Stars On Ice - Lake Placid - Review | Golden Skate

Stars On Ice - Lake Placid - Review

skamper23

Medalist
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Before the show even started Scott came out an addressed the crowd. He said he had to do an intro for the TV camera, cause the whole show was being taped for NBC to air on Jan 4th!!! It sounded and looked to me that the entire show would be shown, not just a preview like in past years!( they may cut a program or two for times sake) Scott really gets the crowd going! He did one intro for the TV camera which we couldn't hear, but then did another one for the crowd!! He was in a nice suit w/ a red tie! The show opens with 9 red small boxes on the ice near the tunnel end...like mini podiums, as each skater comes out with the lights still dimmed they stand by a podium and step onto it when introduces. The skaters all in white, white dresses with a little sparkle and sheer arms for the girls and white pants and white shirts with stripes in them, but still all white!The music is to "Acts of Random Kindness" by John Debney after the intros Sasha, Jen and Yuka start skating down the other end of the ice, while the other skaters move all the podiums! John, Todd, Ilia, and Mike join the girls and then the girls back away till it's just the guys doing different jumps, then S/Z and D/L come out and do some lifts....actually there's so much going on at once you just don't know where to look!!!

Jeff is up first and skates to "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquia This program has a very" Disco" feel to it. Lights on the ice are making big colorful circles and Jeff is in bright red pants and a very colorful shirt with a yellow belt. His body movements and choreography are fantastic!!! His Jumps are great!Way to start the night!!!

Jen is next and skates to Natasha Beddingfield's" Angel" she has a dress on that's sooooo sparkly I can't tell what color it is, could be black, dark, blue or dark purple!!! It has some scallop trim and has spaghetti-straps. She doesn't fall, but has a wonky landing on a jump and comes out later for retakes!!

Sasha has sneaked onto the ice from the end opposite the tunnel and is crouching down with a big costume on that when she stands up is a pretty light pink sparkly dress with huge wings attached.....she "floats" around doing some movements to music...she leaves and out comes D/L

D/L "Since I've Been Loving You" a very romantic number for them, she's in a very flowy 2 tone dress sorta a white and purple, he's in dark pants and what looks like a velor dark shirt! Lighta are making flowers on the ice! Aren't these two still on their honeymoon? lol....They also exit opposite end from the tunnel

Ilia comes out to intro Yuka, who is on the ice in a soft pink flowy dress and has her hair up and as Ilia's about to intro her...Yuka herself pops up on the big TV Screens....Yuka on the ice asks Yuka on the screen "what are you doing here?" Yuka on the TV says something like"Don't you look nice, oh you must be skating to something "Pretty" and she makes a face, then Yuka on the ice says "well that's what I like about skating the pretty dresses!" Yuka on the screen says "don't you ever wan to let your hair down and go wild or crazy" so Yuka pulls the clip out of her hair and rips her dress off and hands it to Ilia!! She has on a very cute pink sparkly halter top and a little flowery shirt with white, pink and orange in it. She skates to "1234" (which she just did on HCOI, but in a different dress!)So it's a fun number! Yuka is such a great skater and does she never age? Maybe because her hair is longer this year, but I think she looks younger!!!

The big TV's are showing all the skaters who are saying "Don't Skate, Don't Skate, Don't Skate"...Todd says something like Skating cuts into his golf time, and John says something like skating messes up my hair! lol..

Todd skates to John Mayer's "I'm Gonna Find Another You" it's a song about a break-up, Todd's in black pants and a black t-shirt with some kind of teal stripes with 3 teal outlined boxes on the front and one on the back! He's skating really strong! He ends this program with an amazing spin and gets a big reaction from the crowd!!!

OMG!! Axel Edge is on the ice!!!For those who saw last years show you know it's John!!! (here's the funny part to me....SOI has a MySpace page and posted a picture of Axel Edge, a few months ago...well I left a comment that I hoped Axel Edge would make an appearance at this years show..lol..now I'm not taking credit for putting any ideas in their heads...I'm sure they thought of this on their own, but it was just sooo funny to me!!!) Axel announces that the bands broken up, but he's really taken to the skating gig, and that he hung out with Todd over the summer and he taught him some moves!!! very funny! He says maybe he'll be back next year...and introduces his friends from China!!!

