Stars on Ice Review - Houston, TX - April 3, 2003

Houston is one of the last stops on the SOI tour, so because of that and the fact that I did not take very detailed notes, I won't detail every jump and spin, etc. The show was enjoyable overall, better than the one I went to a couple of years ago in Dallas. I had great seats for this show (7th row close to center ice). The skaters looked like they are ready for the US leg to be over-poor things looked pretty tired.

When I first was driving into the parking garage, I opened my window to make sure I was going to right parking lot (the sign said contract parking), the attendant, trying to be helpful, questions, "You here for the Ice Capades?" Ice Capades? Yeah, Alexei Yagudin is in this show dressed as a bear and will be doing tricks for us all. I just plainly corrected "Stars On Ice" even though it was all the same to him.

Ok, back to the show. The opening-Todd comes out first and skates around, gets great speed, and does a great, magnificent... waxel! Oops! In the opening, the two star pairs (S/P and B/S) got the biggest round of applause, which was great considering I don't consider Houston much of a skating town. Elena looked more blonde than usual to me, but it just might be what TV does to people or the lights in the arena.

First up was Yagudin with Born to be Wild. Yags seems pretty tired at this point (and that hip is probably not feeling great) but he did a pretty darn good job considering. He did a 3 Toe and hammed it up. The ladies in the audience ate it up.

Next up was Ina/Zimmerman (Bed of Roses) Kyoko really looked lovely tonight and they were solid tonight except John fell out of the SBS 2 Axels.

Sale/Pelletier were up next with Come Fly with Me. This is a cute number for them and I think both Jamie and David are excellent performers. I pay attention to both skaters in this team and not just Jamie. They landed a throw 3 Salchow and were technically good except David fell out of some steps.

Todd was up next with Channel One Suite. This is really a great number for Todd. He puts a lot of energy into this number and the audience could feel that. He nailed a 3 Axel (I figured he would especially since he missed it in the opening), two 3 Toes (I think they were both toes) and a 3 Salchow. The footwork and spins were on the mark, too. Todd gave a "whew" motion after the number was over (there's a lot in it!).

Hotter than Blue went over well with the audience. Katarina is still looking great and if you're a guy, who doesn't want to interact with Kat?

Yags was next with Overcome. I really like this number as it shows his intensity on the ice, even though it didn't look like he had his usual speed to me (I could be wrong). He did a 3 Flip, a nifty 3 Toe/3 Toe/2 Loop, and another 3 Toe later on (he seems to be doing mainly flips and toe loops in his numbers). He looked tired and looked relieved after the number was over.

Meno/Sand's number was one of the better received of the night. It's really cute and Todd has really blossomed into a nice performer. They kept the spirit of the number throughout, which was good since technically the number is fairly light (did only a throw 1 Axel).

Kurt was next and he was one of the best individual performances of the night. It is almost like he didn't do the rest of the long tour because he gave it all. He had a couple of technical baubles, but no one seemed to care. He does some sort of movement into every major element (no telegraphing for Kurt!). The man just keeps going.

Power Play closed the first act and both pairs were really good in this performance. Todd seems to be pretty comfortable talking into the live mike. I didn't write down any technical notes but no one had any mistakes that I can recall. The audience seemed to really like B/S and S/P. A note-I love the costumes for this number. I like the understated elegance of them.

Right before intermission, Kurt came out in an Astros shirt and talked to the audience about the fact that he threw the first pitch at the Astros game the night before. He thought doing that was really cool and he and Todd E re-created the moment. Todd was the catcher and Kurt threw a strike right into the glove. On a personal note-my hubby works for Fox Sports and was working the Astros game that night. Apparently he wasn't paying attention or not around for Kurt's moment-I wish he were!

The second act of course starts with everyone's fave - Studz. The guys looked pretty darn good if I say so myself! I didn't write any notes, I just took in the scenery :)

Katarina was next with The Rest of Your Life. She can still give a good program. She landed her 2 Axel and 2 Flip (even though the landing was a tiny bit rough).

Todd was up next with Miserere-classic Todd. This was probably the number that came the closest to getting a standing O (no number got a full one) . He did another 3 Axel, a 3 Loop, 3 Salchow, and doubled the Lutz. He looked into the performance as well. I think he might have done one more 3 Axel somewhere in the show, too but I can't recall where.

Then we have the insanity of Kurt in Slippery Side Up. I can't believe he can keep this up for so long! He's one amazing talent. After he sat on one audience member and gave his guards to them, some worker came to those people, took the blades, and gave them some piece of paper. I guess they got something for holding the guards for 30 seconds.

Something Stupid/Love on the Rocks was totally cute and I like the outfits. Kyoko in particular looked nice. Maybe she is growing her hair out of something.

I think there should be an Sikharulidze/Agosto Elvis contest soon. Anton may be Russian, but the man can do Elvis. They were solid in this performance and did a HUGE throw 3 Loop.

Almost done! Sale/Pelletier were next with the Journey number. I think they put more intensity into this number than they did their first. Technically it was solid with a triple twist and a throw 3 Salchow. They seem to enjoy doing this number.

Yagudin did his final number, Racing. I love this music and Yags probably put the most intensity into this one. He did a 3 Flip, and a couple of 3 Toes. I hope he is able to compete next year as I suspect we'll see this program more fully then.