be there. But that’s worth a whole other post!

Michael Flatley doesn’t appear until the end of the show, and it was exciting to see him perform. Despite his success his arrogance felt a little too prominent, particularly when we thought the show had ended and then we had to watch three holograms of Michael dancing with himself – and then another encore performance with the dancers. To be completely honest at that point we’d just had enough.

I really wish I’d liked the show, it had potential but it felt like money wasted on gimmicks could have been used to make a really refined performance. Moments that caused the audience to go wild were when all the dancers were in unison with their hard shoes. The surrounding gimmicks weren’t really necessary. Sorry Michael, but I left feeling really quite disappointed. Let’s hope my ticket to see Riverdance in December doesn’t leave such an impression.

Brief Encounter Screening at the Southbank Centre

One of my favourite films is Brief Encounter. this 1945 David Lean classic is just perfection! Celia Johnson plays Laura, a married women who meets Alec in a now iconic 'meet cute'. Laura gets something in her eye and asks for a glass of water in a station waiting room. Luckily Alec, a Doctor, is standing close by and comes to her rescue. This is the start of a dangerous and emotional love affair and the ending of the film breaks my heart every time.

So, it was with ridiculous levels of excitement that I saw the Southbank Centre was presenting Brief Encounter with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Another element of the film I love is that the music throughout the film is all extracts from Rachmaninov's Piano Concert No. 2 in C minor Op. 18. So the idea of the film and live orchestra was too much to resist!

On entering the Southbank Centre we discovered that there was a pianist playing Noel Coward songs, it was a shame this was not mentioned to ticket holders as my Mum and I would have arrived earlier had we known.

An extra thrill on the night before the screening began was an introduction from Celia Johnson's daughter, Lucy Fleming. It was a treat to hear stories from the set, and I felt honoured to be hearing her speak about her mother. I was already emotional and the film hadn't even started yet.

Firstly the orchestra played the concerto in it's entirety with Leon McCawley on the piano. Then came the film and the orchestra! Although I love the film I have to admit I expected the orchestra to be more present, it may be the acoustics of the hall but it just wasn't as prominant as I had hoped. It wasn't that different from watching the film in a cinema, unfortunately. Another thing I didn't like was other audience members finding parts of the film hysterically funny, moments that aren't funny except from the fact that the film is obviously very dated - having been made in 1945.

All in all the night was great, and I do wish I had dressed up in 1940s clothes as many had! As I left my Mum and I decided to have the cocktail suggested in the programme notes. A cocktail that was publicised as being specially created to accompany this screening. However after asking many members of staff, noone knew about it! Although the staff were all lovely it did leave a slightly anti-climatic feel to an otherwise wonderful evening.