http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH_Jj4-Y2KI&list=UUBhXAiz1GilrJypHlFQwJ5Q&index=8&feature=plcp
Katia: “Love will keep us together”: Great number! Loved it,
but I of course love Katia! So playful and fun! She unfortunately had a hard
fall on her double axel, and she doesn’t have much weight on her to cushion the
fall, but she did bounce right back up and carry on. Crazy that she is almost
41 and still doing difficult jumps!
Fun transitions happened with the guys in the first act, and
the girls in the second act. Ilia is really funny!!
Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman: “Johnny Got a Boom, Boom!” so
much fun to have these two back on the tour. They did all there big highlight
moves, “Fly High and Say Bye”, “the head banger” and everything else under the
sun. So much fun to see them!
Kurt: “I’m yours” Kinda bummed that Kurt recycled an old
program, even though I understand he was dealing with being director and
choreographer. Nice jumps though! He’s still got it! Kinda cheesy, but I still
love him!
Sasha Cohen: “Dos Gardenias” Beautiful program! Sad that she
doesn’t jump anymore, but understandable with school. She is still uber
flexible, and fun to watch! Some new moves for her too, so that is nice to see.
Much better costume than what Betsy Johnson designed for her for Fashion on
Ice.
Ryan Bradley: “Foot Loose!” AWESOME!! He is so charming, and
so fun to watch!! His still has his jumps, which is always nice to see! His
back flip tricks are kinda scary though! I think we were spoiled with having
Kristi Yamaguchi on tour for ten years, and doing all the big jumps!
Joannie Rochette: “Formidable” LOVE her too! This program
was flirtatious, but in a cute way! Not over the top! She had a ribbon around
her neck for most of the program, but then went into the crowd and flirted with
a guy in the front row! Lucky guy! I really liked the song too, it switched
between English and French (her native language). She had some jump problems, a
nice triple toe, but then everything was doubled or singled (axel).
Todd, Kyoko, and John: “Waiter’s Gallop”: Fun number
featuring the three, but one of Todd’s solos. He is the waiter for Kyoko and
John. He gets there table ready, and then helps Kyoko to sit and tries to help
John sit too, but he falls! And Todd proceeds to do a double axel and some
spins, before John gets his attention and motions with his cup that he would
like something to drink. So off Todd goes to get it, doing crazy footwork down
to one side of the rink and he grabs a pitcher with water, and proceeds back to
his table and spills the water all over on the way back to Kyoko and John! And
then he pours water all over John, an accident of course! J Todd then goes to get
them there food, and tries not to drop the trays while he does footwork back to
the table! He does more skating and footwork, while his guests are eating, and
then comes back to them to take their food away and give them the bill. Which
John then mouths something like “Are you kidding me?” and while the waiter isn’t
paying attention, his two patrons disappear, without paying the bill, so Todd
gives it to someone in the first row!! Fun character driven number, and he is
doing full out skating 95% of the time! The program says that Ben Agosto
choreographed it too!
Sinead and John Kerr are a great addition to the cast! Love
John, he’s such a cutie! They skated to a serious piece of music, but I did
love it. I’m more into comedy, but this number kept my attention the whole
time. Nice lifts and intricate footwork! Loved it!
Ilia: Violin version of “Who Wants to Live Forever”: I LOVE
THIS SONG, and man can Ilia still skate. He hit a bunch of triples too!! I’m
not a huge Ilia fan, just when he skates with Katia though! J
Rolling in the deep: LOVED THIS GROUP NUMBER!!!! So crazy
with footwork (I’m sure that was all Kurt!) Starts with Kurt, Todd, and Ryan
with miked skates (very reminiscent of 5 minutes for Icing, way back when!)
It’s really cool the music that skating makes! J
Then as the music picks up some of the ladies join in. Loved the ladies
costumes, black pants and sparkly halter navy blue tops. After pairing off with
the 3 guys, I think it was Katia, Sinead, and Joannie; then the John’s came in
lifting Kyoko and Sasha. (John Kerr lifting Kyoko, and John Zimmerman lifting
Sasha). And then they did this really cool weaving circle (kind of hard to
explain) and it looked awesome. Not your typical group skate! There was
certainly a possibility of a collision, but they were all on! And then all the
guys grab a girl and lift her, so cool! And then the ladies do spirals down the
whole length of the ice, with one push, and then the guys came and rescued
them!! BEAUTIFUL! It was definitely my favorite group number of the night! It
ended with Kyoko getting thrown up by John!
2nd Act opening: “A Life Loved” Featuring John
and Sinead, Katia and Ilia, Joannie and Kurt, and Todd. Starts out with Todd
dressed as an old guy sitting in a chair, looking at a picture of Katia (his
wife!). Then the Kerr’s come out and do some skating and you find out they are
in love, and then John pops the question. Then Katia and Ilia come out and do
the same basic pattern we saw from the Kerr’s and when Ilia is lifting Katia,
she starts to look sick, and then we find out they are expecting. Then Joannie
and Kurt come out dressed as old people, and try to do the same routine, but
since they are so old, it’s so hard for them to do it!! Funny! Then all of the
sudden Joannie looks like she has a heart attack, and we all witness her
“dying” and then Todd picks up the picture of Katia, and as the routines were
happening you can see Todd reliving the moments. Such a sad number, but I did
like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqBEcrkA9Oo&list=UUBhXAiz1GilrJypHlFQwJ5Q&index=7&feature=plcp
The girls do a lot of the transitions in between the second
act performers. They all wore pretty red dresses, not spectacular, or out of
the ordinary though!
