Celtic Tiger Live

For the nickname for Irish economic growth, see "Celtic Tiger"

Celtic Tiger Live or more often known "Michael Flatley's Celtic Tiger" or just "Celtic Tiger" was an Irish Dance show.

History

Michael Flatley, famous for his Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames shows, created Celtic Tiger. After being retired for 4 years, Michael announced he was going to tour with a new show. In the summer of 2004 Michael Flatley started the rehearsals of a new show in the SFX Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. In the autumn of 2004 the rehearsals moved on in the Shepperton Studios in London. Michael tried his best to keep the details including the name of the show a secret. Michael announced on his website in April 2005 that he was going to have a preview show of his new extravaganza Celtic Tiger in June 2005. The first 500 fans who emailed the website's administrators got free tickets to one of its preview shows in Birmingham, England. The rest of the tickets were only for fans/friends and dancers and crew.

Celtic Tiger had its first performance at a private, invitation-only performance at the NIA Birmingham, England on 17 June 2005. The show was first performed for the public on 9 July 2005 in the Puskás Stadion (formerly the Népstadion) in Budapest, Hungary. Another preview show was planned for Prague in the Czech Republic, but at the last minute that show was cancelled due to the venue (which included a massive stage specially built for the show) was unsafe for the dancers.

The next show, a preview show for the US tour, was held in Worcester, Massachusetts, on 24 September 2005, followed by a gala performance in New York City's Madison Square Garden on 27 September 2005, the show's official US premiere. The show then toured through Canada and sections of the US, with the final 2005 performance at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia on 26 November 2005.

Celtic Tiger started its European World Tour on 20 April 2006 at the Point Theatre in Dublin. That show was the first time Michael Flatley had danced in the Point Theatre since he debuted Lord of the Dance. On 15 November 2006, the Fall and Winter tours for the Celtic Tiger tour of Europe and Asia were cancelled when Flatley was hospitalised for a viral infection for two weeks. Michael claimed in his website that he would release future touring dates in early 2007 but never did. It is assumed now that, for the time being Celtic Tiger has been put on hold while Michael spends time with his wife and son Michael St. James.

Meaning

"Celtic Tiger portrays the oppression of a people and the tiger symbolises the awakening of their Spirit and their struggle for freedom. Celtic Tiger is my finest work to date. Budapest is one of my favourite cities in the world and I can think of no greater place to preview my new show." – Michael Flatley.

"Michael explains the show as a story that chronicles the journey of the Celts. It starts with the arrival of the Christianity, taking it further through the Norman invasion, the coming back from the destruction, the Famine in 1840, the British occupation and then the struggle for the independence and finally having to leave and go to the new world, which was America, and starting at the very bottom. All the signs said "No Irish wanted" everywhere, and they had to rise to become the JFK's of America, so again they came from nothing." – www.CelticCafe.com

Credits

Numbers

Act 1
1. The Heartbeat of the Tiger
2. Dancing in the Dark
3. St. Patrick
4. The Sleeping Tiger
5. The Vikings
6. Celtic Fire
7. The Garden of Eden
8. The Red Coats
9. The Famine
10. Four Green Fields
11. Bloody Sunday
12. A Call to Arms
13. The 1916 Rising
14. The Banshee
15. A Nation Once Again

Act 2
16. Freedom
17. A New World
18. The Last Rose
19. Celtic Kittens
20. Capone
21. Forever Free
22. Cowboy Cheerleaders
23. These Colors Don’t Run
24. Yankee Doodle Dandy
25. Celtic Fire II
26. The Celtic Tiger

Cast

Dancers

  • Lisa Anderson
  • Thomas Badger
  • Desmond Bailey
  • Lynsey Brown
  • Cherie Butler
  • Ciaran Connolly
  • Martin Connolly
  • Siobhan Connolly
  • Arlene Cooke
  • Sarah Doherty
  • Alison Epsom
  • David Folan
  • Odette Galea
  • Jason Gorman
  • Damon Griffiths

  • Cassandra Halloran
  • Louise Hayden
  • Mark Hennessy
  • Niall Holly
  • Laura Jones
  • Joanne Kavanagh
  • Megan Luke
  • Maeve Madden
  • Debbie Maguire
  • Rachel Martin
  • Owen McAuley
  • Kathleen McCarthy
  • Brian McEnteggart
  • Leigh Ann McKenna
  • Kevin McVittie

  • Niamh O’Brien (later married to Flatley)
  • Damien O’Dochartaigh
  • Roisin O’Donnell
  • Andrew O'Reilly
  • Ian Oswald
  • Zoltan Papp
  • Gary Pender
  • Chris Piper
  • Katie Pomfret
  • Sarah Redmond
  • Margaret Revis
  • Sarah Spratt
  • Keagan Van Dooren
  • Bryana Verner
  • Scott Walker
  • Stephen Walker

Band

  • Jason Duffy — Drums and Percussion (DVD)
  • Gary Sullivan -Drums and Percussion (Canada & US tour)
  • Declan O'Donoghue — Drums and Percussion (tour)

  • Niamh Gallagher — Fiddles
  • Maire Egan — fiddles (DVD)

  • Aongus Ralston — Bass Guitarist (tour)
  • Gavin Ralston — Guitar (DVD & tour)

  • Cora Smith — Fiddles (DVD & tour)
  • Brenda Curtin — fiddles (DVD)

  • Niamh Gallagher — fiddles (DVD)
  • John Colohan — Guitar (DVD)

Vocalists

Tour dates

2005 World Tour-North America (Preview Shows/United States/Canada).

2005 Celtic Tiger North American World Tour.

2006 World Tour-Europe-Summer (Europe and Asia).

Date Venue City/Country.

2006 World Tour-Europe-Winter.

The Cancelled Tour.

See also

External links