|
|
|
Brian Boitano Skating Spectacular - San Francisco, CA - Dec. 5, 2007
written by Tina
The rain gods smiled down on Brian Boitano and his show this year. In
fact, the weather in general seemed to be conspiring to help
him. Despite rain showers Tuesday morning, the rain dried up in time
for dress rehearsal Tuesday night, the weather stayed clear and
relatively balmy all through Wednesday for the show, and the rain
didn't come back until early Thursday morning, after the show and
retakes had completed.
This was good, because Brian Boitano decided to do something a little
different this year with his annual show. Rather than putting it on in
a typical indoor arena or amphitheatre, he decided to put it
outdoors. In a baseball park. In downtown San Francisco. In the
beginning of December.
No one ever accused Brian Boitano of a lack of ambition.
The baseball park setup made things a little odd for the live
spectator. A postage-sized rink (well, large postage - 60'x120') was
set up midfield with one end around home plate, and the other, with a
stage set up for Barry Manilow, probably around 2nd base. The bulk of
the seating was up in the stands, at a bit of a remove from the ice
surface. The lighting was relatively low, coming from temporary rigs
rather than using stadium lighting, and there was a boom camera smack
in the center of the ice facing the stands. In general, the show setup
seemed to favor the TV viewer and those who shelled out $150 for
general admission seating along the sides of the rink.
The subpar viewing conditions did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of
the crowd, however, who seemed largely there due to the musical guest,
Barry Manilow. Cries of "Barry! Barry!" and "We love you Barry!"
frequently punctuated the air. In fact, the atmosphere seemed to be
influenced by the ballpark setting, with the crowd acting more like
rowdy fans at a baseball game than a figure skating show with their
frequent shouts and gusty singing along to "Take Me Out to the
Ballgame." This did not mean that they did not appreciate the skating,
though. Olympic Gold Medalists Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill, and
Viktor Petrenko in particular got appreciative shouts and cheers, and
the gasps from the crowd were clearly audible when the acrobatic team
of Besedin & Polishuk were out on the ice. The applause was
well-deserved, since Boitano and choreographer Renee Roca put on a
great show.
The show opened with a 70's medley featuring the entire cast. This was
a fun group number which really brought home how male-dominated the
cast was. It opened with the four male singles skaters - Brian
Boitano, Viktor Petrenko, Steven Cousins, and David Pelletier (not a
singles skater but pretending to be one for the show) coming out and
skating together, doing Russian splits and double axels in turn down
the ice. They were followed by the three pairs - Yuka Sato (doing
double duty as a singles skater as well) & Jason Dungjen, Elena
Leonova & Andrei Khvalko, and the all-male pair of Vladimir Besedin &
Oleksiy Polishchuk. Besedin & Polishchuk did some breakdancing and
backflips at center ice while the other two pairs did lifts around the
outside of the rink. Finally, after some dancing by the cast, Dorothy
Hamill, the sole female singles skater (who wasn't also skating pairs)
came out for a solo spot before being lifted by the four singles
men. The program closed with a nice full-cast pose that seemed to tell
the crowd "stay tuned, there's more where that came from."
The Barry-hungry crowd were thrilled to see Barry Manilow come out on
stage for his first number, "The Way We Were." This was a special
treat to skating fans, since it featured skating legends Brian Boitano
and Dorothy Hamill skating together. The two stood together at the end
of the ice while the rest of the group gradually peeled away, leaving
the two alone to skate to the very suitable song. Dorothy Hamill's
grace and gorgeous edges perfectly complemented Brian Boitano's
strength and deep edges as the two stroked down the ice in
counterpoint with each other, curving in and out as they moved down
the ice. They clearly had a wonderful time skating together,
constantly smiling at each other between doing beautiful moves like
simultaneous Ina Bauers, spread eagles, and spirals. At one point,
Dorothy showed off her still-lovely layback as Brian demonstrated his
signature spread eagle around her.
Barry fans were undoubtedly happy to see Barry Manilow stay out for
the next number - the rather ironically titled "It Never Rains in
Southern California," given that it had just been raining quite a bit
in Northern California, where the show was. The featured skater for
this program was Steven Cousins, whose red shirt perfectly
complemented Barry Manilow's red scarf. Steven skated this number with
verve and his trademark big smile, having fun interacting with Barry
and drawing the crowd into the number as he interpreted the
music.
