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Kurt Browning on Ice - Victoria, BC - Mar. 18-19, 2023
written by Tina
Three years ago, when the Racquet Club of Victoria Skating Club
announced that they were putting on a club show that not only featured
Kurt Browning, but also was based around his "greatest hits"/career, I
had no idea what to expect. It being a show that promised to so
heavily feature him, I decided to go, but assumed it'd be a chance to
see Kurt skate while being slightly bored the rest of the time by low
level skaters doing amateurish numbers and maybe some cute nods to his
past programs. I couldn't have been more wrong. There were three shows
that weekend - two on Saturday, one on Sunday - and by intermission of
the first show, I was blown away by the quality of the production, the
talent of the club skaters, and the sheer entertainment value of the
show. By the end of the first night, I was in awe, and honestly think
the show was one of the most enjoyable shows I've seen in a
while.
These kids and the club clearly had been working HARD. The
choreography was top-notch, well-rehearsed and coordinated, and the
performance level of even the youngest skaters was incredible. The
occasional fall stopped no one - each skater just picked themselves up
and kept on with the performance. Many of the skaters were out on the
ice multiple times, fully committed to each character or theme or
performance, and everyone knew all of their choreography. There were
some extremely talented skaters out there, and some with acting
ability and charisma that rival the best skaters I've seen. From what
I understand, some of the skaters who were to have been in the
original 2020 production came back to do this show, even though they'd
graduated. There were also parents on the ice dancing up a
storm.
The spotlights were run by the local high school theater group (I was
told) and they were on top of things. Musical cues were right on,
props went on and off the ice smoothly, and the costumes were
incredible. There were something like 60 skaters out on the ice and
there were eight different themed sections (each built around a
different Kurt program), each with its own detailed, appropriate
costumes. I can't even imagine the amount of work that went into the
costumes.
As for the show itself, as I mentioned, it was organized into eight
thematic sections, each built around a Kurt program. Kurt's voice
(which, according to his joking first voiceover, decided to split
itself off from Kurt to help with the show) provided a narrative
throughline, sharing stories about each program or talking about what
it meant to him with his typical lighthearted wit and self-deprecating
manner.
First Half
CLOWNS
Rag-GIDON-Time - Kurt Browning
The show opened with Kurt's voice introducing itself and then talking
about the creation of a friend, who's a little shy, a little cute, but
loves performing with some encouragement. One end of the ice was
curtained off to provide a "backstage" area for the skaters to come on
and off the ice, and a little rainbow tunnel was set up where the
curtains parted. As Kurt talked, we could see Raggy cautiously poking
his head out through the tunnel, and then getting bolder as people
reacted to him. Kurt's voice seemed fond of Raggy but exasperated by
him at the same time, chiding him about "what happened last time" and
running down a checklist to make sure he was dressed in his baggy
pants, striped shirt, hat...well, no hat...gloves with holes in them
that he loves so much, and skates... except he forgot to take his
skate guards off, so they had to call for help from two kids in clown
costumes who pulled the guards off while Raggy sat on the ice with his
feet in the air. Finally, he was ready to skate, and launched into the
well-known, well-loved opening notes of Rag-GIDON-Time. Aside from
mostly landing doubles (he has an injured arm that makes it difficult
to pull in for jumps), the only major choreography change that I
noticed was that he did a full-out dramatic slip and fall onto his
front rather than doing a split on the ice (intentional - he did it
all 3 shows). Otherwise, this was very much the Raggy we know and
love. Saturday night, he was a particularly vocal Raggy. The arena was
a smaller, intimate one, with less than 10 rows of seats, so it was
easy to hear all of his little vocalizations and muttering to
himself. They were absolutely hilarious and adorable. And he targeted
my friend and myself for the final scream and leap over the boards,
landing in our laps, which was hilarious and fun.
