Lake Placid, Nov. 28,
1998
The November trip to Lake Placid to
see the opening performance of SOI has become a well established
tradition in our family, and this year followed right along. After a
leisurely breakfast on Saturday, I headed out to pick up food for
supper. I have found out the hard way that it is not a good idea to
try and get into a Lake Placid restaurant before the show. They are
packed and even if you do manage to get a table, service is going to
be slow. I hate
that kind of pressure so we always have cold cuts, rolls, and salad
in the hotel room and then wander over to the arena at our
leisure.
I have been to Lake Placid more times than I can count, but every
time, I do the walk up and down the main street. As usual, the things
I like I can't afford, but it's fun to look anyway. This year's
browse yielded a bumper crop of people watching. As I was headed out,
I saw Doug Ladret and his wife. It was his Roots Olympic hat that
caught my eye first. I met them several years ago at a wedding but I
didn't think this gave me enough to strike a conversation so I just
kept on going. After turning around and heading back, I saw Shae-Lynn
Bourne walking down the street towards me. This time I got my nerve
up and managed to squeak out a "love your new free dance" and got a
quick "thanks" in return.
OK, OK, I know. You don't want to
hear all about my shopping. You want to hear about the show! When I
first saw the cast list last summer, I almost decided I didn't want
to come. No Kurt! How can you do the show without Kurt. To be honest,
I still think you can't do the show without Kurt. He
has left a big hole behind that Steven Cousins doesn't quite fill.
And then there is the question of Tara. How does a 16 year old fit in
to this company of adults. Well, the answer is - surprisingly well. I
was afraid that she would be totally out of place. Not to worry. She
doesn't come across as a kid playing dressups and they don't try to
make her too cutsey either. I had heard a rumour earlier in the day
that Todd might skate at Lake Placid as well as Binghamton. Show time
and no Todd. I'll have to wait for the TV broadcast.
Before I go any further… Steven Cousins is the glue that holds this show together. He appears in white painter pants between each section of the show. At the start of the show, there is a hat in a spotlight at center ice. Steven come out and does and Emmett Kelly style routine to move various spotlights around the ice in preparation for the arrival of the other cast members. There is a recorded voice that plays every time he lifts the hat. They have taken the usual announcement about flash photography and video equipment and made it a fun part of the show.
The opening ensemble number is nothing special. All of the cast members are introduced except the 'stars'. Then Scott and Kristy are brought out together. The music is Rock This Town by Brian Setzer. Ilia Kulik rates his own intro and solo number to Jumpin' Jack by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. I'm pretty sure I saw a triple axel and I know I saw a triple lutz that was absolutely gorgeous. Then there was some more ensemble skating to Sleepwalk and then Tara was introduced, almost as an afterthought. She skated to Jump, Jive an' Wail and landed a triple salchow and another triple. Unfortunately, with my eye glued to the viewfinder, I can't always tell a toe loop from a flip. It was one of them.
Steven Cousins as muse aided by Roz and Lulu.
Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur get the first cold spot of the show. Music is I Never Loved a Man/Please Accept My Love by Aretha Franklin and B.B. King. There isn't a whole lot you can say about dance numbers. There are no jumps to count. I enjoyed the number, but who designed Renee's costume? It was an orange dress which is not a particularly good colour for her.
Ekaterina then skated to Fragile by Jesse Cook and Holly Cole. Her costume is a pale yellow dress with a flowered pattern. The costume and the choreography presented her vulnerability. It looked like she was going for a triple and didn't quite make it and later she landed a very nice double lutz.
Scott has his first cold spot here. Trudi will be in heaven. He skates to One Week by the Barenaked Ladies. I guess the only thing better would be Brian Orser skating to Barenaked Ladies, but that is not an option this year. He plays a nerdy little character in this number with a sweater that has 3 horizontal stripes and boot covers that look like red high top sneakers. Emma had told me that Scott had not been skating well lately, but you would never have known it last night.