After Steven cleared the ice, a "mystery" figure clothed in a grey ski
cap, what looked like a big white puffy parka covered with silver $20,
$50, and $100 bill imprints and grey camouflage pants danced out onto
the ice with a great deal of attitude and some hip-hopish dance
moves. This included getting down on the ice and doing the kind of
worm move skating fans might recognize from Sale & Pelletier's "Super
Freak" program from last year. That would be because this mystery
figure was none other than David Pelletier, skating alone and
providing the transitions between several of the programs in the
show. After revealing himself with a grin, David took his bows and
cleared the ice for the next act.
The next act needed all the room they could get for their amazing
acrobatics and feats of strength and balance. While their second
number had more of the truly jaw-dropping maneuvers, this
Mozart-inspired first number provided a more than adequate warm-up for
the audience for Vladimir Besedin & Oleksiy Polishchuk's deadpan
humorous style and acrobatic moves. Opening the number in white wigs,
gold-trimmed green velvet coats, and lacey white shirts in the style
of 18th century aristocrats, Vladimir mimed playing the cello with his
upside down counterpart acting as the cello. After garnering laughs
from the audience, Oleksiy quickly flipped himself upright, and the
two played the part of gracious, dignified musicians who periodically
threw each other into flips or pushed up into overhead handstands, all
to the music of Mozart. As the music switched to "Rock Me Amadeus,"
Besedin & Polishchuk's moves got faster and more impressive, and they
stripped down to fake muscle tees. What is really impressive about
Besedin & Polishchuk is not just the danger factor (Oleksiy doing a
one-handed handstand off of an upright Vladimir's head?) but the
transitions, how one move leads to the next to the next, with both
skaters changing position and orientation and turning while
maintaining their grasps on each other, constantly shifting the nature
of the lift with great precision and no break in between. Their
programs are also enjoyable because they play to the audience with
humor, and simple, but amusing character, winning them laughs and
gasps in turn from the audience.
It would be difficult to follow up Besedin & Polishchuk with a
standard skating program so instead, they wisely followed them up with
a beautiful program by Brian Boitano. Before he came out for his
program, though, Kristi Yamaguchi, looking beautiful and warm in her
coat, came out on the ice to introduce him. Brian's "Imagine" program
was a lovely one for him. Introspective and emotional, he interpreted
the music wonderfully with a program that seemed almost too big for
the ice. Brian seems to have taken a page out of the eligibles' book,
adding new spin positions and variations, 3-jump combos, more turns
and changes of direction in his skating, and tricky moves. While Brian
has tried a variety of styles over the years, his signature style is
probably the big sweeping dramatic style with long held deep edges and
spread eagles, rather than quick turns or footwork. This program was a
bit of a different look for him, and it was nice to see.
Mixing things up again, Elena Leonova & Andrei Khvalko provided a
humorous change of mood as a pair of thieves, fresh off a heist,
celebrating their big take (in two cloth sacks, each marked with big $
signs). The music was "Hafanana," an interesting-sounding song of
apparent nonsense sounds by Mozambique musician Afric Simone, and a
song with a cheerful rhythm that lent itself to the rather
over-exaggerated facial expressions and physical exuberance of Leonova
& Khvalko's interpretation. It also lent itself to a number of
impressive big tricks and lifts, including Andrei holding Elena in an
upside down split position, one handed over his head while he spun,
and a big throw jump. At one point in the proceedings, the music
suddenly went into super slo-mo, and the skaters went slo-mo with
it. This was also the point where the robbers apparently started
having a breakdown between the two of them, squabbling over the money,
each scrambling to grab the sacks and keep the other one away. The
number ended with the two thumping each other over the head with the
money sacks, and ending up flat on their backs on the ice.
Given the prevalence of bank robbers in the Old West, it wasn't that
far of a stretch to the transition to the next program, a
cowboy-themed program by Viktor Petrenko. Before Viktor could take the
ice, though, a white-clad David Pelletier in a silver cowboy hat first
took his turn around the ice, with the cowboy swagger and cool
attitude. He and cowboy Viktor ran into each other with a start, and
then circled each other warily, quick-drawing their finger guns, and
eyeing each other. David finally turned away dismissively, only to get
shot in the butt on his way off the ice.
