Everything about the show at The Irish Repertory Theatre site: http://www.irishrep.org/noctu.html
Review in today's The New York Times ("Tradition, Stripped Down and Set to a New Tune"):
Pity the poor Irish dancer. Before “Riverdance” took the world by surprise in 1994, there were practically no performance opportunities outside of a closed circle of competitions. Since that blockbuster made its debut there has seemed to be only “Riverdance” and its progeny of lucrative spectacles, mostly assaultive and inane. Presenting Irish dance any differently has proved a daunting challenge.
Breandan de Gallai, an alumnus of the original “Riverdance” cast, is the latest to try. In a program note he describes “Noctu,” which he created, directed and choreographed, as “a new departure for the Irish dance show genre,” adding, “it strives to tell the story of Irish dance from the viewpoint of the dancer.” The American premiere took place on Monday at the Irish Repertory Theater, a space that could never accommodate “Riverdance.”
Maybe pity is what Mr. de Gallai wants. Insofar as his 90-minute show has a structure, it centers on three barely sketched misfits. Peta Anderson falls out of step with the group but expresses her love of dance with a spoken expletive. The presumably heterosexual Callum Spencer resents how his dancing brings upon him homophobic slurs. Nick O’Connell is crippled by shyness.
Each confesses his or her woes in a “Chorus Line”-style monologue, all mercifully brief. Mr. O’Connell’s is silent.
A central sequence of fantasy numbers seems to take place in these characters’ separate bedrooms. There are pillows onstage, and the choreography resembles what Irish dancers might do in private. That must be why they’re in their underwear. Or are they meant to be baring their souls?
The movement vocabulary is Irish traditional, capering feet set against a rigid upper body. Slightly relaxed and mussed, it vaguely gestures at sexual excitement, longing and loneliness, emotions that may or may not be directed at the other characters. Nothing is resolved. The dancers come together for a playful trio but remain in their skivvies, as if happiness were possible only in a dream or a Calvin Klein ad.
The beginning of the show is slow to warm up, as the 16-member company does just that, stretching and bouncing to no effect. Later the thread of story is discarded for an ensemble finale that outlasts its welcome.
The production is truly a revue, and apart from scale, the difference between it and the “Riverdance” clan, including its “Lord of the Dance” and other Michael Flatley spinoffs, is musical. The score is made up mostly of pop songs: Kate Bush, Björk, Leonard Cohen.
Compared with the “Riverdance” score, with its awful modernizing of Irish music, and the similar schlock of original music provided here by Joe Csibi, a former “Riverdance” musical director, the genuinely hipper sounds are an improvement. But they don’t spur Mr. de Gallai to any corresponding invention.
Performed barefoot or on fiberglass soles, the choreography is Irish dance of little distinction, with boilerplate borrowings from modern dance. The best routine, surprisingly, is set to part of Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite.” Slashed by body paint, the full cast moves like a gang of zombies. The unison floor-pounding fits the undead, and the stiff torso of Irish dance serves well as rigor mortis. But this pushy, penultimate number would register better on a bigger stage. Mr. de Gallai recommends “Noctu” as frugal. That it is: no set, minimal costumes. He bemoans how the nuances of Irish dance are lost on arena stages. But those go missing here, too. A closer look doesn’t always help.
Guess he has gone mainstream.