This section of the show ended with Tara skating to I Could Have Danced All Night. The dress was pink with lots of sparkle and the lighting was mostly pink as well. She skated clean and landed triple toe, triple loop, triple flip and triple salchow. The program was quite lovely, but I could have done without the voice over at the start - it was all about the face that looks back at me from the mirror is so much more confident - and all because of one night.
Another appearance of the Steven Cousins muse accompanied, this time , by Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov. Krtisti got the nod next. Her music is listed only as Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky with no note to indicate which one. She wore a blue dress with silver beading on the bodice. It looked to me as if she landed a great triple lutz and fell on an attempt at a triple flip. The first retake of the night.
Kristi was followed by Ilia's tango number. I confess, this number hasn't excited me all that much the couple of times I have seen it on TV. It is entirely different when you see it live. I was totally mesmerized. He wore black pants and a shirt the same blue as Kristi's dress Unfortunately, the jumps weren't first rate, as Dick Button would say. He did a huge double axel and popped a lutz into a double. More retakes coming here.
Now for the first act finale. There was a clown theme, but it didn't really catch my interest the way the last few years have done. It was cute and well done - just not another blockbuster. Because everyone was wearing full clown regalia, it was almost impossible to figure out who was who - except for Scott and Tara who were in matching outfits. Tara has grown and is now almost exactly the same height as Scott - a fact that was well used when they did a mirror routine a la Lucille Ball and Harpo Marx. Tara then shed her red coat and wearing black and white skated a fairly sad routine to Romance Del Diablo. At the end, the other clowns give her something colourful for her costume - a bright red or green patch, a pink heart, until Scott finally gives her a red nose. At the very end, Steven come out driving a miniature Zamboni and chases everyone off the ice. It's called the Zamaguchi
Intermission
Once again, Steven does the job of getting everyone back in their seats. He comes out dressed again as the muse and carrying a huge white umbrella. Members of the cast skate a group number in white costumes under black light while Steven goes backstage for what must be a frantic costume change for his only solo number of the night. He wears black with dayglo orange and green horizontal stripes and gloves. He hit some jumps and missed some others, but it was a great performance. The crown really got into this number and after he finished, there were a few people in the audience who were standing.
After Steven, the schedule got shuffled around a bit. The program said it was going to be Bechke and Petrov, but when Roz came out on the ice, I was afraid B&P were not going to skate their number. That happened last year and missing B&P two years in a row was going to be too much for me. Roz skated to After All These Years by Anne Cochrane. It's your basic Generic Female Ballad. A single axel. Very smooth vintage Roz. It could very easily be a farewell number and it may well be that since Lulu seems to be able to step into the Roz role very well.
Well, I needn't have worried because Elena and Denis followed Roz. Their music is Eva by Andrei Petrov (any relation?) and choreographed by Tamara Moskvina. I have about 5 * beside this number in my program. My daughter wrote down that Elena wore a cream coloured dress. I called it beige. It is almost a flesh tone. Denis wears a high necked shirt and pants of a raspberry colour. It sounds weird, but it works. Their lifts are creative and most of their positions are variations of lifts they have done for years. They are still including side by side jumps and pair spins. This program will serve them well as a competitive number this year. My biggest beef with SOI is that they haven't made better use of the talent of this pair over the years.
The program called for another appearance of the muse at this point, but it was moved to the end of the Santana section instead of the start. Roca and Sur started it off. Another bad costume decision for Renee. It was a black skirt and a lace top over a black bra. Again, she's too thin to carry off this costume. The music was Oye Como Va. It was a nice enough program, but nothing stood out enough for me to make a note of it.
Lulu followed with her Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen wearing black pants and a black lace crop top over a black bra. There was far too much writhing around and not nearly enough skating. Lulu doesn't do sexpot very well. I don't think this number does her justice and whoever decided it was right for her should be shot. She landed an OK double axel and fell on a triple loop.