Left alone on the ice, Viktor Petrenko cut a fine figure as a
swaggering tough cowboy skating to "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done,"
all attitude and saddle-weariness as he climbed onto his imaginary
horse and took off at a slow amble. Ever the showman, Viktor engaged
the audience on all sides, whether pointing a quick draw, dancing a
quickstep, or doing a footwork sequence that went all the way around
the end of the ice facing the stands. He also drew the audience in
with a number of jumps, despite the small ice surface.
Barry-time again, as Barry Manilow returned to the stage to sing "My
Eyes Adored You" as Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen performed on the
ice. This is the type of soft, romantic program that it's sweet to see
a married couple perform, since they can just sort of let the
romanticism and love shine on the ice. Yuka and Jason just beamed at
each other, seeming to genuinely find joy skating together. The
program featured a lot of dips in the choreography - Jason dipping
Yuka while gazing into her eyes, as well as some beautiful lifts, and
just plain dancing together. It was a lovely performance all
around.
To close out the first act, Kristi Yamaguchi and Brian Boitano took to
the stage with Barry Manilow to introduce the last program before
intermission. They bantered a bit about how nice it was for Barry to
come out and perform for them and how Barry was honored to be
asked. Brian teased Barry that next time, he should come out and
skate, and Barry cracked a joke about doing his herniated double back
flip axel, or words to that effect. Kristi finally took the mike to
introduce Dorothy Hamill, one of her heroes and favorite skaters,
skating to one of *her* favorite songs by one of her favorite artists,
"Weekend in New England."
The immediate impression while watching Dorothy Hamill skate is one of
quality and precision. Quality of edges, which were deep and virtually
soundless, and quality of position. Even moving from one position to
the next, Dorothy always presents a beautiful figure with back
position, arm position, leg position. Her free leg toe is always
pointed, her arms fully stretched, and her head up. She may not have
the big tricks, though she still does a single axel and a beautiful
traditional layback spin, but her skating, her actual movement across
ice, just possesses a lovely quality. Her music interpretation is also
good - she clearly liked the song and connected to it, and brought the
connection to the audience. Lovely to see, and a lovely way to end the
first act.
Over intermission, the mini-zamboni they had on hand to smooth the ice
apparently broke down, and the audience was treated to the sight of
men with hoses spraying the ice down, while others went out with
brooms and squeegees to fill in the holes and make sure it all froze
the way it should.
The second act opened with Kristi Yamaguchi introducing a group number
that was inevitable, given the setting - Brian Boitano, Steven
Cousins, Jason Dungjen, and David Pelletier skating to a
baseball-themed number in full baseball uniforms and baseball bats. At
least the music - "I Want You to Want Me" - was not baseball
themed. The four of them had killer SF Giants uniforms, each with
their name emblazoned boldly across the back, and with their number
correlating to their respective big competitions - Boitano 88, Cousins
98, Dungjen 97, and Pelletier 02. This was a fun number, with the four
basically goofing around with their baseball bats, pretending to play
ball, but the hilarity level went up when Vladimir Besedin came out as
a cross-dressing groundskeeper, chasing around the horrified guys. The
skaters were having a great time out there, and their laughter at the
end of the program was clearly audible to those sitting
rinkside.
After that many men on the ice, it only made sense to turn things
around with Yuka Sato skating her solo program to "Turn the Beat
Around." Dressed in the costume she'd previously work in Stars on Ice
for "Naughty Girl," Yuka showed off her dancing skills, as well as her
sassy side, as she moved confidently to the beat. Yuka is known for
her elegance and "skater's skater" skills, but she's quite a good show
skater as well, engaging the audience with her great musicality and
personality. Her neat, precise footwork doesn't hurt things
either. This sassy dance program provided a nice counterpoint to
Dorothy's more sedate, elegant programs.
