Kristi Yamaguchi Friends and Family 2005 Review

Very good show. Sticking with the family theme, many of the programs were geared toward kids. Kurt skated to Rag-gidon-time and a medley of children's songs and a few words from Gabe ("wun, doo, free, fo.." and "dats funny"). Kurt wore a yellow shirt with a giant happy face on it, an orange baseball cap, and red sneaker boot covers. The program was cute and had enough actual skating content to engage those over the age of 5 as well.

The show resurrected a variation of the "clown number" from the SOI costume vault. Kurt wore his rag-gidon-time outfit and blew the whistle. Parts of the choreography were very similar to the SOI number - juggling scarves, chorus lines, ect. Scott and Kristi later came out in the red coat/orange hat costumes (Tara's costume had obviously been altered quite a bit to fit Kristi's pregnant belly) to tape a segment. I know many, myself included, have said that they'd be entertained watching Scott read a telephone book on center ice. That's about what we got (no skating at least), but it was fun to see him in person.

Katia skating to "The Prayer" was the highlight for me - absolutely beautiful. Missed her dbl axel a bit during the program and twice during retakes, but otherwise she was awesome. Her upbeat duet with Daria was nice to see, and very touching since Sergei's last performance was almost exactly 10 years ago in the same arena. Many fans sitting around me remembered being there and were so happy to see her still skating.

Ilia skated his toybox number from SOI a few years ago (minus the toybox), and a very nice program to "Lady" with Kenny Roger's singing.

M&S and Nancy skated to kiddie sing-a-longs, which was a little bit corny for those not in the target audience (I'm in my early 20's and kidless, so I realize I just don't get it). I know that's what Kurt skated to, but I guess he's so over the top with it that he somehow pulls it off. Almost every skater's kid was carried out onto the ice at some point, which was cute for the little ones but a little awkward for Nancy's oldest.

Jozef received the second warmest applause of the night to his non-kiddy Springsteen piece. P&S skated to a version of "Imagination". Tonia skated to a gfb (but I like those).