Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance celebrates its 25th anniversary at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre this week. The Irish-American’s production of Riverdance on the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest made Flatley a household name, and in 1996 Lord of the Dance was born, in a whirlwind of flying footwork and sequins.

The production was created by Flatley as a large-scale Irish Dance Show, fit to fill the stages of arenas around the world, with performances regularly travelling the globe from the show’s conception to its silver anniversary European tour. Although Flatley’s appearances as Lord of the Dance ended in 1997 (aside from a celebratory appearance in 2010) his presence is certainly felt in this latest tour, and his fans will surely not be disappointed…

For those who are uninitiated, Lord of the Dance is an extraordinary showcase of Irish dancing - not necessarily traditional in style and theme, but Celtic to the core. The story takes place in a surreal land named Planet Ireland, and follows the Lord of the Dance himself, as he triumphs over evil, in the form of evil dark lord Don Dorcha and seductress Morrighan.

The production begins, as did the 1996 version, with a single figure dressed in gold at the centre of a semicircle of female dancers, with cloaked figures surrounding the stage, clouded in mysticism. The opening feels like a druidic ceremony at a stone circle, at the centre of which is the Little Spirit.

The Spirit awakens with a sparkling penny whistle in hand, playing a flutey version of Lord of the Dance - a hymn beloved of Church of England school assembly halls ever since it was penned in the 1960s. The show’s title character appears, in this production played by Matthew Smith, taking the crowd by storm and drumming up the company into a frenzy of fast-paced and impressively synchronised dancing.

The anniversary show looks back through the years since Lord of the Dance’s inception. Across the back of the stage sits an enormous LED screen, which not only provides animated backing to the dance numbers, but precedes the performance with a dramatic, documentary-like recap of Flatley’s original production. Many of the performers on stage in the current tour are younger than the show’s 25 years - a testament to the enduring popularity of a strange and remarkable show.

It may not last forever - there is something too-polished about the production’s dazzling animated backdrop, and the bombastic recorded soundtrack. However, Lord of the Dance - A Lifetime Standing Ovations achieved its goal on this occasion: at the end of the show, the audience were definitely on their feet.

Four Stars

Lord of the Dance - A Lifetime of Standing Ovations was reviewed by Jessica Clixby on Monday 30 September at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre, where it runs until Sunday 6 October.