Hi all!

I'm back from the Stars on Ice show in Sacramento, CA.

General Observations:

The venue was about 1/2 to 3/4 full, about like last year. The lower section was full, and it was maybe 1/8 to 1/4 full in the upper level. My seat was at center ice, but at the upper end of the lower level, so there may be mistakes on some of the jump identifications. I seemed to be in the family section this year (last year it was the more elegant fur coat section, LOL), with several toddlers, babies, and their long-suffering parents. And I was also blessed with *a lot* of late arrivals to disrupt the first few performances, along with one couple who were apparently to sit right in front of me, and who arrived right in the middle of Ilia Kulik's "Blues for Narada" performance. I think I missed one of his triples (sob!). It was all I could do to not grab the people by the scruffs of their necks and scream, "Will you *please* just make up your minds who is going to sit in which seat and sit down *now!*

I also spent my usual fortune on souveniers, picking up the $12.00 program, the free Target bag with the SOI skaters pictured on it (with a very nice shot of Ilia in black, doing a stag leap of some sort, I think), and the $30.00 Stars on Ice video. The program included the music list, which is always nice to get. Lots of nice pictures in the program, too.

The show started with Kurt Browning coming out and clowning around and performing his usual amusing antics. One of the men sitting behind me said to his friend, "That's Brian Boitano. He's the greatest skater in the world and has an Olympic gold medal." Okay...

Kurt basically played Steven's role from last year, and would come out and clown around in between the other skaters' programs.

The opening number is "Strobe's Nanafushi" by Kodo. This was a high energy, sort of techno-pop number I really liked. The unison (sort of, LOL) double axels by the guys were fun to see. The lighting didn't bother me at all, so perhaps they have altered the lighting due to the complaints of the first few SOI show reviewers.

The next number was "Bailamos" by Enrique Iglesias. This program started with Tara Lipinski. She did some nice barrel rolls. She has changed her hair, no doubt due to my recommendation in my CBS SOI review, LOL. Her hair is now straight and long, and looks much, much better. She also looks older with her hair this way. Then Ilia dances around with her a little and performs two really great Russian splits. They were then joined by Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, and they all skated around together.

Lu Chen skated to "Never" by Leon Now, and using a fan as a prop. There were no jumps in this program, but she did include a nice spiral and a pretty layback. Lu Chen is one of my favorite skaters; I wish SOI would find a way to properly utilize her talent.

Next we had Kristi Yamaguchi and Katia Gordeeva performing to "Demain" by Les Nubians. Nice double axel from one of them, but I didn't write down which one in my notes, and I can't recall who it was now.

The next number was "Swingtown" by the Steve Miller Band, which included Scott Hamilton, Lulu, Steven Cousins, Elena Bechke & Denis Petrov. Nice platter lift from Bechke & Petrov. Scott did a nice scratch spin, along with some barrel rolls, a Russian split, and a combination spin.

Kurt came out to perform his "Rag-GIDON-time" by Gidon Kremer/Oleg Maisenberg. We've seen this clown program before. He started off like gangbusters with his double axel, but fell on his second jump, a triple sal, I think. The rest of his jumps, triple toe and 3T/3T(or 2T?) combination were great. He seemed "on" tonight and the crowd really enjoyed the performance.

This was followed by Renee Roca & Gorsha Sur, in pretty, deep blue costumes with white trim, skating to "Ghost" by Bande Original du Film. This was a nice program which I really liked, full of lots of interesting dance lifts and beautiful positions. You can really see their ballet training. A smooth and seamless performance. Well-received by the audience.

Katia Gordeeva was next, skating to "Ribbon" by Franz Liszt/Vladimir Horowitz. This is a beautiful program which I enjoyed seeing live, because you can really appreciate her speed and ice coverage in a way you can't on television. She started with a triple toe; very slight turn out on the landing. I like the way the ribbon flows around her during her layback, and the ribbon swirling around her is also effective during her sit spin. The Ina Bauer was nice, as always. Double Tano lutz was fine. She singled the axel, but perhaps she meant to do that.