S/Z skate to Ramalama (Bang Bang) she comes out in a gold and black outfit with a light brown/almost blonde afro wig!! He's in black pants and a white ruffley shirt with a black vest with gold designs! This number has very robotic movements, they do their big throw jump and a double twist that he was late catching her on, but she saved the landing! They came back later for re-take!!

Next is a small group number w/ Yuka, John, Mike! The music is "The Dance" by Dave Koz featuring Bebe Winans. Yuka is going back and forth between the guys doing different movements. Yuka in a periwinkle blue flowy halter dress...guys shirts match the color! John attempted to lift Yuka, but she kinda got away from him...bad timing I guess, no-one fell though, they just aborted the lift! So they had to come back for re-takes!

Ilia "Song For The King" I'm so glad he's doing the whole tour this year! His skating is very strong and his jumps a huge! He's such a great skater!!

Todd and Jen come back on the ice for some crowd interaction and SOI trivia....They picked two people and asked them a SOI trivia question...last nights question was" How many skaters in the whole history of SOI has there been?" one guessed 32 I think and the other 50...the answer is there have been 82 skaters in SOI!!! So the person who guessed 50 was presented with a SOI medal!!! Jen said that there's only 40 of these!!!! So brush up on your trivia and you could win one at a show!! They then intro Mike

Mike skates to Journey's "Open Arms"...brings me right back to the 80's lol.... he's skating strong, works in the back flip!!

Skaters on on the big screens again goofing around with each other, lifting, pushing each other....like overgrown kids, but in a fun way..near the end I think John hits Todd in the face with a pie!!!

Sasha skated to "Don't Stop the Music" which I saw in one of the Disson shows!! She in black hot pants and a fringey gold halter top...she working it...lands all her jumps...but I just don't think trying to be all sexy is her thing!! Her 2nd program suits her better...just my oppinion!!

The cast group # that ends the first half is to music called "Sock Him In The Jaw" there's no words to this song if I remember correctly, but it has a great beat! There's very cool choreography!! The skaters all wear gray pants, black & white stripe shirts, plaid vests, beret hats, red suspenders and red sneaker covers on their skates. It's hard to tell who's who at times. There's lots going on in this number, but one cool thing they do it skate in a line going in a circle adding skaters one at a time, Mike is last and when they get him on he does his freedom blades move!!

As intermission starts the tv screens are showing the tape of the skaters at a Boys and Girls club, it's the same tape from the past two years I think, because Kyoko is in it...(I miss her this year....the programs she and John came up with every year were amazing!!!) Jamie is also in the video!!

Act II Opens with all the guys coming out in black leather pants and royal blue muscle shirts.My program says just John, Todd, Ilia, Mike, and Patrice, but Jeff Buttle was skating in this too!!! They all have mics in their hands and are calling out to the audience...things like..".Hey this one's for the ladies out there"...."get back to your seats", "get out of the bathroom", "drop the food"...John says "no don't drop the food, bring it right down here!! I think it's Todd or maybe Mike who says "yeah man that guy can eat!!" Todd says if you're up there buying SOI merchandise stay right were you are"!! The music is Bon Jovi's "We Got It Going On" and they got it going on all right!!!They are doing some moves alone and some together! John picks Mike up and places him on his head and spins him....now I thought that SOI would find someone brave enough for John to toss around in a group number, but I was thinking it would of been one of the girls, not Mike!

S/Z skate to Andrea Bocelli's "lo Ci Sera" is a romantic number for them! They are in white and blue...his shirt matches her dress! They skate so smoothly together! Big throw jump, I think they only did a double twist again in this one too!

Jen skates to "Stop"by Lizz Wright she's in a longer dress....yellow halter type I think..she starts with a scarf, but ditches soon into the program! She does a very beautiful layback spin near the end!!!

The big screens show the skaters in rehearsals...kind of like an out take reel!!

D/L skate to U2's "Desire" upbeat and fun number for them! He's in black pants and white shirt, she's in a black sparkle halter top and an orange skirt with some other colors in it too. They do some of their signature moves and end with a detroiter!!!

Jeff skates to "Eclogue for Piano and Strings" more of a classic program for Jeff. His jumps were good, although he does come back for a re-take, so I must of missed something...no-one flat out fell all night, so maybe a landing wasn't quite perfect. Jeff's in a royal blue shirt w/ dark stripes and dark pants.