While Yuka and Jason provided the romance in the first act, and Elena
and Andrei provided the more upbeat comedy number, in the second act,
it was Leonova & Khvalko who brought the romance while Yuka brought
the funk. Skating to "Even Now," while Barry Manilow performed,
Leonova & Khvalko showed off their softer side, with romantic, soaring
choreography, beautiful lifts, and Elena's elegant lines. This number
was not without its daring moves, with a headbanger right in front of
Barry Manilow, but overall, it was a lovely romantic program.
Continuing in the romantic vein, Viktor Petrenko came out for a
quieter, more introspective skate to Barry Manilow singing "How Can
You Mend a Broken Heart." Although he had some problems with the jumps
that had to be fixed in retakes, Viktor and Barry together set a
wistful mood that wasn't marred by any technical mistakes that may
have occurred. Viktor gave off the aura of a man thinking over his
broken relationship, wishing things could be otherwise, and ruefully
reaching out for lost opportunities. It was just a lovely program all
around.
Of course, lest the mood get a bit too introspective, it was time to
break things up a bit with a little humor and energy. David Pelletier
utilized some of the push broom skills he learned from the "Work 'n
Time" Stars on Ice group number a few years back to come out and sweep
the sentimentality of the last few programs away and clean the ice for
the next act. His janitor character was disconcerted to find two men
dressed up in froofy white ballet outfits on the ice, all ready to
skate their own rendition of "Swan Lake." After dusting them off, he
quickly cleared the ice.
While "Rock Me Amadeus" gave a pretty good preview of Vladimir Besedin
& Oleksiy Polishchuk's amazing acrobatics and sense of humor, "Swan
Lake" really earned the gasps and rapt attention of the
crowd. Admittedly by virtue of doing less actual skating and movement
around the ice (which Besedin and Polishchuk are very capable of), the
extended strength/balance sequences were really quite astonishing and
impressive. They also reaped a lot of humor out of the solid, deadpan
dignity of Vladimir Besedin, slowly and deliberately flapping his arms
like a swan, as well as the pinched up, slightly constipated look of
pain Oleksiy Polischuk kept on his face as he performed as a seemingly
fearful and cowering ballerina. They seem to like to play with the
apparent danger factor of what they do. Oleksiy's dismounts from
various handstand moves are often veritable free falls, with Vladimir
catching him at the last moment, or even allowing him to plunk to the
ice, only slowing him down on his way down. It was rather
nerve-wracking to watch Oleksiy go completely limp to the point of
letting his head drop loosely towards the ice as he fell from an
overhead lift, just to be caught by a knee and a wrist only a few
inches shy of the ice. It was also rather cringe-inducing to watch
Oleksiy climb up and over Vladimir with his sharp blades, step all
over his prone body, and then end up supported by sitting on
Vladimir's blades (they must have been well-padded). Ultimately,
though, it was most impressive watching extended sequences such as
Vladimir keeping Oleksiy standing over his head by holding his boots,
even as he rolled over or rotated on the ice under him. The
coordination, balance, and precision was amazing. Or watching Oleksiy
basically step his way up Vladimir's back as the latter went from a
crawling position to standing fully upright, and then pushing himself
up into a one-handed pushup on Vladimir's head. The two even managed
to transition from comedy smoothly into a strength move when an
extended odd sequence of squirming and turning with their hands linked
between Oleksiy's legs magically resolved itself into an overhead
handstand move, without them ever separating their hands.
Both Besedin & Polishchuk and Steven Cousins decided to reach back
into 2002, for some reason, with the choice of their second
program. B&P performed "Swan Lake" on the 2002 Champions on Ice tour,
while Steven Cousins performed his Tom Jones medley on the 2002 Stars
on Ice tour. The years didn't take the fun off either program though,
with Steven hamming it up to his fullest, pretending to be James Bond
and exaggeratedly emoting to the more exaggerated parts of the
song. The Tom Jones medley really allows Steven to utilize his
audience-charming skills, flirting, winking, and playing to the
audience while looking to be having a ball the whole time.
Dorothy Hamill's second program, "Time in a Bottle," really allowed
her to demonstrate her gorgeous flowing edges. The song is wistful, a
bit melancholic, and flowing, and Dorothy's interpretation really
brought out the flowing, looping aspect of the music. Her choreography
largely consisted of flowing edges, loops, and leans, which again
highlighted her beautiful positions and skating. It was just a lovely
program that made it seem like Dorothy had really captured time in a
bottle, still preserving the basic skating skills that helped her win
her Olympics thirty years earlier.
