After 14 Years, Witt Is Still A Star on Ice

Copyright 2002 Newsday, Inc.

SHE CUTS A POWERFUL, sensual figure on the ice, interpreting a dark tale of passion gone wrong in a performance that culminates in a tornado of extreme emotion. When Katarina Witt skates, you see an aspect of female figure skating quite different from the bounding sweet 16s with their triple-triple jumps.

Fourteen years after her own Olympic heyday (she won the gold in 1984 and 1988), Witt remains in the skating spotlight, featured in this year's Target Stars on Ice tour, which comes to Nassau Coliseum tonight. Always a dramatic skater - she won an Emmy Award for the television special "Carmen on Ice" - she brings her full 36 years of maturity to her performances.

"Who would have thought?" she mused about the longevity of her skating career, as she spoke by phone from a Stars on Ice stop in Ohio.

"I am surprised, but I still love it. Ten years ago, I never thought I would skate this long - I thought I would have a real life!" she added with a laugh. Occasional acting gigs, her own jewelry line and other sidelines (including a December 1998 Playboy spread that drew considerable attention) take some of her time, but her skates are never off for long.

She was part of Stars on Ice from 1994 to 1997, then kept busy with other skating productions, especially in her native Germany. "They asked me back again, and I was very flattered because it's the best skating show out there," she said. "I'd forgotten how much work it is, the rehearsals and then traveling from Christmas to the end of April."

Witt is joined in the show by two of her successors on the top Olympic podium, Kristi Yamaguchi (1992) and Tara Lipinski (1998), along with 10 other highly accomplished skaters - including the dynamic Ilia Kulik, the 1998 men's gold medalist. Life after the gold medal is one of the themes of this year's show, which also delves into the specialized existence of performers on the road.

What makes Stars on Ice unique is the intense planning and preparation behind it. Its team of choreographers spends months selecting music and shaping the show's conceptual framework. During an intensive three-week rehearsal period, they create ensemble numbers for the full cast or intriguing smaller groupings.

Thus, Witt gets to do a tango number with Steven Cousins and two other couples plus a diva act to rap music with her two fellow gold medalists. The evening's extended finale, to a series of songs by the Carpenters, allows each cast member an individual moment in the spotlight, and Witt gets to show she can still vamp with the best of them.

For her major solo number, she skates to Ute Lemper singing Neil Hannon's "The Case Continues," a darkly hypnotic tale of the downside of an intense relationship. "The moment I heard that song, I knew it was an extreme challenge," she said, "because she's telling a real story with her song. I just got right into the character. It's exhausting to skate, emotionally as well as physically."