Hey all, so as you may (or may not) know, I attended the Caesars Tribute II show (cast here: http://www.stargamesinc.com/ct2skaters.html), which will be airing on NBC on New Year's Day 2012. Below are my (lengthy) thoughts on the show:
Just got back from the Caesar’s Tribute show last night! It was a great time, my first time in Atlantic City, so I made sure to have time to check out the place and do some walking around prior to the show.
Anyway, the show started a few minutes late, but before the actual show began the producer came out to speak to us. He welcomed us, and told us it was being taped for a TV special. He had us do loud, spontaneous cheers to simulate action during the show (I guess, for the moment the TV broadcast begins, for instance). I thought that was really interesting and I’d like to know how they do it. Shortly after that, the bottom of the stadium began filling with dry ice smoke, then they flashed all the stage lights, lowered the central lights- they appeared to be either testing things out or gathering more footage for the TV broadcast (wasn’t quite sure). The producer came out and listed all the skaters participating in the show and it was real interesting to hear the crowd’s reaction to each of the names- I don’t remember who got the biggest reaction- may have been Dick Button.
The actual show started with all the skaters coming out for the opening and skating around. I thought this was really cool because they skated around in a circle of smoke and then dispersed to do their moves.
I forgot the exact skate order (the order I list skaters is likely NOT the order they skated in), but I believe Nancy Kerrigan was first up. At the time I thought she was just alright, although it was really cool to see her skate. She fell on one of her jumps. We learned later on in the show that she was battling a case of strep throat (she sounded quite sick later on)- so with that in mind, I’m glad she came out and did her performance anyway despite that. [UPDATE 12/5: Joannie Rochette was next...skated to "True Colors". Interesting thing about her was, I remember seeing her on SOI last year and thinking while she was a good skater, she needed to work on her audience connection. That wasn't a problem here. I'm drawing a blank at what she skated to, but I do know that she really put heart and soul into her performance. At least that's how it felt live- not sure how it will come across on TV, if it will be lost. Sometimes I feel that TV doesn't do such a great job of conveying PRESENCE- what I'm realizing is a key component to true audience connection- because TV is constantly following every skater around with the same angles, etc.] Liz Manley was one of my favorites of the evening, she really got the crowd going with her routine. She shows such a joy for what she is doing and I’m sure she is happy to be back out on the ice. Again, no fancy tricks needed here. I’m already starting to forget who skated to what but it was an upbeat number. Latecia(sp?) Hubert skated to a number I didn’t recognize- not too familiar with her, didn’t like her quite as much as the others, but in a star-studded field like this, that still means it was quite an entertaining performance! Yuka Sato reminded us why she is, well, Yuka Sato, right? Her audience connection is rivaled by few out of all the skaters I’ve seen. About a third of the way through the show, Nancy Kerrigan came out and gave her speech for NBC sports. She introduced the next skater, Oly silver medalist Sasha Cohen, who did “Dos Gardenias” by the Buena Vista Social Club. [UPDATE 12/5: She did not do any jumps in this routine.] I have to say that after years of having underwhelmed me on SOI, this was actually quite an entertaining performance from her- she really seemed into the song and had much more audience connection with this piece than I ever remember seeing from her. [UPDATE 12/5: The Ice Theatre of New York also gave a performance about 1/3 way through. Very likely they will be omitted from the TV broadcast, which would be too bad because they were great as well.] Gordeeva was cool too, although she was the only one other than Kerrigan to fall on a jump during the show. [UPDATE 12/5: Lipinski skated in this show- she was in the opening as well as the finale- don't think she did a full solo, however.] After the 20-minute intermission, there were a few more skaters. Sarah Hughes skated- I think she was the only one (other than Liz Manley??) to not do any jumps in her routine. I have to say Miki Ando and Shizuka Arakawa are really great show skaters- they really have a soft style on the