That's Adam McSharry at right, looking dark and evil.
If you’re going to see Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance” at the Merriam next weekend, you’ll know Adam McSharry when you see him. He’s the bad one. The total loser.
Not a bad dancer, not a real loser, but The Dark Lord, “Don Dorcha,” who, no matter how well he dances, can never defeat The Lord of the Dance in this classic story of good and evil set to syncopated hard shoes.
“I never win,” admits McSharry, a native of Birmingham, England who’s played the villain on several continents. “But when I get out there in character during the battle between the two armies on stage, when I’m doing the final duel with the Lord of the Dance, we go to it on the stage and our duel brings each of us to our best. I’m completely focused. Even though I know I’m not going to win, I’m trying to convince audience members that I am going to win.”
A year ago, he considered leaving the troupe and putting Don Dorcha behind him. “I had job interviews ready but then. . . .” He joined Flatley’s other traveling show, “Feet of Flame,” which drew 80,000 people when it played in England and 20,000-30,000 for each of its eight shows in Taiwan. That changed his mind. “I said, ‘What am I thinking? I’m really happy here. This is the job for me.’”
So he took up his evil ways again. “I love it. I’ve been playing this role for eight years. I think it’s another side of me,” he says with a laugh.
Like many Irish dancers, McSharry started very young. At three, his mother had him in lessons and at four he was on stage at his first feis. “It came naturally,” he says. “My mother danced, my uncle danced. My father, when he moved over from Ireland (Leitrim) and was dating my mother (Downpatrick), he was picking her up at dancing class and one guy on the team that was going to the world championships had to drop out so they taught my father to dance, they went to the Worlds and came in second. My sister, Grace, is a great, great dancer. It’s in our blood.”
But he never thought of dancing as a profession until, ironically, he caught a performance by Michael Flatley on TV at the Eurovision Song Contest. “I must have been 14 or 15 and I thought, wow, would you look at that. But I just carried on in competition for a while, doing well [top three in every major competition in Britain, Ireland, the US, and the World Championships; in 2003, he performed for President and Mrs. George Bush] when I got a phone call an they said, ‘There’s a place in Lord of the Dance for you if you like it.’”
He was stunned. So, at the age of 18, he headed to Wembley, England, got fitted for a costume, learned the steps and went on stage. That year, “Lord of the Dance” entered the Guinness Book of World Records for most sold-out performances—19. Nothing like starting at the top.
He even danced opposite Flatley himself in the Taiwan production of “Feet of Fire.” He admits he was in awe.
“The whole cast agrees, he’s always going to be the one you look up to. If he says do it like this, or this will help you get the best out of your character, you listen. He gave me good tips on how to make the best of my bad guy routine. Being on stage with him is different from anything I’ve ever done before. The energy rush is incredible.”
When McSharry isn’t dancing, he’s doing whatever it takes to support his dancing. He and a few members of the troupe play soccer when they have time off. “It really keeps you fit.” And when he’s home. . . he works construction.
A stage star, a championship dancer, doing construction? Really? “Really,” he says. “It’s a good workout. It keeps you active all day, it helps build upper body and leg strength and you’re killing two birds with one stone. I could sit at home and go to the gym, but this way I’m getting paid and getting a workout.”
He may be a professional bad guy, but stupid he’s not.
“Lord of the Dance” will be at the Merriam Theater, 250 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, for six performances May 14-16.