CHASE/CIRCUS CLOWNS (Canskaters/Pre-Juniors/Juniors)
As he wrapped up his number, Raggy was joined on the ice by two
fast-moving mischievous clowns in very large pants who kept eluding
him as they zipped down the ice, and who he tried to join from time to
time. As they did their side by side spins, he joined in...veeerrrryyy
slowly. These two clowns were soon joined by a whole host of clowns of
all sizes who goofed off and skated together up and down the ice while
Raggy wandered among them. At one point, the clowns faced each other
and formed a tunnel with their hands, as the other clowns went through
it. Eventually the clowns on the end of the tunnel went through as
well until there was no tunnel left. The first show, Raggy decided to
come visit my camera, popping up unexpectedly into my view as I tried
to shoot the kids, grabbing the lens while grinning and waving into it
and saying "hi mom!" and stuff like that. It was really funny (and of
course I got no photos of it since he was way too close for my camera
to focus on him) and amused the heck out of the people around me. In
the second and third shows, I think he kept trying to go through the
tunnel but the kids would lower it so he didn't fit every time he
tried, until finally (in the second show) he was left without a tunnel
to go through and stood there sadly, while in the third show, he
managed to make it through, to his delight. Eventually, these super
cute and fun clowns finished their number, but the clown section was
not yet complete.
SAD CLOWNS (Send in the Clowns) - Ravie Cunningham, Denika
McDonald, Veronica Smith, Marleau Sokoloski
Four older girls made their way onto the ice to perform a really
lovely number to "Send in the Clowns." The choreography was a
beautiful blend of all four in sync, paired, mirrored, and individual
skating. These talented skaters were elegant and smooth, and did a
wonderful job of evoking the wistful emotion of the music.
SYNCHRO CLOWNS
The energy ramped back up again as a bunch of older, more skillful
clowns (than in the first number) came out and clowned around while
two energetic younger kids (possibly the same ones who helped Raggy
with his skate guards and were chased around by him) did a whole bunch
of tricks at the other end of the ice (series of axels. spins,
spirals, etc). The older skaters had their own bag of tricks, doing a
pinwheel down the ice (a popular choreographic move in this show) and
then grabbing a colorful parachute and using that as a group to create
some fun visual effects.
FIREBIRD SUITE - Olivia Williams, Stacy Zhu, Audrey Darrah, Kurt
Browning
Kurt's voice came back on to tell us that the next piece of music was
really strong and dramatic, but brought mixed emotions for him when he
heard it, as it reminded him that the Olympics didn't always have the
fairy tale ending he'd dreamed of. But that he was very glad to have
some very talented company out on the ice with him to perform to it
this time. The music? Firebird Suite. The number opened with two girls
in beautiful black lacey dresses skating out and doing a lovely job of
mirroring each other and skating in counterpoint to each other, before
being joined by a third girl in red who really emphasized the dramatic
nature of the music. She did some extended solo segments while the
other two continued to mirror each other, and then sometimes the three
of them skated together as well. They were eventually joined by Kurt,
in what appeared to be his original Firebird costume, first
dramatically gesturing at the girl in red kind of like an evil wizard
controlling her movements, but then joining her to skate side by
side. They even did side by side jumps and spread eagles. This was one
of the segments where Kurt didn't really do a solo bit, but definitely
evoked the feel of his original Firebird program from 31 years
ago.
MR. BOJANGLES - Leo Maekawa, Malcolm Rohon O'Halloran, Ensemble,
Kurt Browning
Though it is difficult to pick just one (I loved them all), I think
the next segment was possibly my favorite. Kurt's voiceover was
simple, and something about Mr. Bojangles just feeling really right to
skate to. It helps that I like the song (though, in all honesty, *all*
the musical selections were really great in the show), but I really
enjoyed all the boys skating to Mr. Bojangles. They led off with the
two probably most talented male skaters in the cast (who did many
numbers over the course of the show), Malcolm and Leo, dressed in
Bojangles-like shabby clothes and skating to the song. I really really
enjoyed these two during the entire show - such great performers and
character actors. The two just encouraged each other down the ice,
skating side by side, trading moves, and clearly having a great
time.
They were eventually joined by one boy after another, each
successively younger, each doing a jump or other move and a spin,
unril finally there were two really small boys doing their best out
there while the others clasped their hands behind their backs and
swayed to the music. Eventually they all formed a V-shape around the
entrance by the curtains, and Kurt emerged in his Mr. Bojangles
costume. I really enjoyed how every section handled Kurt's
participation differently. In this one, he more or less did about 1.5
minutes of his program down the middle of the ice, almost
independently, while the boys skated around him, framing his
skating. One thing that really struck me watching these shows was how
very on Kurt was - very committed to each number and character, very
intent on projecting the expression, clearly striking the poses, and
just performing the heck out of each program. Here, he stepped nimbly
through the footwork and struck each pose with great precision. It was
also interesting, because I felt like the boys around him actually
enhanced the parts where he'd strike a pose and freeze in it for a
bit, because they really felt like they were framing him.