This was followed by Ilia Kulik, jumping out of the darkness and into the spotlight, and skating to "Blues for Narada" by Gary Moore. He was looking very fine in all black. I take back my earlier description of this program as one of his typical, flamboyant, fling this-fling that programs. Seeing it again, and live, I've decided it is actually a very controlled performance from him. Skated with his usual deliberate pacing, his musical timing was perfect; every element matched to the musical flourishes. The triples were all beautiful, effortless, and light. I love the opening triple loop into a spin sequence. Very interesting moves and angular positions. He has changed this program from the CBS SOI broadcast. I think he eliminated one of the original triple lutzes, perhaps one of the triple axels (I missed seeing one jump due to the rude people sitting down in front of me), but he's added an absolutely great, perfectly centered, very fast scratch spin at the end.

This was followed by Meno & Sand performing my favorite program of theirs, Chris Isaak's "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing." Skated with a lot of energy and sass; the crowd loved their headbanger-type tricks. The throw axel was possibly singled (I had a bad angle), but it was landed perfectly, whatever it was. The death spiral was very nice.

Tara performed her "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera. This featured the harem boys (Ilia, Steven, Denis, & Gorsha) carrying Tara out into the rink. Then they left. (sniff) I like this program of Tara's. Yeah, it has too much posing and stand in place dance steps, but it suits her personality, and the crowd seemed to like it. She has a lot of speed, her spiral was nice, and the jumps all looked good. All I saw were triple toes and one triple loop. Perhaps she is still recovering from her injury. Cute number.

Next we had the "Old Friends" section, skated to Simon & Garfunkel music. This was fun, and I love this music. (sigh)

We started with Scott skating to "You Can Call Me Al." He fell on his first jump; looked like it was supposed to be a triple toe. Rest of his jumps were fine; triple toes and double axel; nice combination spin, nice scratch spin, obligatory backflip. Crowd loved him. Ain't no doubt - Scott is the "star" of Stars on Ice, LOL. Biggest crowd applause of the night so far.

Next were Kurt and Steven Cousins, skating to "Me & Julio." They were cute, mugging about and clowning around. Did some cute "pairs" moves together.

This was followed by Scott and Katia skating to "Cecilia." Another cute number, with Scott pathetically following Katia around while she skated away from him, with some nice, dancey footwork from Katia.

Next was "The Sounds of Silence" skated to by Scott, Bechke & Petrov, Meno & Sand, and Roca & Sur. The three pairs all performed various different lifts, while Scott skates around doing some interesting spin variations.

Kristi skating to "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was next. Kristi was wearing one of my favorite costumes of hers, a beautiful, white, filmy dress. Very nice number; ethereal, flowing, and lyrical. Lovely layback, nice triples, nice double axels. Fast and pretty combination spin. Russian split and very pretty spiral at the end. One of my fave Kristi programs. Audience loved it.

Scott, Kristi, Katia, Kurt, and Steven then skated to "Old Friends." Lots of synchronized moves. Nice, and kind of sad program.

Intermission.

A black and white striped, two sided couch is brought out. Kurt clowns around on the coach for a while. Lots of amused titters from the audience. Hey, he's a natural ham; I was laughing, too.

"Luv Me, Luv Me" by Shaggy is the first number. Ilia, Steven, Denis, & Gorsha skate around with Tara a bit.

Next is Steven's cold spot. He's wearing a bright purple, orange, and green shirt with black pants and skating to "It's About That Walk" by Prince. This is an energetic, dancey program for Steven, heavy on footwork. Lots of good interaction with the audience; he's a crowd pleaser. Spins and triple flip, triple sal, triple toe, and double axel were all good.

Lu Chen, wearing a gorgeous, shiny, forest green dress, skates to "It's Not Right, But It's Okay" by Whitney Houston. Her triple toe and double axel went well, although she almost came to a stop after the axel. It's not the kind of program I want to see from Lulu, but it was okay. Sorry, couldn't resist. :-)

Kristi then comes out in a similar costume, only the top of hers is deep blue instead of green. They skate to "Jazzin" by Kristine W. Then they both skate with Steven and end up "tying" him up on the couch and leaving him. Cute program. Steven is a natural comic, I think.

Tara comes out in a beautiful, filmy, lavendar dress and skates to "He's Got a Way"by Bernadette Peters. Nice positions from Tara. The straighter hair and the longer, elegant dress make her look older, I think.

