|
|
|
Stars on Ice Review - Philadelphia, PA - Feb. 23, 2007
written by Tara
Instead of doing this program by program, I'm just going to give impressions on each individual skater.
Opening: The movie credits were pretty cool... a nice little touch. Love the
costumes for the opening.... the girls dresses are beautiful, and love the guys in short sleeve shirts!!! As an opening number, it was nice, but not as powerful of an opening as they've done in the past, but as I said... it was very nice. When they introduced the skaters, Todd definitely got one of the biggest ovations :)
Kurt: We were fortunate enough to have Kurt as our guest skater.... he was fabulous!!!!! I don't know what the music was for his first program, but he must've done at least 10 double axels throughout the entire program... he makes it look so easy!!! His second program was "If I Only Had a Brain" that he skated to at the Halloween show. He was fabulous... a real crowd favorite. How he doesn't fall flat on his face with some of the footwork he does, I don't know... amazing.. classic Kurt!!!!
Jennifer: Jennifer is a nice addition to the cast... she's a very pretty skater. Loved her "Show Off" program... gotta love the
chorus in the background. She really plays the "Lola" part very
well.
Steven: Boy does he know how to entertain a crowd. His first program
"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" was classic Steven playing into the
crowd... with his flirty moves, etc. His second program "Remember" was
very powerful... he does both types of programs very well and he
skated great tonight!!!
Angela: It's nice to see Angela back on the ice again... she's a very pretty
skater. It seemed like the audience wasn't very familiar with her.. she didn't get too much of a reaction when she was introduced, but she did get a nice ovation after her programs! She still has an awesome layback spin!! I enjoyed both of her programs!
Michael: Michael has really transitioned into a great pro skater. His
programs were really awesome. We had seen "I'm Already There" at Country on Ice, and I was looking forward to seeing it again. I can't remember the name of the music he used for his second program, but he skated that really well too. The audience really enjoyed his backflips and the moves he does on his heels. Michael's wife and kids were in the audience... sitting in our section, a few rows down from where we were. After his 1st program, his wife gave him a standing O, and he blew her a kiss... very cute!
Yuka & Jason: Yuka was her usual graceful, beautiful self. She is
just a joy to watch. The tango piece that she did with Jason was very
nice..... it's amazing to see how well she does the pairs moves
considering she hasn't been doing them for that long. She really is a
great asset to the cast.
Alexei: I enjoyed Alexei's programs more this year than I have in the
past. I still think he can do better, but this year's programs are
definitely an improvement. He skated well, but I noticed (and mom
actually mentioned this to me after the Tampa show) that he looks like
he lost a bit of weight... he looked pretty tiny out there... if I
didn't know better I would've thought he was Ilia Kulik (his hair is
short like Ilia's as well). He was very well received, as
usual.
Jamie & David: They are so much fun!!! Loved both of their programs
this year. They get pretty wild in their"Superfreak" program... not as crazy and Kyoko and John, but much more risky moves than usual. Loved that David came out wearing Fuschia animal print pants after Todd said that he had it put into his contract "no animal prints and no fuschia"... LOL!!!!
Kyoko & John: W.O.W. Their program to"Beautiful" is just that... beautiful. Very pretty. Had a little bit of trouble on what looked like it was going to be a split double (or triple... it's my first time seeing the program) twist... it didn't quite get set up right, and they abandonded it all together... hard to describe what happened.. you just knew that something went wrong. In "Piece of My Heart" Kyoko really gets tossed around like a doll.. the crowd was oohing and aahing the entire time. They have really become a crowd favorite. After "Piece of My Heart"... John pumped his fist... I turned to mom and said that he was probably saying "YES!! Kyoko survived another show".... I really give her a lot of credit for being thrown around like that... I could not do that.
Last, but certainly not least.... Todd!
What can I say... he was
his usual awesome self!!! He was really hamming it up in the group
numbers. When he was the butler in The Heist program, at one point he
smelled the"food" on his tray, and then turned to the audience and made a face like "yuck"... LOL.
During "Swing" when they ask the guys what they wanted to be when they grew up... Todd again swung the bat like a golf club, and you heard a sound like the ball hitting the water... and Todd said "I guess I should stick with skating if I keep hitting the ball into the porta potty". Skating wise, he looked great... his spins are still awesome...easily the best spinner on tour... and he still flies across the ice. The costume for "Broken" looks a little different in person then it does in the pictures, and it is quite odd... don't get me wrong, I've seen much worse, but it isn't one of my fave costumes.
Swing: Skaters in baseball unis... the best of both worlds. It was a
fun number...the guys really seemed to be enjoying themselves out
there. Who ever came up with the idea of a baseball group number is a
genius!!! Probably my favorite guys number since Studz (you really
can't top Studz).
Finale: Great song for the finale, but it seemed a little short. It
was a nice way to end the show though. Not the best finale they've
done, but it was nice. The skaters all looked phenomenal. Once
again, Jef Billings has done a beautiful job with the
costumes.
|
|
|
|
|