ice and have that “really entertaining without fancy tricks” thing about them…they got great applauses after their performances, probably more so than when they were introduced. And, how great it was to see Nicole Bobek back out on the ice after what she has been through. You know, they are all solid performers in their own right. Amazing to see all these legends skate in one single show. After the skaters skated, they did the tribute portion of the show…Dick Button came out and gave his speech on how he met and knew Peggy Fleming- and he really hasn’t lost a beat after all these years. Still cracking jokes, still making what some posters called “Buttonisms”…then some of the skaters (I think it was Hughes, Kerrigan and Manley?) came out and did a sort of on-ice tribute performance to one of Fleming’s favorite pieces. Then Fleming addressed the audience and accepted what was a great honor, etc. (after the show, one of the audience members noted how Fleming refers to figure skating as “our sport” as opposed to “my sport” like many others do. I agree). All the skaters got out, skated a finale, joined Dick and Peggy on the stage- it was really quite a moment there, I felt. Then they did their bows, and that was the end of “the show” portion…
Then they came out and did the TV re-takes for the Jan 1 broadcast. Kerrigan, Manley, Hughes and Gordeeva did re-takes. Not too sure why Hughes and Manley did the retakes since they did not do jumps- maybe the TV crew wanted certain parts of the program re-done for different angles, artistic flair, etc. Anyway, this was one of my favorite parts of the show (too bad some people didn’t stick around for it!) The producer told us to cheer, give them the same energy we did when they first performed, etc. And we sure did! First to re-take was Gordeeva, I believe. She only needed one re-take, nailed the problem jump the first time. Hughes came out and did her re-take. Nancy Kerrigan came out and did hers…man, it was just not her night tonight…felt sorry for her, really. She needed FOUR re-takes and I don’t even think she was able to fully nail the jump. Twice she fell and the other two times she turned out of the jump. I think they finally just said “good enough” and moved onto the next one, lol…Liz Manley came out and did her re-take- she ended up doing two. It was funny- after the first she was talking with the producer, guess they told her to do it again and when she got back out on the ice she let out a sigh, which got a laugh out of us…hehe. Then, Kerrigan had to come out AGAIN and re-do her speech, since they told her she talked too much the first time…she sounded really sick though, she needed two re-takes of the speech portion and sort of struggled with both parts…oh well. Guess the TV crew has their editing work cut out for them! They thanked us for coming out, and that was the end of the show!
Also...Peggy Fleming wished us Happy New Year at the end of her speech! (It is being aired on New Year's Day on NBC)
I also attended the aftershow meet & greet and wrote up a detailed summary of what happened there, but I think I'll leave that for the Champion Skaters On & Off ice thread where I feel it's more appropriate.
Pics- I posted several on my Twitter feed (first 15 images as of 12/4/11): https://twitter.com/#!/mz734_FS/media/grid
Just got back from the Caesar’s Tribute show last night! It was a great time, my first time in Atlantic City, so I made sure to have time to check out the place and do some walking around prior to the show.
Anyway, the show started a few minutes late, but before the actual show began the producer came out to speak to us. He welcomed us, and told us it was being taped for a TV special. He had us do loud, spontaneous cheers to simulate action during the show (I guess, for the moment the TV broadcast begins, for instance). I thought that was really interesting and I’d like to know how they do it. Shortly after that, the bottom of the stadium began filling with dry ice smoke, then they flashed all the stage lights, lowered the central lights- they appeared to be either testing things out or gathering more footage for the TV broadcast (wasn’t quite sure). The producer came out and listed all the skaters participating in the show and it was real interesting to hear the crowd’s reaction to each of the names- I don’t remember who got the biggest reaction- may have been Dick Button.
The actual show started with all the skaters coming out for the opening and skating around. I thought this was really cool because they skated around in a circle of smoke and then dispersed to do their moves.
