SOI - San Diego

I didn’t have a program, but I picked up the order and names of pieces from another review. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the names of the pieces to which Scott Hamilton skated. All I can say is that this man is a national treasure. He only jumps doubles now, but he still does the back flip and his footwork is fantastic. The audience went wild over him. He didn’t do anything comical, except for the bit where he comes out and the announcer tells him that the last number ran over so there’s no time for him right now--maybe later. He skulks off the ice. He comes back out a few numbers later, and again the announcer tells him “I told you, not now!” It was really cute. Anyhow, both numbers were just lovely--simple and elegant.

ACT I

Nice opening number introducing the cast.

Ina/Zimmerman, "Look at Little Sister" They were SO full of energy! They were just terrific. She looks radiant, and he--well, I never realized how good looking this man is, despite the fact that people on this board rave about this constantly! I had binoculars and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Well, I guess you were all incredibly RIGHT!

Yuka Sato, "Misty" She absolutely glides over the ice. Even when she was right in front of me, I couldn’t hear the blades on the ice, she’s that smooth. She jumps so beautifully and effortlessly.

Sale/Pelletier, "Come Away with Me" They relate so well to each other on the ice, always looking at each other. This Norah Jones music was perfect for them. Choreography was not too intricate, but it didn’t really matter.

Kyoko, Jenni, Yuka interlude, "Hands of Time" Okay, this seemed utterly meaningless to me. They were carrying hot pink sticks and waving them around.

Todd Eldredge, "Flamenco" Todd did a terrific job with this program. Great jumps (3 Axel included). Audience loves him.

Oksana Baiul, "Ain't it Funny" She really loves to skate in front of an audience. Triple jump landings still wonky, but that’s okay. She let out a big roar of satisfaction at the end.

B&S "Let Me Fall” Well, that’s exactly what they did in this Josh Groban number: They fell all over the place. First she fell on a throw jump. Then one of them fell and in true domino effect, the other fell over, too. I used my binoculars just to see if they even look at each other. They don’t. Must have been an off night, because Show42 wrote in her Fresno review that they were “glorious.”

Alexei Yagudin, "Memorial:" The crowd loves him, and he did not disappoint. He is not doing too much jumping and there isn’t a 3 axel in sight, but that’s okay.

ACT II

Meno/Sand, "Shall We Dance” This was exquisite. They were absolute perfection. They look so happy skating together.

Todd Eldredge, "When You Come Back to Me Again” Now this is what I’m used to seeing Todd do, and he does it so well. Another huge 3 axel and an extremely appreciative crowd. The crowd is very knowledgeable, and it knows when a 3 axel is being done, and the roar is impressive.

Yuka, David, Todd S, John "Sunscreen" Cute number.

Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze, "Kalinka" The crowd gasped, but not for the reasons you would expect. She tripped out of a jump that was too close to the edge of the ice, and she ended up running ONTO the very low board right in front of the first row of the audience, ran a few steps, managed not to fall over, then came back onto the ice again. It was horrifying. She could have really hurt herself.

Oksana Baiul, "Swan Lake:" This was absolutely gorgeous. This is the kind of program she was born to skate. She just becomes the swan--elegance personified. There is no skater (except for maybe Sasha) that can achieve this kind of beauty on ice. Every single movement is done with her entire body--it’s just beautiful.

Alexei Yagudin, "Ain't That A Shame” Nice jumps, so much energy!

Sale/Pelletier, "Ballroom” They were introduced as some couple with funny names making their farewell appearance, pretending to hate each other, making obnoxious faces at each other (yes, I pulled out the binoculars again for this one). It was SO cute!

Cast, "Time” – beautifully choreographed final number. Everyone (even Elena, for once) was smiling--especially Oksana.

***********************************

The show was FANTASTIC. I smiled the entire time! The best part was dlkksk8fan and I finally met! What a sweetie! We talked so much before the show that RG Jr. decided to take a load off and sit on the floor while munching on her kettle corn.

Mr. RG joked that he wanted a portion of his money back due to the number of trips and falls by Elena & Anton.

I ran into one of my real estate friends during intermission, and she said she wished they would introduce the skater before each performance because, unlike me, she doesn’t put the names to the faces without an intro. The only intros they made in that fashion were for the guests, Scott and Oksana.

If you have a chance to see this show, GO!

Great that you liked the show!!

But about poor Elena and Anton it's not so wise to make fun of them just because they had an off night..Jamie and David have those too and he even fell oh his bad two shows ago, but nobody implies they hate eachother and so on! Have a bit of mercy on the poor guys for once!

Thanks for the review, RG. Sounds like you had a great time even with the few trips and bobbles. I've got two weeks to go and I can't wait to see this!

Nan

Thanks! Can you believe....someone left tickets for me?! I'm going to the show tonight at the Pond and an aquaintance is going to it in LA. I think the "theme" of the show has to do with "time", and so, I'm going to see what common "time" thread runs through those numbers.

Great review, RGal.........Kurt was one of the guests at the Fresno show, and they pulled the same stint on him as they apparantly did with Scott, telling him that the skater before him took took many bows and there wasn't time for him to skate until later.....42

RealtorGal you beat me to the reviews and I have a program!

First of all I have to say that it was a pleasure to meet RealtorGal and her family-a adorable RGal Jr and a very nice Mr RealtorGal. Just not enough time to discuss skating.

My husband and I very much enjoyed the show.

I'll try and add some things that hasn't been said.

