Ice divas unfreeze Moulin Rouge

In the afterglow of the winter games at Salt Lake, the flash and sparkle of Target Stars on Ice seems positively relevant.

Most of us have long memories where this cast is concerned. With names like Tara Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi, Katarina Witt, Kurt Browning, Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov; and Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, a string of minidramas play our brains like encore performances on Broadway.

The 61-city tour skates into Gund Arena tomorrow for one 7:30 p.m. show, arriving with a healthy dose of deja vu.

``It's a great show, with the best skaters in the world,'' says Jenni Meno, a Westlake native transplanted to Southern California. ``The theme is showgirls from the Moulin Rouge and features a lot of the Carpenters' music remade to be more hip.''

Meno still skates with her one true love, Todd Sand, with whom she partnered in 1992. ``We had both skated with different partners, in the same rink in Costa Mesa, Calif. We were very good friends and spent a lot of time together. Then at the 1994 Olympics in Albertville, we fell in love.''

Their union in 1992 caused an uproar. ``At the time, it was a big scandal because the top two pair teams in the U.S. had just broken up. It took time to show we were better together than we were with our former partners. We stayed home and trained really hard to show everyone how good we can be.''

They succeeded and embarked on a journey that would take them to the World Championships, the U.S. Nationals and the Olympics (three times), making them the most decorated American pair team in U.S. history. But their dreams of Olympic gold eluded them in a spate of dramas as thick as the ice.

At the 1998 games in Nagano, Japan, they each brushed the ice or fell twice. Meno was suffering from a broken bone in her foot, and they both had the stomach flu. It wasn't meant to be.

``I don't think a medal would have changed our lives that much,'' said Meno back then, ``Todd and I have so much together. Besides, we'll have some good stories to tell our children.'' They finished eighth.

Their angst-filled triumphs and misadventures ushered in their professional skating careers and brought them to a place of fulfillment and joy, she says. Traveling with the 16th Stars on Ice tour is both challenging and exciting.

In fact, the tour was conceived by Olympic champion Scott Hamilton in 1986 to showcase the best of the best and make them more accessible to audiences. Initially called the America Tour, the inaugural production featured group numbers and solos staged by lighting designers, choreographers and sound engineers. Conceptually, it is the same today, although technology and the names of the skaters may change from year to year.

``We learned as we went,'' said Hamilton, who skated in the show until last year. When the show played in small college arenas, producers hired students for $20 to help hang lights. Staff members mended costumes and sneaked tissue boxes from their economy hotel rooms for the skaters' dressing rooms.

Fifteen years of tweaking has polished the show, like furniture, to a fine sheen, the kind that speaks of masterful workmanship, producing quality that can't be ignored. Meno and Sand are resplendent therein, dancing in three pieces, Tango, It Takes Chair to Tango and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

This year's focus is on the female skaters (she has six costume changes) and features themes of inspiration, dedication and the challenges of stardom. ``It's a rock and roll show on ice,'' says Meno. In any typical year, the cast begins rehearsals in the fall, starts touring the day after Christmas and skates five shows a week, one in each city, through mid April. ``It's a pretty busy travel schedule, grueling at times, but we love what we are doing, and we're traveling with some of our best friends,'' says Meno.

``We have three choreographers, and they're already planning for next year's show, coming up with concepts, music and original music is being made,'' she said.

``There's a large crew and the lighting is a show in itself. The crew travels by bus and they start unloading at 7 a.m. They make things easy for us.'' Skaters travel by charter plane, usually arriving at the next city in the wee hours, sleeping late and rehearsing and warming up for a 7:30 p.m. show at 3:30 or 4 p.m.

Meno, 32, is a graduate of Westlake High School, and grew up skating at Winterhurst in Lakewood with Olympian Carol Heiss Jenkins. She married Sand, 39, in 1995. ``We've been home a lot this year,'' she says. ``I'm kinda a Midwest girl, I guess. I miss my family and the friends I grew up with. I miss the change of seasons....

``Cleveland is my favorite show. I love performing for the hometown crowd.''