2022 US Stars on Ice

[el henry]

If anyone has been to the Canadian show, I wish they would start a thread.

Here are the American SOI cast that trains in Canada (Madison Hubbell, Zach Donohue, Jason Brown, Madison Chock and Evan Bates) sending good wishes to SOI Canada on their opening night):

 

[CoyoteChris]

Glad you had a good time on your cruise @CoyoteChris, and God bless the Philippines, whose workers keep those ships seaworthy.

More importantly, glad you got tickets to SOI, even if your lovely wife could not go, and hope you will have an excellent time. . Use that aisle seat to get out of there before the adoption pitch. That's what I did with my singleton aisle seat, and it was a good move.

Does anyone have the skate order ? I wonder who skates right before the commercial. Aisle seat good.

 

[el henry]

Does anyone have the skate order ? I wonder who skates right before the commercial. Aisle seat good.

Have my program in front of me to confirm.

The last individual skate of "Act I" is Alexa and Brandon, "Fix You". Then there is the cast skating to some modern RnB (The Weeknd? don't know the group/singer). Once you are done clapping for them, and they're off the ice, you're good to go.

ETA: a very good fancam of the final cast skate of Act I.

 

[Mathman]

ETA: a very good fancam of the final cast skate of Act I.

That is a good fan cam! Go, fan!!!

 

[CoyoteChris]

That is a good fan cam! Go, fan!!!

Probably hauled off to jail by video police

 

[CoyoteChris]

Have my program in front of me to confirm.

The last individual skate of "Act I" is Alexa and Brandon, "Fix You". Then there is the cast skating to some modern RnB (The Weeknd? don't know the group/singer). Once you are done clapping for them, and they're off the ice, you're good to go.

ETA: a very good fancam of the final cast skate of Act I.

Excellent. How come they can remember all the choreography and I go into the basement and cant remember why I am there?

 

[el henry]

Excellent. How come they can remember all the choreography and I go into the basement and cant remember why I am there?

I feel your pain. You might like this story:

Alysa and Jason were on an IG Live at an SOI practice. (I think it was Alysa's IG, but I cannot remember, it could have been someone else's and Alysa and Jason were "visiting"). Paraphrasing:

Jason said, Do you know how amazing Alysa is? She doesn't just know her own choreography in the group numbers, she knows everyone else. I can barely remember where I am supposed to be on the ice, and Alysa knows that for everyone. Alysa smiled and said, yeah, I just figured I learn it for everyone.

Alysa from the very good FanCam person:

 

[el henry]

Separate post for a separate topic:

just a coupla fans chilling at the San Jose show

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Excellent. How come they can remember all the choreography and I go into the basement and cant remember why I am there?

Alot is muscle memory, and then there are those of us that just have the talent to remember everyone's choreo, like Alysa in that article above. Most become choreographers LOL!

 

[Mathman]

Separate post for a separate topic:

just a coupla fans chilling at the San Jose show

 

[Princessroja]

Excellent. How come they can remember all the choreography and I go into the basement and cant remember why I am there?

Muscle memory! I don't have a very good memory in general, but put on music I danced to 10 years ago and I'll start doing the choreography. There's something about seeing choreography AND hearing musical cues AND doing it physically that makes it much easier to remember. A lot of choreography also flows well from one step to another, so it feels logical to go to the next step. And, of course, it's a skill like any other, and it gets better/easier with practice.

 

[el henry]

@CoyoteChris, you may have seen (or not) this article in a Spokane newspaper promoting SOI.

Jason has very fond memories of your town. Of course Jason can give you an enthusiastic account of pretty much everything

“I have had the best experiences in Spokane,” he said. “For me, it’s the audience, as well. So receptive, so supportive. I just had the best time getting to perform in front of such an amazing crowd.”