And while I'm on the subject, who decided to put Meno and Sand in the Santana section? Instead of looking like Mr & Mrs Bland in pastel costumes, they look like Mr & Mrs Bland in black costumes. I didn't note any particular elements. They included their signature stag lift with the headbanger exit. Just very ordinary.
This section of the program ended a muse bit.
The next section of the program really has me scratching my head. After all the discussion about Katya and Kurt, it seemed ironic in the extreme to see Katya, Ilia, Bechke and Petrov skating to Tell Me Everything by Adam Cohen. When it starts with the lyrics "Are you sleeping with her" and the choreography proceeds with Katya moving back and forth between Ilia and Denis - well, let's just say it was a strange decision. It's hard to describe the colour of the costumes. It could have been very pale blue and it could have been grey. Hard to know. It was nice to see Katya do some pair skating again.
Another muse.
The final section of the program started off with Kristi Yamaguchi skating to a poem from the book "The Ink Dark Moon." There was some new age style music with it, but it was mainly spoken word. I didn't mind this concept when Robin Cousins did it, but this just didn't work for me. From this we went to another off beat program - Ilia skating with mikes on his skates, a cardiac monitor and heaven knows what all else. It sort of had a tap dance effect to it and was non-stop footwork for several minutes. Say what you will, Ilia has great cardio vascular fitness - and if he doesn't now, he will by the end of the tour. The costume is just a big baggy sweater, probably to cover all the wires.
After this little detour into the avant garde, it was back to traditional skating with Tara performing to Second Element by Sarah Brightman. Her costume was a dark purple covered with sequins. The style was probably too old for her, but it was a welcome change from the little girl outfits she has worn in the past. Another triple lutz and triple toe.
About this point, things started to go downhill, photographically speaking. My camera batteries were starting to die and I had to turn the camera off for a few seconds between shots to let them recharge. I didn't get as many pictures of Tara, Scott and the finale as I would have liked.
Scott had the final solo number of
the night. The music was Keepin' the Customer Satisfied by Glen Roven
(at least according to the program). It sounded a lot like the old
Simon and Garfunkle number, but the lyrics made several references to
skates and blades so I have a suspicion it was recorded specially for
the tour. Scott wore a dove grey shirt and pants and vest with a few
sparkles on it - the vest that is. Very tasteful and probably the
first sparkle he has worn since about 1981 or thereabouts. I would
say that this number was quintessential Scotty. This is a man who
lives for an audience
The finale was Face The Face by Neil Donnell and So Long-Farewell_goodbye by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Everyone is wearing white. I sort of made me think of the finale of a Christmas pantomime with all the cast in wedding white. The choreography got a bit ragged in spots, but it will come together as the tour goes on.
By now, my daughter was getting tired and I was desperate to find a bathroom so we didn't stay for the retakes. Overall impressions. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Tara. I think she is going to turn out to be a real asset to the show. I think Ilia needs to get back with a coach. He had problems from time to time with jumps and I think he would benefit from someone helping him with the technical stuff. Still, Kurt needed a year or two to learn how to pace himself as a pro and that he still needed a technical coach. I think Ilia will come to the same conclusion. I just hope he does it sooner rather than later. It was a good show, but not one of the really great ones. I miss Kurt. I hope they bring him back soon.
Marg
Binghamton, November 30, 1998
Oh man, am I tired,
and this week won't make it any better, but I gotta
keep going...so here we go. As Fran said, Todd Eldredge was a
no-show. Of course, nothing was said about him not being there,
because he's not in the cast anyway. (That'll
teach them to advertise him!)
