Here’s a fun fact that you might not know about Mr. Fab, in the last year I took tap dance for what seemed to be 65 weeks. It’s true, every class started with a 4 minute warm up to music by the Biebs. What did I learn, I have no idea. I single-handedly was the worse student in that class and most Tuesdays I’d show up tipsy just to make it bearable.
This brings me to Riverdance. I graciously accepted and invite to opening night last night and was accompanied by one of my fabulous readers, Jasmine. She was a real delight, so tiny and cute I almost put her in my pocket!
So here is my review on Riverdance in not so many words.
This show is unbelievable technical, being a ‘pro’ tap dancer I can only imagine the entire cast has been training their whole lives for this.
The music was enchanting and the on-stage musicians were amazing; I fell in love with the fiddle thanks to Pat Mangan.
Now strip away the great music and the fantastic technical dance work and what I was left watching was the most confusing cruise ship show I have ever seen. It started off really well, a flute solo, I was hooked, then like a tornado everything went bizerk. I’m not sure if I was supposed to follow a story, I was too busy wondering if these costumes had been reworked since the show opened 1994. I also was bothered by the off centered visuals they had playing on the jumbo-tron in the background.
From there we broke for an intermission to collect our thoughts, but not before the most bizarre thing that I had ever seen on stage happened. The entire cast took a bow, A bow like you would see at the end of an entire show. I was very confused, was the show over?
We came back from intermission and after the first song and dance the show was hijacked by another dance company, ‘The Amish and Brotha’s street throw down”, a good ol’ fashion tap off. After 15 minutes of ‘Step Up 3D’ we resume to regular programing.
Well at least I thought it was regular programing. Instead the Flamenco Soloist was back, this time in a black dress to serve up the same dance we saw in the first act. I felt like I was watching mid-summer re-runs.
Now if your planning to go to see Riverdance because you are a huge fan of complicated technical dance and/or you love Gaelic music, you will be in head over heels for this.
As for the rest of us, Jasmine put it best: “I wish I spoke Gaelic so I had a clue what was going on… And why are they in New York all of a sudden?”… Why indeed Jasmine, why, indeed!
Show plays at the Jub until April 24th. Tickets range from $50-$80.
Mr. Fab