I forgot the exact skate order (the order I list skaters is likely NOT the order they skated in), but I believe Nancy Kerrigan was first up. At the time I thought she was just alright, although it was really cool to see her skate. She fell on one of her jumps. We learned later on in the show that she was battling a case of strep throat (she sounded quite sick later on)- so with that in mind, I’m glad she came out and did her performance anyway despite that. [UPDATE 12/5: Joannie Rochette was next...skated to "True Colors". Interesting thing about her was, I remember seeing her on SOI last year and thinking while she was a good skater, she needed to work on her audience connection. That wasn't a problem here. I'm drawing a blank at what she skated to, but I do know that she really put heart and soul into her performance. At least that's how it felt live- not sure how it will come across on TV, if it will be lost. Sometimes I feel that TV doesn't do such a great job of conveying PRESENCE- what I'm realizing is a key component to true audience connection- because TV is constantly following every skater around with the same angles, etc.] Liz Manley was one of my favorites of the evening, she really got the crowd going with her routine. She shows such a joy for what she is doing and I’m sure she is happy to be back out on the ice. Again, no fancy tricks needed here. I’m already starting to forget who skated to what but it was an upbeat number. Latecia(sp?) Hubert skated to a number I didn’t recognize- not too familiar with her, didn’t like her quite as much as the others, but in a star-studded field like this, that still means it was quite an entertaining performance! Yuka Sato reminded us why she is, well, Yuka Sato, right? Her audience connection is rivaled by few out of all the skaters I’ve seen. About a third of the way through the show, Nancy Kerrigan came out and gave her speech for NBC sports. She introduced the next skater, Oly silver medalist Sasha Cohen, who did “Dos Gardenias” by the Buena Vista Social Club. [UPDATE 12/5: She did not do any jumps in this routine.] I have to say that after years of having underwhelmed me on SOI, this was actually quite an entertaining performance from her- she really seemed into the song and had much more audience connection with this piece than I ever remember seeing from her. [UPDATE 12/5: The Ice Theatre of New York also gave a performance about 1/3 way through. Very likely they will be omitted from the TV broadcast, which would be too bad because they were great as well.] Gordeeva was cool too, although she was the only one other than Kerrigan to fall on a jump during the show. [UPDATE 12/5: Lipinski skated in this show- she was in the opening as well as the finale- don't think she did a full solo, however.] After the 20-minute intermission, there were a few more skaters. Sarah Hughes skated- I think she was the only one (other than Liz Manley??) to not do any jumps in her routine. I have to say Miki Ando and Shizuka Arakawa are really great show skaters- they really have a soft style on the ice and have that “really entertaining without fancy tricks” thing about them…they got great applauses after their performances, probably more so than when they were introduced. And, how great it was to see Nicole Bobek back out on the ice after what she has been through. You know, they are all solid performers in their own right. Amazing to see all these legends skate in one single show. After the skaters skated, they did the tribute portion of the show…Dick Button came out and gave his speech on how he met and knew Peggy Fleming- and he really hasn’t lost a beat after all these years. Still cracking jokes, still making what some posters called “Buttonisms”…then some of the skaters (I think it was Hughes, Kerrigan and Manley?) came out and did a sort of on-ice tribute performance to one of Fleming’s favorite pieces. Then Fleming addressed the audience and accepted what was a great honor, etc. (after the show, one of the audience members noted how Fleming refers to figure skating as “our sport” as opposed to “my sport” like many others do. I agree). All the skaters got out, skated a finale, joined Dick and Peggy on the stage- it was really quite a moment there, I felt. Then they did their bows, and that was the end of “the show” portion…
Then they came out and did the TV re-takes for the Jan 1 broadcast. Kerrigan, Manley, Hughes and Gordeeva did re-takes. Not too sure why Hughes and Manley did the retakes since they did not do jumps- maybe the TV crew wanted certain parts of the program re-done for different angles, artistic flair, etc. Anyway, this was one of my favorite parts of the show (too bad some people didn’t stick around for it!) The producer told us to cheer, give them the same energy we did when they first performed, etc. And we sure did! First to re-take was Gordeeva, I believe. She only needed one re-take, nailed the problem jump the first time. Hughes came out and did her re-take. Nancy Kerrigan came out and did hers…man, it was just not her night tonight…felt sorry for her, really. She needed FOUR re-takes and I don’t even think she was able to fully nail the jump. Twice she fell and the other two times she turned out of the jump. I think they finally just said “good enough” and moved onto the next one, lol…Liz Manley came out and did her re-take- she ended up doing two. It was funny- after the first she was talking with the producer, guess they told her to do it again and when she got back out on the ice she let out a sigh, which got a laugh out of us…hehe. Then, Kerrigan had to come out AGAIN and re-do her speech, since they told her she talked too much the first time…she sounded really sick though, she needed two re-takes of the speech portion and sort of struggled with both parts…oh well. Guess the TV crew has their editing work cut out for them! They thanked us for coming out, and that was the end of the show!
Also...Peggy Fleming wished us Happy New Year at the end of her speech! (It is being aired on New Year's Day on NBC)
I also attended the aftershow meet & greet and wrote up a detailed summary of what happened there, but I think I'll leave that for the Champion Skaters On & Off ice thread where I feel it's more appropriate.
Pics- I posted several on my Twitter feed (first 15 images as of 12/4/11): https://twitter.com/#!/mz734_FS/media/grid
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