BRICKHOUSE
BORN TO BE ALIVE - Riley Willard and Ensemble
It was time for another switch in tone, as they transitioned to the
very 70s portion of the evening. Everybody had these giant curly wigs
or 70s hairstyles. Everyone was wearing extremely 70s clothing - lots of
vests, lots of shiny or rainbow or boot cut or giant fur coat with
sunglasses. And everyone was shimmying and bopping to the music like
there was no tomorrow. This was the number in which it seemed they
involved a lot of parents as well as older skaters, and the parents
truly gave it their all. There was a massive pinwheel, there was
dancing in a circle, there was just a great deal of energy and fun. I
have to give a shout-out at this point to the choreography for the
whole show, which gave everyone, regardless of level, something to do,
and which often had different groups doing different contrasting moves
so there was always something fun and different to look at as you
looked around the ice.
LAST DANCE - Karie Belanger, Aemilia Altenhoff, Emma Ma, Emily Wang,
Weiba Wu
One older girl, Karie Belanger, did her solo to "Last Dance," and was
joined on the ice by four adorable smaller girls. Karie danced,
skated, jumped and spun around the ice while the four littler girls
skated together, doing lunges, spins, and other moves, before joining
Karie to skate down the ice together. It was adorable to see the older
girl taking care of and leading the younger girls, and impressive to
see how well the younger girls performed and executed their
choreography together.
SHOULD BE DANCING - Ashlyn Williams, Ty Williams, Mina Wang, Tommy
Wang
Next on the ice were two young brother-sister dance teams, skating to
"Should Be Dancing." It was kind of adorable to see how sassy and into
the choreography Ashlyn was, and how very determined and intent Mina
was, and the flare from their brothers as they boogied next to each
other. They danced next to each other, and then broke into two pairs,
determinedly doing their dance patterns around the ice on opposite
sides. The kids had clearly been working hard on their synchronicity
and steps.
BRICKHOUSE - Kurt Browning
After the kids left the ice, Kurt's voice came on to tell us the story
of Brickhouse, the most popular of his programs, "according to the
website the Kurt Files" (name check!). He said he's often asked how he
chooses his music, and that in the case of Brickhouse, Michael Seibert
came to him and said that he found him the perfect music, but that he
wasn't going to like it. He asked him to please give it a chance
before saying no, but that Kurt heard the first three notes of
Brickhouse and immediately said yes. Jef Billings put together that
iconic shiny outfit, and if you want to know what happened to the
original blue pants...ask him some other time. But that he had found
the closest pants he could to the originals to perform it for us.
And then, Kurt leapt through the gap in the curtains and launched
straight into the opening moves of Brickhouse. This was the program
that made me notice him and made me a fan, way back in 1995, and
change in hairstyle aside, it was like going right back in time 28
years. His moves were crisp and funky, the facial expressions and body
language were amped up, and the musicality was spot on in that way
that had made me sit up and take notice when I first saw this
program. Maybe the jumps didn't soar in quite the same way, but
otherwise there was nothing in the way he moved to indicate that this
was a 56 year old man, rather than a man half his age.
Unfortunately, Kurt only performed the first minute or so of
"Brickhouse," not the full program. Fortunately, he was joined on the
ice by the seven of the older skaters, who launched straight into
basically the "Brickhouse" group number from Stars on Ice back in
2015. The costumes were different, but the music, the moves...all the
same. And all carried out with flair and talent by these young
skaters. The choreography calls for a lot of pausing and staring into
the audience, and then slapping their hips/butts in time to the music
(not as weird as it sounds), and these skaters fully committed to the
intensity and audience connection needed to really execute the
number. This was an awesome way to end the first act, and left us
giddily anticipating the second half.
SECOND HALF
CASABLANCA
The second act opened with the "Casablanca" section, with set and
music inspired by the era and genre of the movie Casablanca. There was
a bar, table, and chairs set up, with patrons dressed in suits or old
time dresses drinking and serving and circulating around on one end of
the ice. For much of this section, Kurt, dressed in a white
Casablanca-esque suit, mingled at this end, watching the performers
and occasionally interacting with them.
