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20 Years of Stars on Ice: 2007
In 2007, Kurt only intended to guest star in maybe 4 stops on the US
tour, but ended up doing 13. That was his last year guest-starring on
the US tour. 2007 was also Brian Orser's last Stars on Ice tour, his
opportunity to say goodbye to the Canadian audiences before retiring
to become a full-time coach . For the last several years, Stars on Ice
had been breaking further and further from the model of having one
consistent cast through all tour stops. The 2007 tour was one of the
first to rotate through a fairly large number of guest stars, each
skating in only a few cities.
The theme for the show was supposed to be "the secret lives of
skaters," with the opening "Double Exposure" suggesting that the
skaters were like Superman, with some sort of double identity. The
video transitions talked about the skaters' lives outside of the rink,
giving the audience some insight into the skaters' off-ice
personalities. The main ensemble numbers seemed to be designed around
allowing the skaters to play around with different characters. The
act I closer, "Peace, Love, and Skating," let the skaters let loose as
60s-era hippies, each sporting a gigantic wig. The act II opener,
"The Heist," was a goofy take on the TV show "24", with a giant clock
counting down the amount of time the investigator played by David
Pelletier had to determine who the guilty culprit was in stealing "the
most valuable skate in the world" at a fancy dress party. "Swing" was
the typical guys-only number, in this case letting the skaters play
out a fantasy of what they wanted to do if they weren't skaters (be
baseball players in the local team).
Kurt's two solos for the year were drawn from his Gotta Skate special
and the Halloween on Ice special. In Gotta Skate, his musical guests
that season were his good friends the Barenaked Ladies. He chose to
skate to one of their new songs, "Easy," and to try something a little
different - do a double axel every time Ed sang "it's easy" because
"every time he says 'easy' I just wanted to fly." For Halloween on
Ice, he was in character as the Scarecrow the entire time, in a
wonderful recreation of the Scarecrow costume from Wizard of Oz.
Having developed the program and the character for Halloween on Ice
("I'm having so much fun with the music"), Kurt decided to do it for
Stars on Ice because "I really liked it, and I thought it was unusual,
and I didn't want to see it go away").
One little note: to explain some of the photos on this page - in
Victoria, the last show on the Canadian tour, the skaters played
little pranks and had little jokes interspersed throughout the
show. In particular, the "Peace, Love, and Skating" wigs made
appearances in other numbers like "the Heist," and Kurt stole Jeff
Buttle's mohawk from his Clash number. Hence, Kurt's mohawk in the
Heist photo, and Todd Eldredge's long locks in the Swing
photo.
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US Tour:
Cast:
- Steven Cousins
- Todd Eldredge
- Michael Weiss
- Alexei Yagudin
- Yuka Sato
- Jennifer Robinson
- Jamie Sale & David Pelletier
- Kyoko Ina & John Zimmerman
- Jason Dungjen
- Ekaterina Gordeeva (20 cities)
- Angela Nikodinov (20 cities)
Special guests:
- Ilia Kulik (20 cities)
- Kurt Browning (13 cities)
- Sasha Cohen (9 cities)
- Emily Hughes (4 cities)
- Kimmie Meissner (4 cities)
2006-2007 Tour Program
Kurt programs:
Not in the US broadcast
- Easy
- If I Only Had a Brain
What they said then (reviews)...
Photos:
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Canadian Tour:
Cast:
- Kurt Browning
- Brian Orser
- Jeff Buttle
- Todd Eldredge
- Jennifer Robinson
- Joannie Rochette
- Jamie Sale & David Pelletier
- Kyoko Ina & John Zimmerman
- Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon
Special guests:
- Christopher Mabee (1 city)
- Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (3 cities)
- Jessica Dube & Bryce Davison (1 city)
- Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao (9 cities)
- Miki Ando (7 cities)
- Mao Asada (2 cities)
- Mai Asada (2 cities)
2007 Tour Program
Kurt Programs & Group Numbers/Video Downloads:
Please right-click and download, do not play directly off my site
- Opening: Double Exposure (67.4MB, wmv)
- Easy (41.9MB, wmv)
- Peace, Love, Skating - Cast
- The Heist - Cast
- Swing - Kurt, Jeff Buttle, Todd Eldredge, Brian Orser, David Pelletier, John Zimmerman (28MB, avi)
- If I Only Had a Brain (51.2MB, wmv)
- Finale: I Believe I Can Fly (59.2MB, avi)
What they said then (reviews)...
Photos:
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The fans speak...
I remember the first show you did sponsored by Eatons and I watched
you signing autographs in the store on the Saturday afternoon -
everyone wanted you to sign and then you had to get up, go around the
big desk and pose for a picture and then on to the next one and I
never once saw the smile and gentleness leave your face. I have been
to all the shows but two and have had my tickets for Victoria since
last December. I am looking forward to it with mixed emotions as the
last show in Victoria I attended on my 50th wedding anniversary with
my two daughters not realizing it would be the last one I would have
to celebrate with my husband but then sometimes I guess foresight
isn't great. I always look forward to your shows whether live or on
TV - hope you make it for another 20.
- Mel Adams
wow so many i was lucky enough to meet him in nova scotia one year
they were not allowing pictures to be taken at the mall but once the
scrap book i made worked its way around the store kurt wrote in a
special spot in my book. I got to have my picture taken with him..as
the picture was being taken kurt accidently knocked a glass of water
down the back of my pants...it was funny i was interviewed on my way
down off the stage and all i could say was i can die happy
now.....last year i went alberta for work and i was lucky enough to
meet his great aunt and saw where he grew up what a sweet lady it must
run in the family..thanks for the great memories. I also loved bring
him home and singing in the rain.
- Stephanie Lager
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Day 17: 2006 | Back to intro | Day 19: 2008
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