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Stars on Ice Review - Detroit, MI - Feb. 9, 2007
written by Judy
I was lucky enough to be at the Detroit show on Friday
night. Kurt was the guest star and did two numbers,
'Easy' and 'If I Only Had a Brain'.
'Easy' was the first number in the first half, just
after the opening Cast number. The program listed
'Expecation and the Blues' by the Corb Lund Band, but
I was glad to see the BNL number he did for Gotta
Skate.
Kurt's 'Easy' number makes skating look so easy. I
lost count of all the double axels. It just looks so
natural for him. He had good speed and really looked
like he was having a great time. He did have a fall
on a triple toe towards the end, but he recovered
quite nicely. Pretty good audience response.
In the second half he did 'If I Only Had a Brain' from
the Wizard of Oz. He wore a scarecrow costume and
skated it quite well. I personally thought it was too
much of a show number geared towards the kids in the
audience, but it was quite entertaining and definitely
showed a different side to his skating.
Kurt was not in any of the group numbers, but he did
come out for the finale.
Overall, the show was pretty good. The arena was just
over half full and it was a quieter audience than
year's past. The show has always been on a Saturday
night, and this is the first time it's been on a
Friday 'after a long week of work'.
I did see Dewey in the audience and he is looking very
well, and very tanned. He now has a winter home in
Florida and flew up to see Kurt's shows in the States.
It was funny not to see him in a cowboy hat, but he
did have his cowboy boots. He said that Kurt, Sonia,
and Gabe had recently spent a week down in Florida at
his place and that everyone had a great time.
Dewey commented about the Cincinnati show earlier in
the week. Because of the blizzard conditions only
about 150 or 180 people showed up. Kurt and other
skaters were in the audience and still had a lot of
fun. I'm sure everyone was glad to see a bigger draw
on Friday night.
Other highlights of the show:
Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman skated to James Blunt's
'You're Beautiful'. That song is a natural for pairs
skaters. It's nice to see them do a slow, romantic
number, but I still prefer their faster paced numbers.
Angela Nikodinov skated to Faith Hill's 'There You'll
Be'. A beautiful ladies ballad. She has adjusted
well to show skating and has brought her classic and
graceful style to the show.
Jennifer Robinson skated to Joni Mitchell's 'At Last'.
She has blossomed as a show skater and has become a
strong leader on the ice. She skates with power and
is having a great time out there. I would describe
her as the 'friendly diva on the ice'. Quite
entertaining.
Michael Weiss skated to Lonestar's "I'm Already
There". The number surprised me because it fit him so
well. I had to ask myself which came first, the music
or the choreography? It was skated so well to the
music and fit Michael's style so well. The best the
number I've ever seen for Michael.
The closing number in the first act was a compilaton
of 60's music. Simple choreography, but still a lot
of action. Typical 60's wardrobe. (Did anyone
actually dress that bad in that decade?)
The opening number in the second act was to the
sountrack of 'The Heist' and it was a cute number.
Steven Cousins skated to Josh Groban's 'Remember'. I
really liked it and it was great to see him do a slow
number.
Kyoko and John had a rock number to Melissa
Etheridge's 'Piece of My Heart' and it was their
classic hard rock skating; a real fun time on the ice.
Jennifer Robinson had another 'diva' number to "Show
Off" from a broadway play. Very entertaining number
and showed her strengths on the ice.
Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen skated to a tango number
and I was pretty amazed that they have become such
strong and entertaining pairs skaters. A pleasant
surprise and I look forward to seeing more of their
pairs skating.
Alexei and Todd skated to 'typical' numbers that
didn't really grab my attention.
Jamie and David skated to "Super Freak" / Disco. A fun number for
them and the pull it off well. Very entertaining and well
executed.
The second act concluded with 'I Believe I Can Fly'
with the cast. A good closing number, but a little slow. The best
part of it was that Kurt came out for the final line up of the skaters
and closed the show with all the cast.
The highlight of the show: Kurt, of course.
The low of the show: not enough Kurt.
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