Holiday Festival on Ice 2000 Review

The cast included :
Kurt
Brian Orser
Josee
Alexei Yagudin
Shae-Lynn and Victor
Steven Cousins
Todd Eldredge
Lu Chen
Angela Nikidinov
Caryn Kadavy

I won't take time to highlight individual performances at this time. But I think Kurt's numbers are the important ones.

There was a brief opening number introducing the cast. The first performance was to 'Little Drummer Boy' sung by Bing and David Bowie. Kurt, Brian, and Steven did a trio. It was a basic number with several triple toes and double axels.

Kurt performed 'Don't Fence Me In'. It's the same number he performed at Canadian Pro-Am. He appeared less tentative last night. He tried only a double axel and had a shaky landing on one of the jumps. Justification for retakes.

The last number of the opening act was Kurt. He walked out in a parka and holding large shopping bags with gifts and wrapping paper. The song was something like 'getting ready for Christmas'. I think I saw this last year on a Christmas show. The highlights included two giant candy cane props. One time he put one around his neck to indicate frustration. A second time he used it as a walking cane. A stage hand threw out a giant teddy bear on to the ice which was at least four feet tall. Kurt incorporated it into the number and ended it by pulling it off the stage with one of the candy canes.

Kurt's number in the second act was Bring Him Home. It was breath taking. The usual great spins, footwork, jumps, etc. Kurt had to retake a few of the double axels. I didn't mind that.

The cast did a small closing number. Then it was time for retakes. Kurt took the microphone and mentioned what they were doing. He joked and said Dewey was in the audience.

He said he loved Sarnia and made comments about loving golf. Mike Weir, a famous golfer, is from the area and his parents were at the show.

Kurt's first retake was Bring Him Home. He repeated his jumps flawlessly. He later came out for retakes on the 'Don't Fence Me In' number. He successfully did a triple axel and repeated the four double axels at the end of the program.

Kurt was in a joking mood and a heckler in the audience requested the quad. Kurt remarked that it was now Alexei's job.