We were there for a REALLY long time, because the show was sufficiently sloppy to cause need for many retakes amongst the cast perfectionists, to the delight of a near-capacity crowd (which in Binghamton is near 5,000). The theme of the Muses does indeed continue into this season's show. Last year they were Men in Black; this year they're Painters in White. Or at least that's how they looked in their white coveralls, shirts and painter caps. Steven Cousins, in true Gary Beacom "I don't have a whole lot of credentials, but I'm funny and I'm going to steal the show" tradition, was seen most often, playing a janitorial role--whether "moving" the spotlights into place, "spraying" the ice, or playing around with yet *another* SOI "hat" (what is it with these people and hats?) which caused announcements about flash picture-taking to boom whenever he picked it up Just looking at him all night was enough to make me feel guilty about not yet finishing painting my apartment. Anyway, he plays the role of getting the fannies in the seats for the show to start, and does it very well
The costumes for the opening number are bright, brash, hot colors, and "Rock This Town" contains plenty of enthusiasm. Kristi and Scott appear last after most of the cast, and then Ilia appears and does "Jumpin' Jack," which we are told he choreographed himself. Revelation No. 1: Ilia is becoming a true showman. He really and truly isn't doing the flaily-armed thing in this show, nor does he look self-contained; he is truly projecting to the audience. Good for him. He hit a triple lutz here but put his hand down on the triple axel.
"Sleepwalk" is Lulu's, Meno & Sand's, and Bechke & Petrov's turn to skate before Scott and Kristi finish off the opening, so to speak. Then, in true sly "We forgot someone" tradition, on comes Tara skating "Jump, Jive an' Wail." I liked it, even though Bezic did it ;-). Fine 3 sal but fell on the toe loop. Not many jumps in this number; she saves those for later.
Steven then reappears
brushing the ice with a little brush again while we hear a voiceover:
"Music is the basis of all life..." (Funny, I thought it was carbon.)
Anyway, Roz and Lulu appear as Muses and then concede the ice to Roca
& Sur and "I Never Loved a Man"/"Please Accept My Love," two
down-low bluesy pieces by Aretha Franklin and B. B. King. Yeah, I
agree with whoever said that Renee's orange dress shows too many
bones
(particularly the shoulders), but the number is good. (Which reminds
me: Don't ask me why, but Roca & Sur are the ONLY non-Olympic
gold medalists in the show who actually get to skate two whole
numbers. Everyone else, even the world champs, was relegated to only
one "cold spot" this year. Don't ask me why.)
Katia's "Fragile" follows and she wears a yellow print dress that looks like something summery you'd find in a store, all flowy and sleeveless with ruffles at the back. The key thing to do here is watch her hand movements; they're beautiful and fit the Spanish-guitar flavor of the number. Singled the axel, fell on the 3 toe, but did a nice double lutz.
Then we have Scott's first outing. I've been waiting for years for
someone to skate to Barenaked Ladies, and I guess it's allowed now
that they have a hit. Scott's take on "One Week" is inspired, not
only in the über-nerd costuming (including orange hightop covers
and red glasses), but in the "AOL" sound effects framing it. (Maybe
the idea is that he's supposed to be an AOLoser. All this from a BNL
song.) Naturally the super-fast Ed Robertson rapping sequences
provide the perfect backdrop for some quick Scott footwork. He seemed
a little less enthused in presentation than I expected, possibly
because he was having jump problems. Doubled the toe loop. Oh, and
for all of you who wondered where Kurt Browning's "snake" went after
"Summertime," it appears Scott has taken custody of it in this
number, as it appears to be the object of the song yelling at him at
one point.
Treacle alert: Tara skates to "I Could Have Danced All Night" (preceded by a "My Fair Lady" overture) and it's all introduced with her pretaped voice talking about "having your life transformed by a single night." Yeah, yeah. As BNL would say, it's all been done before: the song that is indirectly about how I, the Olympic gold medalist, felt about winning, blah blah. The good news is that the number, another Lea Ann Miller piece, was well put together and excellently skated. Included two 3 toes, a 3 loop and 3 sal. Looks like she's getting the jumps back.