CABARET - Stacy Zhu with Riley Willard, Veronica Smith
FEVER - Ravie Cunningham
SING, SING, SING - Ravie Cunninghan & Malcolm Rohon O'Halloran w/ ensemble
This entire section transitioned smoothly from one number to another,
so I'm grouping them together. Stacy Zhu came out on the ice, dressed
in a long feather-adorned coat and accompanied by Riley and Veronica,
who removed her coat with a flourish, and then acted as her background
dancers. They skated a fun number to music from "Cabaret." Then, Ravie
Cunningham basically stole the spotlight with her sheer charisma and
performance ability. She flirted and toyed with Kurt, pulling his
scarf off and then basically whipping him tauntingly with it as she
spun in front of him, and not seeming even slightly phased at flirting
with a 4-time World Champion. She commanded the ice from the moment
she appeared. At the conclusion of "Fever," she beckoned Malcolm out
to join her on the ice, and the two launched into a spirited dance,
backed by an equally energetic ensemble.
CASABLANCA - Kurt Browning
Riley stayed out on the ice as the ensemble left, to act out a scene
from Casablanca with Kurt. She skated as his partner for the first
part before leaving him to do his evocative long spread eagle to the
swell of "Casablanca" music and then leave the ice. All in all, Kurt's
solo bit was only about 20 seconds long for this segment, but they
used enough of the music and set the scene well enough to remind people
of this pivotal program.
LES MISERABLES
Coming in a close second, if not equaling Mr. Bojangles as my favorite
section of the night, was this theatrical segment to music from "Les
Miserables." The skaters didn't just skate to music from Les Miz. They
took on characters and acted out whole scenes, which was very in
keeping with Kurt's voiceover talking about how getting to act on the
ice opened up a whole other world to him. Some of the mid-younger
children kicked things off by skating around very energetically and
rhythmically to "Do You Hear the People Sing," holding flags and
capturing the driving aggressive energy of the song. Then, the
performance by Ruby Blake as Cosette to "Castle on a Cloud" was
poignant and lovely, and she did a wonderful job playing that sweet
character. But then Allee Friend burst out onto the ice in full Madame
Thenardier mode to admonish Cosette and took things up several
notches. Allee made an amazing Madame Thernadier, perfectly acting out
the actions and words from the soundtrack and staying fully in
character through this and the "Master of the House" performance that
followed.
"Master of the House" was AMAZING. Leo Maekawa played things up
perfectly as the sly, egotistical, coarse Thenardier, and Allee Friend
matched him note for note as the hectoring frustrated Madame
Thenardier. The Thenardiers both can't stand each other and make the
perfect plotting pair, and the two of them captured both aspects
really well. All the while, they were supported by what looked like
the entire cast, playing the townspeople in the tavern, making the
whole scene incredibly entertaining and boisterous.
BRING HIM HOME - June Lim and Kurt Browning
The tone completely shifted after the ensemble left the ice, and the
opening notes of "Bring Him Home" soared through the arena. The young
June Lim (who had played many other roles so far in the show,
including one of the clowns that Kurt chases around as Raggy) captured
the hearts of the audience, playing the young boy that Kurt's Valjean
wants to protect. He started off solo, but was soon joined by Kurt in
his familiar grey Bring Him Home costume. What really struck me about
this program was Kurt's gorgeous deep sweeping edges, as well as his
heartfelt emotion having this young boy to play off of and use as the
focal point of the emotion of the song. The two clearly had bonded
while putting this number together, and it was lovely to see them work
together.
SINGING IN THE RAIN
SINGING IN THE RAIN MINIS
The Singing in the Rain-inspired section of the show was immensely
charming, and opened with extreme cuteness. The "Singing in the Rain
Minis" were a collection of adorable little girls in yellow raincoats
with little umbrellas and one boy in a grey suit like Kurt's (I heard
later that they were supposed to be the sunshine to his storm
cloud). They skated to an instrumental version of Singing in the Rain,
and the determination on their faces as they ran through their
choreography and made sure to stay in their neat formation was both
impressive and cute.
