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20 Years of Stars on Ice: 2002



For the 1998 Olympics, Stars on Ice created a fun parody of the Olympic games in their show. For the 2002 Olympics, Stars on Ice chose to focus on the wealth of Olympic gold medalists in its cast, even going so far as to make GOLD the theme of the show. The 2001-02 tour featured Olympic Gold Medalists Katarina Witt, Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara Lipinski, and Ilia Kulik, though Ilia seemed to be a little on the side of the whole GOLD focus. The tour even went so far as to put microphones in the hands of Katarina, Kristi, and Tara and making them rap about G-O-L-D. Microphones also made their appearance during Kurt and Tara's "Rainy Days" bit, which featured the two skaters reciting a poem about "rainy days" but not skating much. The theme of the show was actually a bit of a hybrid, since in 2001, the movie Moulin Rouge came out, and the creative directors of Stars on Ice seemed to be in love with that movie. The show kept alternating between a very Moulin-Rouge focused theme and a Gold-theme, with the unifying focus being strong women - strong women at the heart of Moulin Rouge, and strong women Gold Medalists.

Somehow, despite songs from Moulin Rouge being scattered throughout the show, the finale was centered around a medley of music by the Carpenters. This finale featured an especially breathtaking interlude by Kurt, skating to "Solitaire", creating the illusion of solitude around him on the ice, even as he was surrounded by his fellow cast members. Kurt also skated to a song that his friend, Barenaked Ladies' lead guitarist Ed Robertson, wrote especially for him while sitting in his living room. The song simply featured Ed playing his acoustic guitar, and was called "Kurt's Song" by Ed, "Ed's Song" by Kurt, and "Guitar" in the show program. The program had a loose improvisational feel to it, in both the music and the choreography. Kurt's second solo was to "Elevation" by U2. He also appeared on the ice skating with a vanity, for the "Vanity Tango", and in feather boas and fishnet stockings for the "Because We Can" act I closer that followed the G-O-L-D rap.

US Tour:

Cast:
  • Kurt Browning
  • Kristi Yamaguchi
  • Ilia Kulik
  • Todd Eldredge
  • Katarina Witt
  • Tara Lipinski
  • Steven Cousins
  • Lucinda Ruh
  • Denis Petrov
  • Anjelika Krylova & Oleg Ovsiannikov
  • Jenni Meno & Todd Sand
2001-2002 Tour Program

Kurt Programs & Group Numbers/Video Downloads:
Please right-click and download, do not play directly off my site What they said then...

Articles: Reviews: Photos:


Vanity Tango
Canadian Tour:

Cast:
  • Kurt Browning
  • Brian Orser
  • Alexei Yagudin
  • Todd Eldredge
  • Kristi Yamaguchi
  • Lucinda Ruh
  • Shae-Lynn Bourne & Victor Kraatz
  • Jenni Meno & Todd Sand
  • Isabelle Brasseur & Lloyd Eisler

    2002 CSOI Tour Program

    Kurt Programs & Group Numbers/Video Downloads:
    Please right-click and download, do not play directly off my site What they said then...

    Articles: Photos:


  • Tango - Kurt, Brian, Alexei
    The fans speak...

    In Lake Placid, unlike every other stop on the tour, they started accepting advance order forms for the next year during intermission, and they literally attached numbers to the forms as they came in, so your seat assignment priority was very much dependent on where you were in line. I was torn between wanting to watch every second of the brand new show and getting good seats for the next year. I finally got up and headed for the ticket office during the "G-O-L-D" rap number because 1) the rap was excruciatingly bad and 2) I saw a bunch of other people heading out. As I walked rapidly towards the door, though, I kept trying to keep an eye on the ice, and hence my first glimpse of Kurt in a feather boa and fishnet stockings (for "Because We Can") came as I was rushing out. I almost tripped and fell.
    - Tina

    I've never been fortunate enough to see SOI in person, I've had to rely on the TV versions... two of my favorite SOI moments on television are Kurt

    In one A&E broadcast they were showing the midnight rehearsals and the camera man asked Kurt if he was tired. Kurt's response was a hyperactive: "Not tired... WIRED! Was tired before, not now, now WIRED!"... someone needed to take the caffene away from him lol

    but one of the most touching was the year Scotty retired from the tour. During the finale Scott went around to Kristi, Tara, and finally Kurt where he gave him a high five. The reluctance of Kurt putting his hand up to 'catch the five' and the small shake of his head like he was in denial made me (huge scott fan) cry. I felt the EXACT SAME WAY. The close up with Kurt looking a bit teary eyed didn't help....

    Kurt was and is part of the core SOI family. I can't imagine the tour in it's hey day doing half as well without the Jr. Skate god..
    - Toni Reitter





    Day 12: 2001 | Back to intro | Day 14: 2003