Icing on the cake: 'Stars on Ice' tour gives U.S. figure skaters a special way to cap an Olympic season

It's been 12 years since Jason Brown first came to Spokane and won a junior title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Since 2010, the Illinois-raised skater has won a host of national and international metals, claimed the U.S. men's championship in 2015 and skated in two Olympic Games...

www.spokesman.com

 

[purplecat]

Anaheim SOI was great! Really big and appreciative crowd. And it was well skated. Mariah Bell fell in her Gaga program but that was the only fall. The group numbers were so good and all the skaters seemed to be having a blast. Nathan was "the man". Gosh his backflip has so much hang time it really is incredible! Jason's musicality is of course out of this world. It was funny when Alysa wore a Mighty Ducks mask for her number... https://twitter.com/starsonice/status/1528270752591626240 I really liked seeing the competitive programs... Rocketman, Sinnerman, Alien/Astronaut, Janet Jackson RD, Vincent, Fix You all were super. Such a wonderful night capped off with the too fun Elton John medley. So great to see skating in person again, first time for me since the pandemic.

 

[el henry]

Anaheim SOI was great! Really big and appreciative crowd. And it was well skated. Mariah Bell fell in her Gaga program but that was the only fall. The group numbers were so good and all the skaters seemed to be having a blast. Nathan was "the man". Gosh his backflip has so much hang time it really is incredible! Jason's musicality is of course out of this world. It was funny when Alysa wore a Mighty Ducks mask for her number... https://twitter.com/starsonice/status/1528270752591626240 I really liked seeing the competitive programs... Rocketman, Sinnerman, Alien/Astronaut, Janet Jackson RD, Vincent, Fix You all were super. Such a wonderful night capped off with the too fun Elton John medley. So great to see skating in person again, first time for me since the pandemic.

Thank you for the review, purplecat, so glad you had a good time and that the crowd was appreciative,

I'm curious, since they weren't at "my" show, what did you think of Kaitlin and Jean-Luc?

 

[Kitt]

Yes, I'm curious about that tuxedo number too.

 

[purplecat]

Hawayek and Baker came out after the Wonderful World opening of Act 2. I thought it was a fun number, but not as fun as their famous Swan Lake spoof! I felt like there was a lot of dancing in just one spot and not that much "skating", but the dancing was fun. They then came out for the bows at the end with the rest of the cast. I selfishly would have loved to have seen their gorgeous FD of this year, but am glad I got to see them skate in person for the first time.

 

[CoyoteChris]

@CoyoteChris, you may have seen (or not) this article in a Spokane newspaper promoting SOI.

Jason has very fond memories of your town. Of course Jason can give you an enthusiastic account of pretty much everything

“I have had the best experiences in Spokane,” he said. “For me, it’s the audience, as well. So receptive, so supportive. I just had the best time getting to perform in front of such an amazing crowd.”

Icing on the cake: 'Stars on Ice' tour gives U.S. figure skaters a special way to cap an Olympic season

It's been 12 years since Jason Brown first came to Spokane and won a junior title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Since 2010, the Illinois-raised skater has won a host of national and international metals, claimed the U.S. men's championship in 2015 and skated in two Olympic Games...

www.spokesman.com

Saw the article! I am ready for Friday night. He wont recognize the place. Just across the street to the north they are putting in a big stadium and next to the arena is a new huge indoor track facility with variable geometry track. I havent been down there in a year. Gotta check out how they now do the parking....

 

[CoyoteChris]

Anaheim SOI was great! Really big and appreciative crowd. And it was well skated. Mariah Bell fell in her Gaga program but that was the only fall. The group numbers were so good and all the skaters seemed to be having a blast. Nathan was "the man". Gosh his backflip has so much hang time it really is incredible! Jason's musicality is of course out of this world. It was funny when Alysa wore a Mighty Ducks mask for her number... https://twitter.com/starsonice/status/1528270752591626240 I really liked seeing the competitive programs... Rocketman, Sinnerman, Alien/Astronaut, Janet Jackson RD, Vincent, Fix You all were super. Such a wonderful night capped off with the too fun Elton John medley. So great to see skating in person again, first time for me since the pandemic.