Steven then reappeared and we heard some stuff about "Love is a liquid..." Bechke & Petrov were assistant muses to introduce Kristi, in a lovely periwinkle blue dress, skating to whatever her Tchaikovsky violin concerto is. This was a wonderful number complete with 3 lutz, flip, toe and 2 axel. She stayed on ice after while Ilia, in black pants and matching blue shirt, joined her for "Seisouso." She skates first, then she leaves him behind and he mourns her absence in his tango, embracing a partner who isn't there. Stumbled on the 3 axel, ran out of room and doubled the lutz, but two 2 axels and a 3 flip were fine. He turned the last butterfly using his hands--it was almost like a cartwheel! I really do like this number, and it confirmed my feelings about Ilia's development as a showman.
Steven appears again,
messes around with a spray bottle and a bucket, and then it's time to
send in the clowns. Yes, half the fun of this number is trying to
figure out who they all are under the masks and funny hair and hats.
I know Roz is the one with the fluffy yellow hair; she created quite
a spectacle right in front of us by drawing endless miles and miles
of
paper streamer out of her mouth (how she did it I do not know). Scott
and Tara are the ones in the long red coats. Kristi's the one with
the huge butt. In a highlight, Scott and Tara perform a version of
the famous Harpo Marx "mirror" routine. Eventually Tara separates
from the rest, feeling left out and sad, which inspires the others to
"welcome her into the
group" with gifts of various kinds. The first half then ends with
scarf-juggling, the old "chase the other guy around with a bucket and
make the audience think it will get wet" trick, Scott trying to keep
all the skaters spinning at once like plates on broomsticks,
and...you guessed it Steven again, playing cleanup man driving the
"Zamaguchi."
After the intermission, Part II. Guess who reappears, now with a white umbrella? You guessed it, it's our Steven. He ends up atop the tunnel, listening to Walt Whitman set to a dance beat. The other skaters appear in white jeans, tops and caps, and skate a techno-dance ensemble under black light.
Finally, Steven gets to do his cold spot! It's something called "Invisible" and it is more techno-dance stuff. This kind of music tends to give me a headache; oh well. He fell hard on the 3 toe and doubled the lutz, and his death drop was off kilter. Nice scratch spin, though.
Then, time for Roz to do her one cold spot. She must really be into sparkly transparent costumes, because the black dress she wore for "After All These Years" is yet another one. I suppose to a lot of people this will come off as yet another GFB in that Roz "I can't believe I'm still here doing this" vein; oh well, it's meaningful to her and that counts. She popped the axel.
Bechke & Petrov: her in pink, him in burgundy. Skated to an instrumental called "Eva." They were before Roz in the program, but not in the actual show. Beautiful number. She put her hand down on the throw 3 sal, but no one cared. Arena went nuts for 'em. Absolutely bonkers.
Then, the little Santana trilogy. Roca & Sur start it with "Oye Como Va" and some of the toughest, most interesting dance work I have ever seen them do. Can you say "Torvill & Dean choreography"? I knew you could. Scott was even making fun of them during retakes because they did a few and he said "This never happens...ice dance retakes!" I liked this number, probably because of the difference and the difficulty.
Too bad I can't say the same about Lulu's "Black Magic Woman." Sheesh, could they possibly use this woman LESS in the show, or less flatteringly? Lulu, hon, you're the Brian Orser of this year's tour. She's a former world champion, and she gets less time on the ice and far less attention than Steven Cousins! What's wrong with this picture? Double axel looked labored; she doubled the loop and stumbled out of the 3 toe. (OK, so her jumping didn't help.)
The last segment went to Meno & Sand's "Europa." Talk about having hardly anything to do in the show...these two had the same problem as Lulu. Again, it's like IMG signed all this talent and then discovered it had too many chiefs and not enough Indians, so decided to "Indianize" a whole lot of skaters who would elsewhere be chiefs. With the exception of a few lifts and a great throw double axel, Jenni & Todd did little that a good ice-dance team couldn't do, which makes you wonder what purpose they are meant to serve. And guess what move they ended with...do I even need to say?
