Norfolk, VA Thurs. April 2, 1998.
The Norfolk show is the last week of the tour and every year we notice the skaters seem to be tired by the time they get here but this year the crowd energized them (plus they had a day off between Richmond and us).
The show was excellent (the best I've seen and I've been going since about 1989) and I was really proud of the audience this year (most of the time, the people around here don't get overly enthused but lots of standing O's and Scott said at the end they would DEFINITELY see us next year, I think he was really psyched by the audience). I'm not one to care much if a jump was a triple or a double and if people were doubling I probably didn't even notice. One thing though, the sound and lighting were not up to par.
The beginning was great but Elena and Denis had some problems in the Whole Lotta Love number. She fell and some shaky lifts, also the light person turned off the light before she went through his legs at the end!
But I love this pairs group and I thought it was great. Scott got a standing O before even skating and one after every time he skated. His "Show Must Go On" number was divine, the audience loved it (clapping with the music, laughing, applauding) and he ate it up. He performed it
10 times better than at the Great Skate Debate. The only one who seemed to be having an off night was Kurt. He missed the triple axle during the Olympic stunt and during the Elvis Medley he made some mistakes and while he was sitting on the ice, he just shook his head but his Antares number went off without a hitch, although I think he did it better at the Professional Championships. Brian Orser got a standing O for his solo and he deserved it, this program is much better in person, very emotional. Paul got two standing O's (excellent) and was really on.
Elena and Denis got a great audience response from the second program (great lifts and no mistakes that I could see). Roz's number had good audience participation (everyone clapping and singing the song) and she was really pumped.
The "Fun and Games" was great. I agree with everyone who says Paul is the one to watch, he was hilarious. As I said before, Kurt missed the jump but that didn't take away from anything and the Pasha line was a big hit. Also the judges dance with the "Eastern Bloc" reference was a big hit.
When the Muses came out to do the lacing up the skate contest, they walked about ten rows in front of us and being such a huge Paul Wylie fan, I yelled "Go Paul". The audience was pretty quiet right then so it was very loud and Paul did flash a huge grin before he went back to the straight face muse act. Roz won the contest yet again and Paul was last. All the women finished before the men. Paul did some wonderful spread eagles in this part.
When Jayne and Chris skated their first number, the music from the sound system sounded so tinny that it really took away from it but they skated great. I loved the ending and the show was great! You could certainly see how tired they were because during the Bow Wow section some of them just held on to each other like they needed support. Well that's all!
I'll be back next year, although without Paul, I don't see how I will ever enjoy it as much again!
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