Lord of the Dance At New Theatre Cardiff Review

Reviewed by Mrs_Taylor

I was so excited to get tickets to see Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance. I feel like I have had the Lord of the Dance tune stuck in my head since I first saw the video performance back in the early 2000s and I couldn’t wait to see it live. Michael Flatley obviously doesn’t perform in it any more but the performers are still directed by him when rehearsing.

This production is being performed at New Theatre in Cardiff and although it starts relatively late (8pm) there was a huge crowd of people when I arrived. And when I got to my seat (which was in the circle and had a great view of the stage)I was pleasantly surprised to see the whole theatre was packed on a Monday night.

The stage was quite simply laid out with a tiered area and then a large screen behind and to the side of the steps and that was it. However with each scene the stage displayed fantastic lighting and special effects and you really didn’t need anything else as it would have just distracted you from the dancers.

And the dancers were amazing. I honestly don’t know how they make the dancing look so effortless and easy when they are performing incredibly quick numbers for such a long period. Lord of the Dance is a tale of good vs bad with the ‘good’ being Lord of the Dance and the ‘bad’ being The Dark Lord and his army. The Irish dancing ‘dance off’ between the Lord of the Dance and his dancers against The Dark Lord and his army was a definite highlight!

Their costumes also looked incredible – pretty much every scene had everyone in different costumes and of course there were a lot of sequins and sparkles! I really don’t know how they managed to change costumes so fast between the scenes.

This is a 25 year anniversary tour of Lord of the Dance. It makes it clear on the website and programme that Lord of the Dance has become the most successful touring production in entertainment history and is celebrating 25 years of standing ovations and that is truly fantastic. However I went to see Lord of the Dance and not a documentary on Lord of the Dance. Which meant the video at the beginning of the show after the lights went down explaining which countries this show had been in and the history of Lord of the Dance felt a little unnecessary. I also didn’t like that five minutes before the end the words ‘celebrating 25 years of standing ovations’ appeared on the screen at the back. For me a standing ovation happens when everyone in the audience is impressed with the performance but it should definitely not need a reminder message! I’m going to be truthful and say that that message alone made me not want to give a standing ovation. The dancers were incredible but I will give a standing ovation if I feel it is deserved and not because other people have given this show a standing ovation before. Having said that, this performance did get a standing ovation from many people.

It really was a joyous performance though. There is something truly mesmerising about Irish dancing and I would happily have watched the dancing all night long. If you are looking for a show to make you happy then this is definitely the show for you!

Rating: 4/5

Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes (inc. interval) starting at 8pm

At: New Theatre, Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3LN

Ticket prices: £39 – £59

Tickets can be booked by visiting:

https://newtheatrecardiff.co.uk/Online/tickets-lord-of-the-dance-cardiff-2022