Steven appears again to plug divots in the ice, and then comes perhaps the most discomfiting "ensemble" in the history of SOI, given recent circumstances (or rumors thereof). You guessed it: another Bezic/Seibert "men and women and sex" ensemble. Parties involved: Katia, Ilia, Bechke & Petrov. First, let me say that it's a wonderfully done number, with lots of Katia and Ilia together while B&P do their thing and also Katia doing pair moves with Denis Petrov.
Once again, Steven, then Kristi, in a sparkly little peach number. She's skating this time to spoken poetry (sounds Japanese) with a flute background. Very minimalist and effective. All I have down here for jumps is 2 axel and 3 loop (yeah!). Kristi's arms also flow beautifully, like Katia's; more so than before, I feel.
Ilia returns in baggy
black pants and an oversized colorful striped sweater to "bring in da
noise, bring in da funk." In this number he does a lot of stopping
around and footwork to prerecorded sounds of his blades and rap drum
beats and what sounds like the blade noises looped back or
"scratched" or something so they're distorted. Interesting. But I
do
admit, this is the part of the show where I missed Kurt the most. The
crowd loved it, and he did some cool footwork, but I couldn't help
but wonder what Kurt would have done with it. Interesting thing is
that choreography is credited to Sarah Kawahara.
Tara's second number, "Second Element," is one I like and think is good for her. Give me this kind of piece over the My Little Pony sugar-sweet stuff any day. She had 3 sal, toe and either the loop again or another sal.
Scott's last number is the kind you will hate if you don't like Scott, because it's the classic, almost Ice Capades-y Scott-corn to the max, the stuff he does best. He had Glen Roven re-record a version of the old Simon and Garfunkel song "Keepin' the Customer Satisfied" especially for him, not as a song of complaint but as a song of delirious contentment with his career--the "I'm so happy to be skating for all you people" showbiz Scott thing, so slick that it almost seems out of place in today's SOI (it would have fit right in with the old "rah-rah" SOI of pre-1992). It even includes a "Copacabana"-esque section. The lyrics include the line "I might have punched a clock for IBM, but what would I be employed for?" (which got a bit of a reaction because IBM started here, and a lot of Binghamtonians still DO punch a clock for them). Some problems with this in terms of doubled jumps and popped axel. You won't be surprised to learn it ends with a back flip. Gotta keep the customer satisfied!
The finale has
everyone in white, and reprises the swing feel of the opening. We got
to see it twice, because Katia fell at one point. But that was just
the beginning of a long night of retakes...Tara hit the 3 toe in
"Jump" the first time, then Roz hit her double axel again. Steven
then took the mike to kill time while waiting for his lighting to be
set back
up by regaling us with tales of life as an SOI rookie. "Who gets
water dumped on them? Who gets a 10-second costume change before the
clowns? Who gets to see a naked Scott Hamilton?" (At this point Scott
emerged half-covered on his chest from the tunnel and began flexing
his arms.) Steven then worked on his jumps, including the death drop,
and got them all. Women loved him.
Kristi reappeared with a clown head on over her finale dress, reduced to telling knock-knock jokes to kill time before Katia's attempts. After several tries at 3 toe, she still couldn't do it and went back to rest. Steven, also telling jokes in clown headdress, conceded the ice to Scott and his retakes on his second number. No problem with 3 sal but the toe loop eluded him. When hearing comments about his butt becoming wet from a fall he said "That's because ice is made from WATER!" Finally he got the 3 toe, did a big flying sit, but then popped the axel at the end! And again! Now he was mad. His grimace was fearsome to see, but he finally hit the double axel and finished off with yet another back flip to a standing O for all his hard work. Attaboy Scott.
Back to Katia. A double. Then she finally did the triple toe. Relief.
Ilia up for the tango piece. A "no way" stumbled 3 axel. Fell hard on the next. Then finally got it, but doubled the toe loop. Fell hard on next try, then finally hit it.
