“Riverdance” reaches a quarter century of superior choreography

Photos provided by Jack Hartin

Prior to “Riverdance” revving up its 25th birthday bash, a sizzle real scrolled across the show’s newly installed screens with prior clips from practically every continent, news outlet and television program.

Indeed, the Grammy-winning extravaganza that revolutionized Celtic-themed music and chorography extended exponentially beyond its Irish roots and steadily blossomed into an international phenomenon.

And fans kept right on coming to the Cadillac Palace Theatre as Jason O’Neill and Maggie Darlington led an immensely gifted ensemble that blended aspects of yesteryear’s “Riverdance” with entirely new content cut from its tradition.

That basically meant a melding of those Irish origins with several world flavors, including gorgeous Flamenco moments, bustling Russian rhythms and a serious tap dance battle from the streets of New York City that may very well have upstaged its precursors.

No matter which genre, the kicks, flips, twirls and synchronized stomps were beyond belief, while the live musicians and singers sounded just as resourceful in their integral roles.

On that note, original composer Bill Whelan took another sonically ambitious stab at the already flavorful soundtrack, while producer Moya Doherty and director John McColgan redid the lights, projections and costumes to rousing results.

Now that “Riverdance” reached a quarter century of superior choreography, it was all the more apparent how it paved the way for aspects of franchises such as “Lord Of The Dance,” “Dancing With The Stars” and “World Of Dance” (to cite a few samples).

Even so, this production really has no exact match when it comes to peers, but that didn’t stop this installment from trying to top itself and flourishing with each effortlessly presented step.

“Riverdance” continues at the Cadillac Palace Theatre through Feb. 9. For additional details, visit Riverdance.com and BroadwayInChicago.com.