Jen, Marie-France, Yuka, and Xue are all out on the ice in what maybe 60's inspired outfits...they skate together..then John enters in all black....black jeans and a black t-shirt...he skates with them...does a little move with each of them...then the girls leave and John skates his first ever SOI solo program to Led Lepplin "I'm Gonna Crawl" (it's kinda like the girls eased him into it) He has some great movements and choreography. He does a couple of jumps...singles his 2nd jump and has to come back for re-takes!!! He did an awesome job as a single skater!!

Yuka skates toThe Beatles "The Long And Winding Road" what a great song for the SOI tour!!!! She's in a red top with cut outs..very sparkly and a red skirt. nice program.

Jen comes out in a very shiny gold and silver costume with a hat and a feather boa....(she wore this last year for a transition)...just as she's about to intro Mike....out comes Marie-France in the same outfit. She does the same moves Jen did and then stands right in front of Jen (who is not looking to happy at the moment!) Marie-France starts to intro Mike and out come another one in the same outfit doing the same moves...I think it was Sasha...(.my mind is mush about now) so finally all 3 introduce Mike

Mike skates to AC/DC "You Shook Me All Night Long" boy, is he ever working it!!He's in black pants with a silver design and a gray shirt with black marks on it. It's a very up beat get the crowd going program!!I was watching Scott and Jef Billings watch Mike, because I could see them from my seats!! Mike's giving all he's got and when he's done...out come John...still in black jeans and t-shirt.....he says to Mike "Man I wanted to skate to AC/DC!" Mike's acting like he's huffing and puffing and is to tired to talk to John. John hands Mike a towel and says something like "here wipe the sweat off man"...after Mike wipes his head...John says you see that towel...it's all autographed...which starts yells from the crowd....he throws it to someone in the on ice seats. Then John says something like "Hey man where's your wife?" Mike points to her and she stands up and waves to them! As they are leaving the ice, they say something like "here's our friend Todd"

Todd skated to Meat Loaf's "Is Nothing Sacred"...nice strong program for Todd, I think he does his barrel roll spins in this one, and split jumps! He's in a dark outfit..not sure of the color..but I'm pretty sure it wasn't black...maybe a very dark purple dress shirt with silver sparkles.

4 guys come out on the ice...the lights stay dark...the skaters have lights on the bottom of their skates...they stay in a group and then Sasha joins them for a second or 2 before they leave and she skates her 2nd program to Beethoven "Moonlight Sonata" this program suits her much better! She lands all her jumps..and doesn't need any re-takes...much different than last year!! Her dress is a differnt shade of blue...on the dark side, but not navy. Very pretty.

Ilia has the last solo of the night to "Sixteen Tons" if you watched HCOI today you've seen it...same outfit too! Gray pants w/suspenders. He's so darn cute! I remember watching him compete and his face cheeks get all rosey when he finished!

on the screens are the names of all the skaters that ever skated with SOI and all the names of the different tours through out the year...Double Exposure, Imagination, ect...

Okay the Finale....".Roll With The Changes" by REO Speedwagon. The girls are in flashy red/orange dresses, the guys have black pants and shirts that are red/orange&pink...and all the guys have their last names across the back of the shirts. There's so much going on in this one too, you just don't know who to watch. I'm just going to have to see this again!!

Re-takes:....Scott address the crowd again before re-takes...thanking everyone involved and asked the crowd to stay...he mentioned how Jef Billings had heart surgery this summer and while home recupperating still worked on putting this show together!! He did a great job!!

Poor Jen it took her 3 times to fix a jump in her first program. On the third try the crowd started cheering as she went into the jump...which I thought might make her miss again, but she finally got it! Scott teased her a bit...then talked to the crowd while waiting for more re-takes...when all of a sudden someone let out a loud screech.....Scott said something like "Wow...what was that"...only to turn around and notice John was out on the ice for his re-take.....Then Scott goes..."Oh, it's you"....he skated over next to John and says "Man I'm invisable next to you....The Sexiest Man in Skating..." John just laughed and did his retake on the first try........Scott says to him..."you know they were hoping you'd miss and have to do it again!!!" S/Z came back to fix that landing in the first number and Jeff Buttle had to fix something in both programs, although I'm not sure what he goofed up the first time. John, Mike and Yuka came back out to fix the lift that didn't happend the first time around...I think that was about it for re-takes. Scott thanked everyone again and said he'd see us next year!! Which brings me to the pre-order flyers that were on the seats in Lake Placid...They do in fact say.....that the Lake Placid show will take place in the Spring of 2010! Kimmie, Evan, Tanith & Ben and Sasha's picture are on it.....should we assume that they are all touring w/SOI after the Olympics next year? Looks like it to me. No Lake Placid show the Sat. after Thanksgiving next year really bums me out!! It's been a tradition for so many years now!! hmmm....I guess I better Roll With The Changes........
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
thanks for sharing! one of my dreams is to see the show open in Lake Placid... some day... some day...
 