Scott reintroduced Roca & Sur for their retake, then Bechke & Petrov to redo the throw salchow. She two-footed the first, but the second they made, even though it wasn't with any distance!
Scott finally finished redoing his jump problems from "One Week," then reintroduced Roca & Sur. Don't know why they had to go again, but they did, and they did, and at last...over! A couple of "bonus back flips" from Scott to thank us all for waiting until after 11 to go home...
So there you have it.
Supposed to be the first time SOI is to be broadcast
in network prime time, on NBC December 18. Which, coincidentally,
happens to be Brian Orser's birthday. If they don't reschedule it.
My verdict? I miss
Brian and Kurt. But it's still an interesting show, well worth
seeing, and great to see Scott back at full power. I just wish they'd
make better use of all their talent, or at least use that respects
them and their credentials fully. It bugs me when IMG goes on a
signing spree at the end of an Olympics, then has too much talent and
ends up wasting some of the cast on so-so cold spots. Tara? Fitting
in quite well. And Ilia? He'll be fine. This tour will probably be
the best thing that ever happened to his skating, giving him
presentation and purpose.
Trudi
San Jose, Jan. 10,
1999
This review comes as surprise to me as, until about 2:00 this afternoon, my wife and I had no plans to attend this show. I had gone to do some work at my office downtown, which is just a few blocks from the San Jose Arena. I decided to stop by the Arena box office on the way home, just on the off chance that they had a couple of decent seats together. The lady at the ticket window said, "How does Floor Level, Row 1, Center Ice sound?" Oh, well, I'd rather be lucky than good, anyway. :-)
I will not bother with the fill-in stuff or short group pieces, only the actual programs...with one exception: Steven Cousins' "muse" spots as a repairman-technician-custodian were hilarious.
Act l
1) ILIA KULIK "Jumpin'Jack" Short intro piece, featuring Ilia's big jumps and vastly improved footwork. The time he's spent with Scotty really shows.
2) TARA LIPINSKI: "Jump, Jive And Wail" Again a short piece. A good look at Tara's speed and tight rotations on her jumps.
3) ROCA & SUR: "I Never Really Loved A Man/Please Accept My Love" Technically excellent, entertaining and dramatic. Every time I see this dance team, I can't get over how much better they seem to be as pros than they were as eligibles. Happier, too.
4) EKATERINA GORDEEVA: "Fragile" Fell out of first two jumps attempting triples, and doubled her last jump. Good presence on ice, but still doesn't seem comfortable as a singles skater. IMO, music still leans too much toward Katia's loss. If she's ever going to move on, at least, publicly, I don't know when it will be.
5) SCOTT HAMILTON: "One Week" Da man's still got it! High energy, oozing charisma, dazzling footwork, and still landing his jumps. The costume was a riot, especially the nerd glasses and the red Converse sneakers boot covers. As usual, got the loudest ovation of the afternoon.
6) TARA LIPINSKI: "I Could Have Danced All Night" At the risk of getting flamed by the Tara fans, she seemed disconnected from her music; almost burned out. She did all the technical stuff okay, but seemed to have no rapport with the audience. She looked very mechanical.
7) KRISTI YAMAGUCHI: "Violin Concerto" Kristi looked as good as I've seen her in a long time. Very solid, confident in her moves. Sharp. Hit all her jumps with her usual 9-inch vertical leaps. (Just kidding. They had to be at least a foot high. Talk about tight rotations. Whew!) My favorite program from the ladies.
8) ILIA KULIK: "Seisouso" His Tango is getting better. When I first saw Ilia do this program at US Pros here in October, I predicted that it had the potential to become a classic. Now, having seen it (or a version of it) with several coats of polish on it, I am more convinced than ever that it will. Huge height on his jumps and, once again, very much improved footwork, not to mention way better audience rapport. He hit a death drop from a height reminiscent of Boitano at his best. My favorite program from the men.
