Celebration on Ice

Unfortunately, I can't write a chronological review of the show since there were sooo many new numbers I'd never seen before and the program didn't include music information *or* order of skate. Neither does the official Celebration on Ice site *or* any of the other reviews I've seen online. :-( But I'll do my best to remember most of the *important* (ie. Kurt-related) stuff!

The show wasn't *completely* sold out--I'd guess about 80% of the seats were filled--but I attribute that mainly to yesterday's less-than-stellar weather conditions. The morning began with freezing rain and I worried until almost literally the last minute that I wouldn't get to go, but fortunately it changed to rain by the afternoon, and well, a little bit of rain is nothing when it comes to seeing Kurt!

Okay, enough weather talk. Now on to the part of the review I know most of you *really* want to read! First of all, if Kurt can skate the way he did last night while recovering from a cold and a groin injury, I'd *love* to see him perform when he's 100% healthy!

Second of all, I'm happy to report there were *no* falls from Kurt or anybody else during last night's show! There were a few touchdowns and a few stepped-out landings (at least some of which can be due to the fact our Civic Center is probably smaller than many of the other rinks these skaters are used to performing in) but no out-and-out splats. Even most of the little CanSkate kids (there was one little guy in an oversized Toronto Maple Leafs jersey who couldn't *quite* keep up with the others who I thought was especially adorable!), the local syncronized skating team *and* both of our local soloists managed to stay on their feet. I was especially impressed with the local girl who had to skate after Kurt, Elvis, Brian and Shawn's number--now *that* was a tough act to follow! :-)

Actually, I stand corrected. Kurt *did* splat once during his Q&A segment with Elvis and Brian. A little girl asked Kurt if he'd ever fallen on the ice and Kurt replied, "No, never!"...and immediately fell flat on his back with his microphone (and possibly a box of Kleenex) in his hand. ;-)

The next question was "What was your most embarrassing moment?" to which Kurt responded, "That's a very good question...and I'm glad I don't have to answer it! Brian?" Brian said his most embarrasing moment was having to skate in a show wearing a one-piece jumpsuit which, ahem, didn't cover as much as he wanted. :p

The third and final question, for Elvis, was "How long have you been skating?" Elvis said he'd been skating for 27 years and Kurt replied, "What? You've been skating longer than I have!" Kurt said he'd only been skating 25 years--at least when it came to wearing skates with pointy things--and Elvis responded, "Hey, I'm only 25!" That last sentence sounds like sort of a private joke between Kurt and Elvis--Elvis said the same thing during the radio interview he and Kurt gave us this morning.

I can't think of much to add about the awesomeness of Kurt's solos which others haven't already described--and I assume most of you have already seen both these programs in one form or another anyway. Most of my thoughts during Passion were along the lines of "Ouch!" (I couldn't help thinking about Kurt's groin injury whenever he did one of those awesome spirals or Middle Eastern-type moves), "OMG, that jump/footwork was sooo awesome!" and "OMG, I can't believe I'm seeing this awesome program in person." This program *definitely* deserves to be skated at Canadian SOI; it really is even *more* effective under full spotlights. The only disappointing thing about Kurt's Passion program was he *didn't* receive a standing ovation. I *definitely* thought he deserved one, but I didn't want to look like a dork standing up all by myself. :-(

Don't worry; I (and everyone else in the audience) made up for it when Kurt received a standing ovation for "Time In A Bottle." :D

The three things that stood out for me during last night's program were (a) the 2-axel which almost flew over the heads of the on-ice seats, (b) Kurt fell flat on his back and pretended (maybe??) to pant from exhaustion after the final, solemn bended-on-one-knee pose (which I thought was a *great* way to lighten the mood up after such a slow, serious final solo number) and (c) Kurt blew me a kiss while taking his final bows. Well, okay, I had to share the kiss with the other 200 or so fans sitting in my section, but since that's the closest thing I have to an up-close-and-personal Kurt encounter, that was fine with me! :D

I really, *really* hope the "cane" number with the four guys will be skated in Canadian SOI (surely *someone* can fill in for Elvis and Shawn?), not only so more of you can see it, but also because I really, *really* want to get it on tape somewhere. I'm sorry I don't remember much about this number except:

(a) I *loved* the costumes
(b) At one point in the number, the four guys stood their canes until they pointed up to the ceiling, but Shawn's wouldn't stand up for some reason. I don't know whether that was a glitch or just part of the act, but either way, I thought it was "covered" very well!
(c) I thought Kurt did an awesome job with the choreography and I only wish I could remember most of it. :(

Actually, Shawn was the skater who impressed me most during this number, not only because he did such a great job keeping up with such illustrious company, but I'm not sure how easy it must be for a reverse jumper/spinner like Shawn (or Todd Eldredge) to move naturally in the same direction as the other three guys.

