New-look `Riverdance' returns to Dublin in July

Riverdance - The Show is to return to Dublin in July next year for a six-week run, although the show's producer, Ms Moya Doherty, said this could be extended if the demand existed.

"There is a little bit of flexibility at the end of the official run," she told The Irish Times at the announcement in Vienna yesterday morning. "We do, however, have a major tour of the Far East scheduled, so I can't see it running for more two months."

Riverdance - The Homecoming will preview on Monday and Tuesday, July 10th and 11th, and open on Wednesday, July 12th at The Point. It will mark five years since Riverdance - The Show last played in Dublin.

Ms Doherty said it had amazed her that Riverdance - The Show had travelled so far and so well in the vast majority of capital cities in the world. "We have a very loyal audience and a very high level of audience satisfaction."

She indicated that changes in the show are afoot. "There is room in the year 2000 for somebody else to come along with something completely different, and maybe we might be the ones to do it. We are planning a number of different things."

These plans include an open-ended residency for the show on Broadway, New York. New dance and music arrangements are currently at rehearsal stage. It is likely that these changes will be included in the production that visits Dublin.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow.