1996 saw the introduction of the program that consistently tops every
fan favorite program poll. Brickhouse is commonly misattributed as a
Sandra Bezic program, when it was Michael Seibert and Clarence Ford
who were responsible for the choreography. Everyone remembers Kurt's
shiny blue pants, but people may not remember that Brickhouse was part
of a larger section of the 1996 show "Shhh...", paired with Kristi
Yamaguchi's "It's Oh So Quiet" and bumpered by the "Put Your Groove
On" ensembles, with everyone dressed in coordinating white and shiny
blue costumes.
On a more somber note, Stars on Ice experienced one of its biggest
tragedies during the final week of rehearsals in Lake Placid, when
Sergei Grinkov died of a massive heart attack on the ice. On Nov. 20,
1995, Stars on Ice lost a beloved member of the family, and Katia
Gordeeva lost her husband and partner. The Hartford show was turned
into "A Celebration of a Life", a massive tribute show featuring the
entire cast of Stars on Ice and many special guests. On that night,
Katia touched everyone's heart, appearing on the ice alone for the
first time, and skating a passionate, searching, grief-filled program
to Mahler's Fifth Symphony. That spring, Katia rejoined her skating
family on the ice as a soloist in the Canadian tour, and was back on
the ice again full-time for the 1996-97 US tour.
There are too many to choose a favorite and I feel so fortunate to
have seen as many as I did "live". I truly cannot choose one so I
decided to instead choose perhaps the one that at that particular
moment touched me the most.
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me--Toronto at Maple Leaf. That truly
got to me that night and you could have heard a pin drop in the
arena.
There are so many, like with Barb and Paul, whenever I hear the music
I think of Kurt skating to it and then, where I saw him skate it. The
Nat King Cole medley and the Elvis group number--though with that I'm
always thinking, wait a minute, Judy and Mike aren't here yet. The
part he needs to know is not only did he entertain at the moment of
the performance but it is carried far beyond that moment in time in
our collective memories.
In the Stars (Canada) tour the year it was the Rock Group--there goes
my memory again--Kurt gets flipped and then draagged along the
ice--flippers Paul and Doug and they gleefully drug Kurt right through
the pool of ice water on the surface--gleefully--I could see their
faces and I could see Kurt's as he knew he was headed for the ice
water. Where: Ice House (I think that's the name) London.
In the U.S. Scott was the one flipped. There are many others of
course but some do stick out.
Spaghetti Western -- both versions
Lloyd and Scott are hysterically funny and only Rag-idon comes close
to being as funny for me.
But in the western it was Kurt with Kat and Roz--all the other
connections that unfortunately did not translate to TV--you could not
have had enough cameras. And I did get to see both of these versions
live.
With Rag-idon--well, it was a genius piece in my mind and I enjoyed it
each time because thanks to Kurt's ability to capitalize on the moment
and the audience making up that moment, it kept changing. I was among
those sporting red noses in Toronto and believe me watching him
looking around the arena and seeing red noses wherever he looked was
worth it--though I admit we missed most of the rest of the number and
all the other skaters.
Skating with only the sounds of their blades--that was something. So many
memories!
