Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1626 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-14
• Rating: Exempt
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 114 minutes

Synopsis
The 'Riverdance' phenomenon has seen the show performed all over the world. This documentary on the popular musical follows its evolution, from its beginnings in Dublin up to its global success in places as diverse as New York City and Geneva. Highlights from the various performers who have taken roles in the performances around the world prove to be the best highlights, with Michael Flatley, Jean Butler, and many others displaying their talents. Of course the music is important as well, and it's fascinating to see various bands from different countries interpreting Bill Whelan's sensational score.

From the Studio
Includes 18 of the all-time best performances of Riverdance from its extraordinary beginnings at the Point Theatre, Dublin, with original stars Michael Flatley and Jean Butler, through its phenomenal success in Radio City Music Hall, New York to its latest live recording in Geneva. Riverdance boasts an international cast featuring the remarkable Riverdance Irish Dance Troupe, the cream of Irish musicians in the Riverdance Band and a spectacular array of talent from Spain, Russia and America, performing to the magic of Bill Whelan's music. More electrifying than ever, this DVD is a treasure for Riverdance fans worldwide!

Customer Reviews

Some of the best and some bits edited to death
It would be unfair to judge this DVD too harshly just because it's not what I expected. If you purchased a CD entitled 'The Best of Eric Clapton' or 'The Best of Pink Floyd', you'd expect to get a fine selection of their best songs - whole songs, probably from a variety of concerts. That was the sort of thing I was hoping for from this DVD: a simple collection of the best performances spliced seamlessly together in sequence to give the impression of a pleasingly coherent whole. There are a few sections where we're treated to a whole dance and I enjoyed those very much. However, an unbelievable amount of savage butchery was carried out on too many of the dances, making them seem terribly disjointed. In these sections we see a few seconds of a group dancing on say, a brightly lit stage wearing green dresses in one country, then it suddenly changes to a group performing a different dance (or possibly a different part of the same dance) to the same music, wearing red dresses on a darkly lit stage in another country, then it quickly changes again, and so on. This is so horribly disorientating that I stopped watching until the dance finished and the next nice, smooth, unmangled dance was shown. And in addition to this awful jerky presentation, the dances and songs were interspersed with sections where a lady stands or walks about talking to the camera, explaining what the next bit will be about. I wish they'd included a printed programme in the DVD box instead of subjecting us to these constant annoying interruptions. If only I'd known what to expect, I might have enjoyed it more. It's almost like buying what you expect to be a concert and discovering when you get it home that you've accidentally bought a documentary about the concert instead. There's enough on this DVD to make me want more than ever to see an entire, unmutilated and uninterrupted performance of Riverdance. Most of the parts that the editing hackers left unscathed are truly wonderful. So my recommendation to anyone wishing to buy a DVD of Riverdance is, try to get a version that's unadulterated and entire. I see that there are other DVD versions of Riverdance for sale here at Amazon. But if you want a documentary and a montage of Riverdance, this DVD will probably suit you well enough.

Mixing of different shows *within* numbers
The backgrounds, colouring & imagery are lovely and the dances impressive and sparkling.

But I find it necessary to emphasize the mixing/editing as others have done. Some of the numbers contain video from 3 different shows. Therefore (as mentioned) sometimes the colour of the dancers' clothes very noticably changes between red and green whenever the camera view changes, for instance. Of course the lead dancers also often magically change within these numbers.

The music is excellent and runs smoothly. However this means that the music comes only from one show at a time. While the editors have done a very good job, occasionally you notice that the video from one or two of the other shows isn't quite in sync with the music. If the show didn't contain tap dancing, I might not have noticed - unfortunate.

I think Riverdance is excellent and there were several numbers I hadn't seen earlier, but I'd rather have the Live from New York version, which I expect to give 5 stars. Make sure you get the version you want.

Riverdance Mutilated
Although I enjoyed most of this DVD - as I enjoyed the show - I was disappointed to see that some of the dances had been edited almost to death. Riverdance itself exists as a heavily-edited version of the Eurovision performance; and then as a collection of two- or three-second snippets clumsily edited together to avoid showing the same two lead dancers.

This is like playing a piece of music with two or three second bits from various performances spliced together i.e. a massive disappointment.