Solid gold: Champions shine in Stars on Ice

Sport or entertainment? Classical or contemporary? Singles or pairs? Divas or kids?

The popularity of figure skating could be based on any number of elements: the elegance of each performance, the understated power and athleticism of the skater, the artistry and command of the routine, the opulence of the costumes or the soap opera-like dramas that play out during competition.

"It has a little of everything," says Tara Lipinski, the youngest Olympic, world, national and world professional figure skating champion ever.

Reasons for the popularity of the sport vary, she says. But whatever the criteria may be, all components come together as a performance package for the figure skating fan. "People like to see it all together with music," says Lipinski.

On Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Lipinski and her Stars on Ice castmates will perform as part of the Target Stores-sponsored tour at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard.

This year's cast is made up of Olympic champions Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi, Katarina Witt and Ilia Kulik; four-time world champion Kurt Browning; Olympic silver medalists and two-time world champions Anjelica Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov; three-time national champions and world silver medalists Jenni Meno and Todd Sand; Olympic silver medalist Denis Petrov; eight-time British champion Steven Cousins; Swiss champion Lucinda Ruh; and special guest star Todd Eldredge, world champion and six-time national champion.

The show's routines draw from each skater's strengths, specifically Olympic gold medalists Lipinski, Yamaguchi and Witt, to depict life behind the scenes for a typical young showgirl. "Our showgirls are superstars and although they are all so different from each other, they also have so many shared experiences," says producer and director Sandra Bezic, who choreographed the show with co-director Michael Seibert, Christopher Dean and Jayne Torvill. "We wrote down words that would inspire us to explore (a showgirl's) emotions: hopes, the vulnerability of stardom, the personal price, independence, strength, privilege, choice, fun, glamour versus reality, work ethic, vanity, confidence, competitiveness, loneliness, rejection, sacrifice and the decision to move on."

With the help of Jef Billings on costume design and Roy Bennett on lighting, Bezic and company put together a show that Lipinski says creates "a 'Moulin Rouge' effect."

According to Bezic, the creative minds behind the show chose music by The Carpenters, including "Superstar," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "We've Only Just Begun" and "Close to You" to anchor the show's emotional and lyrical theme. With these, and selections from the soundtrack of the Baz Luhrmann film "Moulin Rouge," including "Lady Marmalade," "Because We Can" by Fatboy Slim and "One Day I'll Fly Away" by Nicole Kidman, the story is woven throughout the two-hour show.

"The men in our cast have been happy to play along with the concept," says Bezic. "I guess they know we can't live without them."

Bezic says her favorite arrangement is "G-O-L-D," by Orin Isaacs, in which Yamaguchi, Lipinski and Witt dances to three Carpenters songs as individual expressions of their personalities and emotional makeup.

Lipinski says she has a particular fondness for her solo, "American Tribute." It's "a tribute to 9/11" she says of the medley of "Shenandoah," "God Bless the USA" and "Drummer's Salute" in which "I get to do a lot of neat footwork."

Lipinski also pays tribute to the full skating cast and production crew. "We're like a family," she says. "For four months out of the year, we live together, sharing the same feelings."

Stars on Ice is the brainchild of Scott Hamilton, winner of the 1984 Olympic gold medal in men's singles in Sarajevo, and his manager, Robert D. Kain. "It built slowly," says Hamilton. "We learned as we went."

According to Hamilton, when the troupe performed in the tour's early days, the organizers paid college students $20 to help hang lights. Kain's staff would also mend costumes and sneak tissue boxes from hotel rooms for the skaters' dressing rooms. "We created our own niche," says Hamilton, who retired last spring as a touring member but continues to serve as co-producer. "We've broken new ground. We're building something."

The Stars on Ice 2001/2002 professional tour, now in its 16th Stars season (the third with Target Stores sponsorship), has already performed in some 50 cities, to approximately 12,000 fans a night. The show has pledged 50 cents from each ticket sale to Target House, a three-year-old home for families of children undergoing long-term treatment for life-threatening illnesses at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. This year, Stars on Ice adds proceeds of $225,000 to the $525,000 already collected for Target House in the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 seasons.

Now that the tour is almost over, closing April 20 in Portland, Maine, Lipinski says she plans to commit to another season. She adds that the professional nature of skating makes the sport more entertaining, and therefore, more popular.

"Competition has intense pressure; it's part of the reason I went pro," says Lipinski, who adds that an injury in her right hip was another reason for retiring from competition. "The tour gives me a chance to perform and skate and jump but not have to worry about the hardest things."

The sport's attraction made it the most-watched competition at the Salt Lake City Olympics in February. Still, Lipinski is unequivocal when stating that she has no regrets about remaining a spectator. And like the rest of the world, she was thrilled when Sarah Hughes won the gold medal, and disappointed about the famous scandal that overshadowed the pairs competition.

"It wasn't about who should get (the gold medal) or not," says Lipinski. "It shows that they're going to clean it up."

She adds that the so-called subjectivity of judging panels was something she learned to expect as a child training to be a skating star.

But scandal notwithstanding, Lipinski says the sport still draws capacity crowds to Stars on Ice.

"I get such a rush of adrenaline," she says. "You just can't get used to it."

*

Stars on Ice perform Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport. Single admission costs $42.50 or $55.50. For tickets and directions, call 368-1000 or visit www.arenaatharboryard.com or www.ticketmaster.com.