Transition 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwcTi-_Btxw&list=UUBhXAiz1GilrJypHlFQwJ5Q&index=6&feature=plcp
Transition 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cqd6PI2hno&list=UUBhXAiz1GilrJypHlFQwJ5Q&index=5&feature=plcp
Transition 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjKcbIXDglo&list=UUBhXAiz1GilrJypHlFQwJ5Q&index=4&feature=plcp
Ryan: “The Best is yet to Come” Love me some Frank Sinatra,
and really loving Ryan! He is so cute, and such a great performer! He landed a
HUGE triple axel too!! Nice to see great skating with good jumping! More back
flip tricks too!
Sinead and John skating to “Pencil Full of Lead”: They are
both wearing BRIGHT pink! Starts out with them sleeping on the ice, and then
John gets ready to blast her with an alarm clock. And she pops up, and off they
go! Full of footwork and fun lifts. They also do there infamous lift, where she
lifts him, which I love! These two are a great addiction to the cast! Have I
mentioned how darn cute John Kerr is?
Joannie: Indestructible, wearing a SUPER tight black jump
suit. I wasn’t quite sure about this program, I like Joannie when she does
soft, lyrical skating, but it was nice that she is trying different pieces of
music! Very upbeat and ‘dancey’ program! She had some more jump problems, just
popping the jumps! She did do a nice triple toe though.
Todd: “Amazed” Love this song!!! Great skating, classic
Todd. He did a nice double axel, but that was it. Love his spins, great
program!
Waiting for my Real Life to Begin: Ryan, Kurt, John Kerr,
and John Zimmerman: This was an AWESOME group number. They had 4 rigs of lights
set up, and that was the only lighting they used in the program. Basically they
all did there specialty moves in this little section of the ice. Very different program I LOVED it! Kurt did
some spread eagles all over the place, so the guys used the light and had it
follow him. Each guy had his moment to shine.
Then they used these lights to shine on Sasha Cohen for her entrance
to her Big Spender program! LOVED it, but was so afraid she was going to fall
out of her costume! EEEKKK!!! Such a fun number, her personality is really
coming out! Super sparkly silver costume!! No jumps, but understandable because
of school. Loved the different versions
of Big Spender she used, and she had a lot of unique choreography, especially lying
on the ice! And then the splits to end the routine at the end, OUCH!
Ilia: Love in this Club. Honestly I didn’t care for it, sure
he’s a great jumper and everything, but I didn’t like the music, so that was
probably part of it. But he still can seriously JUMP!!!!
Kyoko and John: Take Me There: LOVED THIS NUMBER!! It’s so
nice that they show they can do the fast and fun numbers, as well as the slow
and soft numbers. They do there awesome lift that they did with their Pink
Floyd number where they do the star lift and then go into multiple positions. I
love there lifts, and that they do a million positions in each one!!! Loved it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjKcbIXDglo&list=UUBhXAiz1GilrJypHlFQwJ5Q&index=4&feature=plcp
Katia: Feelin’ Good was AWESOME!!! Loved the costume, and
just how unique the program is. Very interesting! She nailed her double axel in
this program. Love that she is still doing “hard” jumps, at least for a pair’s
skater! Awesome footwork sequences too! It’s a different style for Katia, but I
loved it. It was sexy, but not over the top crazy sexy! Then they transition
from her to Kurt, who is skating to a different version of the song. She skates
off, and you hear her say, “hey”, then Kurt says “hey back.” Then Katia says
“Feeling Good?” and Kurt responds, “Oh yeah!” and then his version starts,
which I actually liked his better. Then he flips her a black dapper hat, and
she puts it on the ice and leaves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb840kjIZLQ&list=UUBhXAiz1GilrJypHlFQwJ5Q&index=2&feature=plcp
Kurt: Feeling Good. So cool to see different programs to the
same song, I don’t think that has been done before, since Katarina Witt and
Paul Wylie did Schindler’s List in the early 90’s. He’s even wearing the same
dark colors as Katia. I never have considered Kurt sexy, but this number was
AWESOME!!! In the beginning when the music is crescendoing, he does a HUGE
double axel; I swear he could’ve done a triple! J
Then I thought ‘Cyril Lutz’ was going to do a triple lutz, but he faked me out
and reversed direction into an awesome triple toe. He is the King of the double
axel, triple toes, and triple salchows!!! I really liked his version of Feelin’
Good, better than whoever sang Katia’s!!
Finale time, so sad! In Lake Placid Sasha is lifted around
the ice without any skates on, remisciant of her ballet inspired group number a
couple years ago, but in Chicago she had the skates back on. Basically this
number was all footwork, and when I say footwork, I mean FOOTWORK!!! They do
this really cool move where they are all in a cluster together just sailing
down the ice! I really liked the dresses the girls were wearing black with a
bit of white, and the guys were wearing really cool black shirts with black
pants. Then towards the end the music goes into a drum beat and they do these
really cool moves in synch, and then the lights go out and so you think “oh sad
it’s over!” but nope, then they go full speed into more footwork!! I loved the
choreography and steps are different, and not the typical groups numbers!! Nice
work Kurt, especially with just a couple days to work with the cast!! I thought
it was a great show, wasn’t my favorite, but it was up there. Very sad that the
Canadian tour is getting more stops than the US, hopefully there are more next
year, although I think because of the small amount, that is why we get Katia,
Ilia, Kurt, and all those who have kids at home. So it’s definitely a catch 22,
but I will always make an effort to get to my favorite tour. Gotta start saving
now for next year!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRPjl_X936s&list=UUBhXAiz1GilrJypHlFQwJ5Q&index=1&feature=plcp