GOOD MORNING - Ravie Cunningham, Malcolm Rohon O'Halloran, Olivia
Williams, and Leo Maekawa
This number featuring two dance teams who were all very strong
individual skaters was incredibly charming and charismatic. There are
some extremely good performers in the Racquet Club of Victoria Skating
Club and these were probably among the ones who got the most in
character and projected the most, performance-wise. They captured the
spirit of "Good Morning" perfectly, and were a joy to watch for all
three performances.
ALL I DO IS DREAM OF YOU - Veronica Smith with Stacy Zhu, Ruby Blake,
Katie Belanger, Kaiulani Ross, Mana Kamada, Riley Willard
Continuing the music from Singing in the Rain, All I Do is Dream of
You featured a charming solo performance from Veronica Smith and fun
backup skating from the other young women. This led in nicely to
Kurt's "Singing in the Rain" as Veronica Smith played the role of the
young lady Kurt's character is in love with. The two acted out the
whole sequence from the movie that preceded "Singing in the Rain" and
then Veronica left the ice.
SINGING IN THE RAIN - Kurt Browning
There of course couldn't be a show based around Kurt's career without
including the iconic "Singing in the Rain." Kurt was in top form
performing this number all three nights. I feel like he includes the
bit with one of the women skaters escorting him onto the ice when he
can, not just to set the stage for the audience, but also to help
himself get fully in character as this man who is dancing happily
through the rain because he is so in love. Kurt seemed so joyful out
there performing in front of an audience, acting as this character,
it's hard to imagine him ever stopping.
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD
IMAGINE - Cast w/ Deena Woodley Beacom
The director of the Racquet Club of Victoria Skating Club, Kurt's old
training partner and friend, and the reason why this show existed in
the first place, Deena Beacom, skated a solo in this lovely preamble
to the finale, surrounded by her older skaters. As they formed a
circle, she skated in and out among them, giving each a special
gesture or look, showcasing their bond and her pride in each of
them.
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD - Kurt Browning
After the skaters left the ice, Kurt's voiceover came on one last time
telling us how the song "What a Wonderful World" meant a lot to his
family, and how, of all his programs, it was his dad's favorite. Kurt
then came on the ice to the opening notes of the music in a sparkling
red shirt and black pants, arms open to the audience. The choreography
wasn't exactly the same as his original program, though parts of it
definitely echoed it, but the spirit and flow was there. This was a
wonderful program for Kurt to basically express his thanks and
appreciation of the audience, with facial expressions and body
language that seemed to gather everyone in and hug them and include
them on the ice with him. About a minute into the program, the rest of
the cast quietly joined him on the ice, lining the boards and he
continued to skate (and clapping for him as he landed jumps). On the
last "yes...I think to myself", Deena Beacom joined Kurt on the ice
and they skated together holding hands. As the song closed, he drew
her in for a hug, and then they separated to skate towards the rest of
the cast, who joined hands and closed the circle around them.
The music then picked up, and all the skaters were called out by name
in groups of 2-4 to come and do a little spotlight move, which was
really cute, and nice for them all to have a moment of
recognition. When it was Kurt's turn, he did a 3-toe (I think) and
then, to my surprise on the first night, a backflip. Each show, that
backflip got stronger and more confident (and Kurt's celebration after
it got more exuberant and amusing). Then, he beckoned to the other
skaters to join him for a bow, with the line of skaters stretching
from one end of the ice to the other. What was really impressive was
that the skaters were dressed in different colors, forming a rainbow
as they lined up down the ice. I was told that each costume was
custom-made for each skater, and that the costumer had somehow done
all of this in a matter of weeks. Incredible. After their bows, the
skaters got to skate around the ice, waving and high-fiving the
audience and receiving their well-deserved applause, before finally
leaving the ice, and leaving the audience buzzing at what a good show
they had just seen.
I am so so happy that I decided to make the trip to Victoria to see
this show. The Racquet Club of Victoria Skating Club did an incredible
job putting this show on, and so much credit must be given to Deena
Beacom and everyone involved (costumes, sets, lighting, music, etc
etc) behind the scenes and on the ice. The flow, the direction, the
choreography, the music choices, the incredible preparedness of the
skaters...all so well done. As a Kurt photographer, it was awesome
being able to shoot so many iconic numbers in one night, some for the
first time, and all with a much better camera than the last time I was
able to shoot them. And as a Kurt fan? It was an amazing tribute to
his incredible career and an amazing opportunity to see Kurt do what
he does best.
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