Shawn's solo numbers weren't bad, either. :p His first number was basically his competitive SP with a backflip thrown in. I'd like to say his second number was the same exhibition he performed at Holiday Festival on Ice and 2005 Canadians gala, but I'm not 100% positive. I *do* know Shawn landed a couple of nice triple-triple combinations (the most difficult jumps landed by *anyone* that night!) and another backflip thrown in for good measure, though! :D

Lefevbre and Markov's first number was their "Music" exhibition (I think they also performed this at the 2005 Canadians gala) and their second number was their competitive OD.

I don't know the music of Jennifer Robinson's first number, but I think it was a brand-new program. Her second number was "Murder She Said." She almost fell into the people sitting on the corner on-ice seats during both her lutz attempts (both were singled), but nailed all her other jumps. One thing I noticed about Jennifer is she looks much faster in person than on TV. :D

Brian's first number was to a slow Josh Groban song (sorry, I can't remember the title, but it's not one of Josh's English songs) and his second was to the Counting Crows' "Accidentally In Love." I'd already seen Brian in person at the last skating show I attended waayy back in 1996, but I certainly didn't mind seeing him again! The first number was "classic graceful slow Brian" while the second was "classic upbeat happy Brian doing lots of great footwork and a backflip right at my section of the rink." :D Both were, as always, wonderful to watch.

Elvis' first number was, well, a classic Elvis exhibition--in other words, lots of jumping, hip shaking, gliding across the ice and pointing at the audience. There were also a couple of spins thrown in, IIRC.

The only differences I noticed between this number and Elvis' "In The Middle" program from Gotta Skate was this number was performed to different music (fast techno I couldn't identify) and Elvis threw in three Arabians in a row towards the end. But since this was the first time I've seen Elvis in person and he was sooo "on," I'll forgive him for not coming up with a more innovative exhibition program. At least this time. ;-)

Elvis' second number was another brand-new program to a hard rock male ballad I couldn't identify. It sounded kind of like a Van Halen song, but please don't take my word on that. I admit this program wasn't much of a choreographic stretch for Elvis, either, but at least it *was* different from his first number (at least compared to Elvis' two Gotta Skate solos) and again, he was really "on." Lots of awesome jumps and an even more awesome scratch spin at the end of the program.

Elvis' second number and Kurt's "Time In A Bottle" were the only two programs to receive full standing ovations last night. :-( The Russian acrobats received a partial standing O for their second program, but I preferred "the hockey player and the '80s spandex aerobics guy" number they skated in the first half.

Shae-Lynn's second solo ("All That Jazz" was her first) was probably my favourite non-Kurt performance of the night. She skated to "La Cumparsita" and used a chair as a prop. Imagine what the 2001/02 SOI Vanity Tango would look like as a solo and you've got a good mental picture of this program. Shae and the chair lost control at one point and slipped off the ice towards the guy on the receiving end of her water pistol during "All That Jazz," but I'm not sure whether or not it was an accident. ;-) It was wonderful to see Shae skate with a partner again, even if it is an inanimate object, and I hope she'll also perform it on Canadian SOI this year. This is another program I'd really like to get on tape someday.

My first thought during most of the group numbers was, "Gee, all those old SOI costumes look sooo much shinier in person." ;-) My second thought was I can no longer hate "Let's Get It Started" by Black-Eyed Peas since it's technically the first song I've ever seen Kurt skate to in person. :-) A couple of other songs were played during the opening number, but I can't remember what they were.

The closing number was a George Michael medley: "One More Try" featuring the pairs, ice dancers and ladies, "Killer" featuring the guys and "Faith" with the entire cast. I remember Kurt, Brian and Elvis did side-by-side-by-side 2-axels, Brian and Shawn did SBS backflips and a *lot* of choreography from Kurt, Brian and Elvis' segment was borrowed from the number they did together at Gotta Skate last fall.

So yeah, I managed to enjoy myself quite a bit last night. :D A poster on another board identified the Kurt, Shawn, Brian and Elvis "cane" number as K-OS, Crabbuckit, so hopefully that's a bit of a start.

I also kind of wish Kurt had reversed the order in which he skated his programs--the audience grew louder as the show went on, so I'm *sure* he would have gotten a standing O for Passion if that had been the closing number.