AwesomeIce

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 13, 2008
You say Sasha "landed all her jumps," but you didn't mention which ones. If she's only landing double axels and triple toes and salchows, it doesn't mean much to me. I'm she's landing triple flips and (f)lutzes, then that's big news.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Ilia comes out to intro Yuka, who is on the ice in a soft pink flowy dress and has her hair up and as Ilia's about to intro her...Yuka herself pops up on the big TV Screens....Yuka on the ice asks Yuka on the screen "what are you doing here?" Yuka on the TV says something like"Don't you look nice, oh you must be skating to something "Pretty" and she makes a face, then Yuka on the ice says "well that's what I like about skating the pretty dresses!" Yuka on the screen says "don't you ever wan to let your hair down and go wild or crazy" so Yuka pulls the clip out of her hair and rips her dress off and hands it to Ilia!! She has on a very cute pink sparkly halter top and a little flowery shirt with white, pink and orange in it. She skates to "1234" (which she just did on HCOI, but in a different dress!)So it's a fun number! Yuka is such a great skater and does she never age? Maybe because her hair is longer this year, but I think she looks younger!!!
:love::love::love::love::love:
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Yuka always looks FANTASTIC... I am thankful I got to see her skate LIVE in 1999... she is just amazing :)
 

Tigger

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Thanks for the review!!

Oh and if a skater that's had great skates come out for retakes, then that's not the skater/s fault. That's usually a problem w/the camera or lighting that showed up when they checked the tape replay in the control truck. That has to be fixed, so out comes that skater or team for a retake.

If that's the case w/SOI in the Spring, then what happens to CSOI?.
 

anya_angie

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 20, 2003
Thank you so much for posting! I am SO THRILLED that Ilia is doing the whole tour!!!!!!! I was a bit disappointed when I found out he was not the guest in Pitsburgh, but I am ECSTATIC that he will be there anyway!!!!!! Mom got advance tickets like the day before they got on sale and I now have second row seats!!!!
 

Grgranny

Da' Spellin' Homegirl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I didn't know that Ilia was performing in all of them. I really miss going this year. So sorry they cancelled the K C show.
 

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Country
United-States
I didn't know that Ilia was performing in all of them. I really miss going this year. So sorry they cancelled the K C show.
Grgranny, I was surprised they cancelled the KC show too. They haven't done the Omaha show for the last couple of years, so the next alternative was to go to KC. Do you know of any reasons why they would cancel KC??

:bow: :bow: Skamper23, thanks for the super great review!!! Can't wait to see it on TV.

Dee
 

Grgranny

Da' Spellin' Homegirl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I can only assume that they didn't have enough of a crowd to make a go of it.
There just hasn't been as big of crowds anyway, as far as I know. Sure wish I could see them.
 

iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
Thank you so much, skamper! :party: Looking forward to seeing the show live in March. ;)
 

CB1AB2

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
The show isn't going to the Worcester Centrium in Worcester Mass either. I love that arena. It is smaller than the Boston Garden and Verizon Arena in Manchester NH. I think that is the reason why they are skipping it.

cb
 

ae9177

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2006
Fabulous report skamper23, thanks for the sharing! :clap:
Great skaters, great show. I'm definitely gonna go to SOI next year.
 

iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
There's a video of the Bryant Park Tree Lighting Festivities that took place on 12/2/08. A number of SOI cast members participated in it.

http://wcbstv.com/[email protected]

icenetwork.com also has photos of the skaters up now.
 
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skamper23

Medalist
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
I watched the tree lighting live on the internet! It was so nice to see Jamie & David skating again! I'm really going to miss them w/SOI this season!! Doesn't look like they'll even do any guest spots in the U.S. :disapp:

Thanks for the tip Gail on the pictures at icenetwork!!!
 
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