Next we have Kurt and Tara's duet, athough you hardly notice Tara because you can't take your eyes off scene-stealer Kurt. He plays it comically; Tara plays it straight. They skated to "La Valse Moderne/Dada Je Suis" by L'Orchestre Moderne.  I had no problem with this number in terms of Tara being too young to skate with Kurt. They looked fine together. There were some nice dance lifts in this program and good SBS triple or double toes.

This was followed by Bechke & Petrov skating to "Czardas" by Leahy. This was a great program and one of the highlights of the night for me. Denis is wearing a red shirt/black pants; Elena is wearing a folk music costume in red and black. Very nice throw double sal. The SBS double flips were also nice. The crowd loved their tricks, and so did I. Combination spin was good, too. Best program so far of the second act. Great applause.

Next we had Meno & Sand and Roca & Sur skating to "Casi Un Bolero" by Ricky Martin. This was a sensual and romantic program. The couples were doing lifts in unison but there were different lifts for each couple. Beautiful positions, beautiful music; my favorite kind of skating.

Katia, wearing a beautiful red dress, comes out and starts skating alone to "Si Tu No Estas/Casi Un Bolero" by Rosana and Ricky Martin, performing some nice spirals and showing off her perfect posture and graceful arms. I got a little misty-eyed here, LOL. Ilia then joins her for their duet. They both seem well-matched; the speed, flow, and ice coverage from both these skaters is really impressive; must be that Russian training. Their pairs spiral was gorgeous. Beautiful double axel and death drop from Ilia; lovely layback from Katia. I think I noticed a slight slip by Katia when she was facing Ilia after one of their lifts came down, but it was hard to be sure because my view was partially blocked, and one of their lifts was also blocked from my view, thanks to a mother taking her crying baby out into the hall. They finished with that wonderful Besti squat move from Ilia with Katia wrapped around his leg. Ilia seemed more relaxed in this program than he was in the CBS SOI version. Very nice program and well-received.

Kurt then came out and performed "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry. An energetic program from Mr. Funky himself, Kurt Browning. Vintage Kurt; his double axels, triple toes, and triple sal jumps were clean and complete. Nice scratch spin. Crowd loved it.

This was followed by Kristi skating to "Smooth" by Santana with a lot of spunk and verve, and wearing a beautiful, low cut red dress. The triple flip, triple toe, and double axel were all good; the flying sit spin was very nice; the illusion spin was good. I don't like the "shaking fists" move, but I like this program, and I think Kristi skates it well.

Ilia was next with his "Baseball Cap" number by Faithless. He was wearing a camouflage shirt and black pants. This was an energetic program with a lot of footwork. He had a lot of moves with the cap. If he dropped it when he didn't mean to drop it, I sure couldn't tell. Triple flip, triple toe, and the two double axels were perfect. He skated with a lot of speed, as always. He also included a death drop, Russian split, and one of his cartwheel death drops (I don't know what else to call it, LOL).

Ilia followed this by skating to the beginning of "American Woman" by Lenny Kravitz, with a lot of dance steps, a camel spin and another cartwheel death drop.

Tara then skates out to do her cold spot to "American Woman" while Ilia leaves. I have no problem with this program. Seems fine for Tara. Her triple toe and triple sal were good; nice spin variations.

Scott comes out for his "Don Quixote" program by Minkus, wearing his very tight ballet costume. This was a program chockfull of double axels, a double lutz, Russian splits, and two backflips, and full of Scott's fooling around with his ballet-style skating parody. I actually like very balletic skating, but I could still enjoy Scott having fun with it. Vintage Scott, and he got the only standing ovation of the night.

The finale was to "What a Wonderful World" by Wong/Dolgay, and included the cast performing a lot of individual and signature moves. I saw a nice forward death spiral from Meno & Sand, a pretty lift from Bechke & Petrov, a nice triple toe from Kurt, Russian splits from Steven, flying camels from Katia and Ilia, a detroiter from Meno & Sand, a nice spiral from Kristi, a backflip from Scott. No standing ovation at the end, but the crowd seemed to have enjoyed the show.

General Impressions:

I liked this show better than last year's. I think several individual numbers from last year were more outstanding than ones from this year's show, but the clown ensemble program in the midde of last year's show kind of bogged it down. This year, there seemed to be better flow from one program to the next, and I didn't really have a chance to get bored. All-in-all, a very nice evening and everyone skated very well. There were only two falls, one from Kurt and one from Scott, and neither fall was particularly disruptive to the flow or mood of the programs.