The theme was "Time" so a lot of the show related to that one theme.
The "Hands Of Time" skated by Kyoko, Jenni, & Yuka was the only program that didn't make sense. I think they were suppose to be holding the hands of a clock and representing a clock face, sort of ridiculous.

It just wasn't Elena & Anton's night. She had a bad fall on a throw triple loop. Then Anton fell while doing back cross overs and took Elena down with him. They then did a throw salchow that left Elena with no ice. After she landed she had no where to go but on the matting at the edge of the ice where she somehow did not cut off anyones toes and made it back on the ice in a split second. I love Elena & Anton's skating, but I feel they haven't bridged the gap from amateur to professional yet.

"Look At Little Sister" program that Kyoko & John do is so full of energy(just like RealtorGal said) and I agree John is VERY good looking!

Jamie & David's second act "Ballroom Strictly Ballroom" was very funny with great skating. They have definitly left amateur skating and have become wonderful performers.

Jenni & Todd were very elegant. Love is in the air when they skate.

Yuka Sato's skating brought tears to my eyes-such perfection. She does her triples so well that they look effortless and she does float above the ice. I could have watched her skate all night, beautiful. She did this routine with David, Todd, & John (lucky girl) called "Sunscreen" and if my eyes saw it right she jumps straight onto their arms where they then throw her over their heads while she rotates a couple of times and the men turn half way to catch her on the other side-WOW!

Oksana Baiul was one of the guest performers and even though she had some trouble landing some jumps she moves around the ice full speed and really has lovely spins.

The other guest performer was Scott Hamilton. I love his footwork and his back flips. He did some nice double Axel's, and at 43 I admire the guy for his skating longevity. Still a crowd favorite and fun to watch.

My husband loved Alexei Yagudin skating except for the "Memorial" programs music-to heavy for him. In the second act he came out skating to a song by Cheap Trick and rocked the house with tons of energy.

The men had a group skate where they came out with dull grey uniforms and then took those off to show brightly colored suits! I love these group numbers with the men. They also did a number with brooms-clever.

I thought the performer of the night was Todd Eldredge. He did a hugh triple Axel right in front of me and that wasn't the only one he did that night. With his quality of skating he could have been US National Champion this year, but thank goodness he didn't stay amateur because the pros need skaters like him.


The only thing I thought was that Stars On Ice really needs another strong female skater and I was thinking how perfect Michelle Kwan would be out there.

Boy I can't wait til Feb 28 th=that's when they come to Mass.
Everyone seems to be giving good reviews. I'm glad that Todd E. is doing so good because he is my favorite male skater. Kristi and Paul W. are going to be the guest skaters for the show I'm going to. I'm glad-I've seen Kristi before and I'd love to see her again but I have never seen Paul so it's going to be an extra special nite. Like I said I CAN'T WAIT !!!!!

cb

When SOI skated in Fresno, Elena and Anton were perfect, their throws, jumps, footwork, edge work.........they didn't miss a beat. I'm guessing that maybe they just had an off night in San Diego............... 42

So far, the consensus seems to be that SOI is THE show to see this year and I am very encouraged by the glowing reviews. I am seeing the Chicago show (among my four total, LOL) in about two weeks and I can't wait!! Thanx for posting your great reviews!!

I've read on the "Stars on Ice" actual message board the opinions of some really disappointed in this year's show. That's really too bad...I saw the show in Bakersfield (on ice seats for the first time!!! Whoo hoo!) and thought it was great! The transition numbers seem a little weird, I'll admit! But the skating was wonderful! We had a couple falls in our show, (Elena and Anton kind of crumpling onto each other! and Johnny Z sliding into the audience !! come to mind!) But Yuka was flawless, David and Jaime, although I don't care too much for them, were great, Elena and Anton's second number was great, Todd E was fantastic (doubled one jump in two programs, and NO ONE cared! Partial standing O for Toddy), Alexei brings the audience alive with his second program, just on and on with the quality of the people involved. Anyone who has not gone and is a fan of SKATING in general, I really think it's an enjoyable show! (BTW, I've never been a strong Eldredge fan, and I STARTED the standing O after his second program, that's how great it was!)

Kasey

I saw the show in Anaheim, same as San Diego, & everyone was "on"! It was great! Only Baiul had trouble on 2 jumps. They did not go down, just messy, & it didn't interupt the number.

As for the overall show, the exit comments I heard (from center ice in the comp seats...so, it would be w/local coaches, skater's friends, relatives, choreographers, etc) was that it was one of the truly "freshly-thought-out" shows of the last few years. Now, these people might have a different slant than others, but I agree w/them. I've not seen so much creative invention in EVERY number since Scott Hamilton did his "lounge act" schtich w/flashing-light costume several years back. It seemed to me that most numbers had that sort of "surprise" affect at some point in the choreography. I also think that having the time theme did much to connect the numbers to ea. other. I'm sorry this did not make sense to some viewers. But, keeping in mind that every number has to do with "Time" (time of life, passing time, timing, time present or past...or even ticking little clocks in the "Hands of Time" number w/Jenni, Kyoko & Yuka, etc)...you make the connection. I see Christopher Dean's input in this show.

I also thought the show was well-balanced w/numbers that: held you speechless, energized the audience, made one ponder, & numbers that made you laugh. I appreciated the mix of skaters (not just having the paired pairs stay together & the singles do their own thing....but having numbers w/partners switched & the boys throwing the boys around) For instance, the "Sunscreen" number had all guys & one girl...& the spoken word of the "song" was as important to the number as was anything else.

Well, I could go on. Just go and enjoy.