9) GROUP NUMBER: "Nosing Around" Scotty and Tara are the featured players in this mini-story about an aspiring clown (Tara) who wants to join a troupe of clowns led by a demanding taskmaster (Scotty). Very cute and entertaining routine, with Tara fitting in effortlessly. Unlike her individual programs, she seemed to really be having a good time here.
Act ll
10) STEVEN COUSINS "Invisible" A high-energy techno piece, in a day-glostriped shirt and gloves and black pants, under a blacklight spot. Perfect for Steven. Hit all his jumps clean, and got a big ovation. Another one who seems much happier to be out of the eligible ranks.
11) ROSALYN SUMNERS: "After All These Years" A poignant program that I enjoyed greatly; one of my all-time favorite Roz programs. Doesn't seem to have lost a step; she skated a completely clean program. I understand that she plans to make this her last year on SOI. I am sorry to hear it.
12) BESCHKE & PETROV: "Eva" IMO, not the best program I've ever seen them do. Skated well, but uninspired. Throw triple did not appear to have their usual distance, though I saw it at a bad angle.
13) ROCA & SUR: "Oye Como Va" Nice, deep edges, great steps, clean lifts. Choreography (by Christopher Dean) was perfect for dark, Latin beat and music,and R & S executed it flawlessly.
14) CHEN LU: "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" Lulu's presentation was it's usual breathtaking self, but she had trouble with her jumps (landing one triple, and singling and doubling her other two).
15) MENO & SAND: "Europa" Skated well, seemed really relaxed and like they were having fun. Todd showed no lingering effects from the serious injury he suffered last year.
16) KULIK/GORDEEVA/BESCHKE/PETROV-FOUR CORNERS: Tell Me Everything" Very watchable and dramatic program, with Ilia splitting his time partnering with Katia and skating solo, and Denis pairing alternately with Katia and Elena. IMO, Katia looked much more confident as part of a pair than she did as a singles skater. (Dare I suggest it?) Maybe she should explore the possibility of finding another pairs partner.
17) KRISTI YAMAGUCHI: Japanese Poem from the book "The Ink Dark Moon" Seemed kind of slow compared to her first program. Guess I'm just a boorish "Gajin". :-) Still, it had all of the Yamaguchi presentation and technical perfection.
18) ILIA KULIK: "Noise" Unusual program choreographed by Sarah Kawahara. Ilia got some of his jumps in, but the program mainly featured footwork. Difficult to describe, except it sounded like Ilia's skates were miked. And, he was definitely up to the challenge that any Kawahara choreography presents. If you are an Ilia fan, you need to see this program. If you are not, you'd probably still enjoy it. My wife usually doesn't care for him, but she liked this one.
19) TARA LIPINSKI: "Second Element" Please refer to Act l, paragraph 6).
20) SCOTT HAMILTON: "Keepin' The Customers Satisfied" The classic, re-lyracised (if there is such a word) to address skating. Just another day at the office for Scotty. The audience eats out of his hand and gives him a standing "O". There is talk that this is his swan song season with SOI. I only hope that it's not true. The word "irreplaceable" is probably as abused as any word in the English language. However, where Scotty is concerned as relates to SOI, I cannot think of a more accurate adjective.
BTW, no, I did not suddenly improve my ability to recognize music. I used the cheat sheet from the program. :-)
As I'm sure you know, there is no skating show or competition that doesn't play better live than on TV. However, IMO, the greatest difference is in SOI. Maybe it's because of the parts they cut out for TV, I don't know for sure. All I know is that, every year, I see SOI coverage on TV and it seems okay, but nothing that I can't live without. And, every year, I wind up going to the show here and loving it. But it really wasn't the same without Paul Wylie and Kurt Browning. I don't know what will happen if Scotty really leaves. Maybe he'll decide to stay another year. I hope so.
Cheers,
Furrow
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