Riverdance Returns

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Irish Voice Entertainment

Riverdance Returns

April 16, 2008

By Debbie McGoldrick

EXCITING times ahead for Riverdance fans. The legendary show’s star dancers will perform live on Dancing With the Stars on Tuesday, April 22 at 9 p.m., and the ongoing U.S. tour continues apace, with a stop next week at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark from April 22-27 for eight shows only for its only New York area engagement.

When you see the show – and make it a point if you can, because Riverdance, now in its 13th year, has aged like fine wine – check out the fiddle player Pat Mangan, the first male to assume the position.

Pat is a lovely guy from Brooklyn who certainly comes with the right musical resume. He’s a two-time All-Ireland fiddle champion and has recorded with a number of Irish traditional luminaries, and has a solo CD called Farewell to Ireland under his belt, too.

If that’s not enough, he’s a graduate of Tufts University, and when he was 16 he became the youngest performer ever to appear in Riverdance when he played the fiddle during the show’s Broadway run.

He’s been with the show’s touring U.S. company for two years now and is loving every minute of it. “It really is amazing,” he told us during a recent chat. “There’s still the same excitement every night from the audience. They’re still standing on their feet.”

Hooking up with Riverdance also has many fringe benefits, including travel. “I’ve been to Mexico, Germany, France and Switzerland, and we’re going to Japan,” says Mangan, who was introduced to Irish music through his Irish American parents, “who dragged me from festival to festival at a very young age. And it’s the best thing they ever did. It gave me a real love of Irish music.”

Tickets for the show ($23-$79) are on sale now, and are available at the NJPAC box office, online at www.njpac.org or by calling 1-800-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466 5722).

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