It's been almost twenty years since the last skater of the evening won
his Olympic Games in 1988, but Brian Boitano is another skater who
refuses to allow age to slow him down. His final solo of the evening,
to Barry Manilow's "I Write the Songs," was a particularly special
program for him. In a taped introduction to the program that was
played over the jumbotron in the park, Brian explained that in all his
years as a skater, his father had only ever suggested one song for him
to skate to, and that was "I Write the Songs." This program, then, was
dedicated to his father, which clearly meant a lot to him - people
sitting near where he stood for his opening position saw tears in his
eyes and watched him pull himself together to start the program. At
one point in the program, Brian stopped to stand facing the stage and
jumbotron as images of himself and his father flashed across the
screen. The program itself was a beautiful one - a program very much
in Brian's dramatic sweeping style with his long held edges, gorgeous
spread eagle that just went on and on, and his gigantic death
drop. Pure, classic Brian Boitano, and a wonderful solo with which to
close out the show.
Of course, the show wasn't exactly over yet, since the finale, to
Barry performing "Could It Be Magic," was still to come. It was in the
finale where David Pelletier really got to demonstrate that he could
more than hold his own as a singles skater, with an extended solo spot
to lead off the ensemble. David has a deep-edged spread eagle - both
back and front - to rival the best singles skaters, a nice death drop
of his own, and a commanding presence on the ice. He could easily have
done a solo program on his own, and it's a shame he didn't, but his
portion of the finale did showcase him quite nicely. Eventually, of
course, he was joined by the rest of the skaters - first just Viktor
and Steven so they could weave around each other and trade off jumps
and leaps, and then the pairs, each demonstrating a lift and spin. The
cast then joined together to dance around to the music, and eventually
were joined by Dorothy and Brian, skating out together and creating
nice patterns together on the ice. The show finally closed with the
entire cast taking a bow and applauding Barry, before waving and
skating off the ice.
For those in the live audience, things still weren't quite over, since
it was retake time. David Pelletier was given the mike, and quickly
proved himself to be a funny and self-deprecating, if somewhat
insecure, retake host. He pulled Steven Cousins out on the ice with
him to "be Jamie" since he claimed to find it too scary as a pairs
skater to go out on the ice himself. Steven, however, failed his
audition as a pairs skater due to not having shaved (David: "Oh I
don't skate pairs with people who haven't shaved!") and due to his
refusal to take the mike and bail David out when David ran out of
things to talk about. David did a pretty darn good job for a while
though, thanking Barry Manilow, talking about his baby boy Jesse
standing in the locker room in the same spot where Barry Bonds used to
sit, trying to get surprised audience members to ask Steven a
question, and making fun of his own English. He was very relieved when
Yuka finally emerged, ready for her retake.
The skaters ran through their retakes quickly, almost no one having
any problems hitting the moves that had given them problems
earlier. Brian Boitano insisted on coming out to do a 3-2-2 combo,
even though the 3-2 combo he had done during the show was solid (he
just ran out of space to do the third jump), and then insisted on
retaking a 2-axel that had only minor problems. Viktor Petrenko
reskated almost his entire "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" program,
with Barry Manilow coming out to lipsync in the background, and hit
every single jump solidly and with confidence. He also redid a fair
portion of the cowboy program and played up the character even more
the second time around. After Brian did his retakes for his "I Write
the Songs" program, he took the mike to thank the crowd and Barry
Manilow for everything, and to declare his love for San
Francisco.
Especially given the solid work done in retakes, Brian's show should
look great for TV. He brought together a great blend of humor,
nostalgia, quirkiness, and beautiful skating for a fun night of
skating and music. While the outdoor show in a baseball park concept
may need a little tweaking to make it better for the live audience,
overall it was a great night of skating, and that's all that
ultimately matters.
Brian Boitano's Skating Spectacular airs Dec. 22, 2007 on NBC from
4-6PM EST. It reairs on the Style Network on Dec. 23, 2007 from 10AM
to noon, and again on Dec. 28, 2007 from 5-7PM. Check your local
listings.
|
|
|
|
|
