LORD of the Dance delighted a packed house on its return to Blackpool's Opera House on Tuesday.

A vibrant adventure of good versus evil, it's a treasure trove of story-telling, complete with a dashing hero the Lord of the Dance, evil warmonger Don Dorcha, sultry temptress, Morrighan, ice-cool maiden Saoirse, and cute pixie type The Spirit.

It is difficult to follow the ins and outs of this old Irish legend but who cares when you can be swept along with amazing Irish dancing and fabulous costumes?

For anyone seeing it for the first time, Tuesday's performance must have seemed a tour de force, and indeed the cast worked really hard.

Having seen it once already though, I was a bit disappointed. Perhaps it was first night nerves, but the dancing was none too polished in places and I'm sure I heard some girly giggling from backstage.

The hero (the Lord of the Dance) looked like he needed a decent meal and although the audience loved him he wasn't quite the figure of authority and charisma I wanted him to be.

And despite a very beautiful voice I'm afraid the solo vocalist (Erin the Goddess) needed to show more emotion to make the most of her songs.

But I would have to be made of stone not to appreciate the amazing staging, wonderful music and really hard work of the young and flamboyant cast. It's definitely worth a look!