I have seen oh so many Galas and Stars on ice and Champions on ice, I am glad they are putting in some competitive programs. My very first live skating event was the 1998 Champions on ice. I got the last seat. 70 shows in 57 cities. 30 international stars that read like a whose who in figure skating. I was hooked. I also fell in love with Anjelika

note that even then in this two hour special that muting had to occure due to copywright issues.

1998 Champions on Ice

The entire event shown on U.S. television, no commercials. From Springfield Civic Center, Springfield, MA **AUDIO MUTED DURING SURYA BONALY AND A PORTION O...

www.youtube.com

 

[reneerose]

I don't think Holt is spending any money on these spiels.

Scott was adopted, he and his wife have two adopted children. I did not listen to the spiel, but presumably Scott's children may have been adopted through this agency.

Scott owns SOI and he can let whoever he wants ask for donations. I just found the "Lights down at intermission" aspect to be misleading.

So fair warning to all!

I was at the SAP Center, San Jose, CA show and they did not announce Intermission, though it would have been said when the timing of the intermission was in the SOI program if the audience had bought one. The lights were up to let people go for their break after the Scott Hamilton slide show spiel before the live guy spiel if I recall ?? anyone correct me if I"m wrong because my memory is fuzzy.....

Though the Holt International spiel guy asked for money/$39.00 monthly/sponsorship (not tied into anything if you really don't want to continue, like a subscription) of children up for adoption was possibly a hard sell type of tactic, as you said, because it's a Scott Hamilton production, he can do whatever he wants to promote Holt International since he was adopted and believes in the charity.

I just wish they would not have put so much on the spot pressure to commit to sponsoring a child, they could have handed out brochures at the souvenir counter or nearby them as it was much worse than having an offering plate passed around in church. People aren't normally forced on the spot there (or at best should never be).

And then the guy who was giving the spiel was then pitting Northern California against Southern California like some sort of baseball rivalry LOL. I think he was even some sort of standup comic. I would have handled it better if Scott himself was live at the event asking as I'm sure he would have done a more subtle job...maybe...

Anyway, I loved the show. I haven't been to a SOI since I think 1994. My seat was in the lower level and I went with my cousin. The whole show was great. Since I hadn't gone to any SOI since 1994 it was a vast improvement in production and flow of course LOL. I loved the baby pics or growing up pics of the skaters as each was introduced on the big screen monitors and them through their skating careers with their families and parents. It being an Olympic year and the first SOI after 2 years of it being on hold it was special and I'm so glad I went. Loved all of the numbers. I think I agree with a reviewer who may have said that the Chock and Bates "alien" program was so much better as a show production, gave it more atmosphere with the darker lighting. Nathan was great, Vincent's Vincent was great, Jason was great, all the ladies were lovely, and the final number was so full of energy and unison. Gold medal performances from all. The only thing I really miss though is having skaters from outside of America participate in the U.S. shows. I wish they would have crossover skaters from the Canadian show and vice versa. Canada SOI got Satoko. Why can't we have her in the U.S. show too? Or Javier, or Keegan LOL. I'm sure it's more of an IMG thing these days though and probably it's something wrapped up in representation and being paid fees to perform maybe?

One other thing SOI reminded me of: it's the best showcase for the sport of figure skating, you get creative artistry, tech, illegal backflips, romantic quiet numbers, pop, synchro skating, and awesome choreography. Jeffrey Buttle is a genius. The group numbers were executed awesomely and beautifully in unison. I would expect nothing less from such a great cast! Well done all!

 

[el henry]

..... whole post

Thank you so much for your report, I'm glad you enjoyed the show. I have not yet heard from one person sorry they went.

With regard to Holt International, I could have misspoken because I did not stay. The lights were still down and Scott Hamilton appeared on the "corner screens". That was my cue to leave. I think it looked like it was still part of the show at that point, but that's just me.

SOI in the US has not had international skaters for some time, which is quite a shame. As you pointed out, Canadians, or you can imagine Donovan Carrillo, who I think would draw in new fans, if only on the West Coast? But sigh, those days are gone.

And this group of skaters really really brought it.