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Casablanca is probably one of Kurt's most famous programs, next to
Singing in the Rain. At the time, it marked a creative departure for
both Kurt and the sport of figure skating, as one of the first
successful programs featuring the skater acting as a character, in
this case Humphrey Bogart's character from Casablanca. Sandra Bezic
and Kurt worked carefully together creating the character and a set of
moves that would fit the character. In this program, the jumps became
almost secondary. Although Kurt would later (2000) look back at this
program and point out its deficiencies at fully taking advantage of
the music, this program is still renowned as one of the best men's
long programs in Olympic history. Kurt's fine performance of this
number is what brought him up from 12th place after the short to 5th
overall at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer. Kurt also performed an
exhibition version of this number, using a different cut of music with
quotes from the movie spliced in, but performing the same
character. He even had another gala program with the same character,
but to "As Time Goes By" by Frank Sinatra (in a different entry). In
2010, the Celebration on Ice tour did a "Champions" medley number,
revisiting the career-defining programs of five great Canadian
champions - Kurt Browning, Jamie Sale & David Pelletier, Joannie
Rochette, and Jeffrey Buttle. As part of it, Kurt performed an
abbreviated version of "Casablanca", adapted by Brian Orser.
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