All the Stars on Ice skaters were in town the day before the show, and once again I was able to meet most of them! Since I had gotten most of their autographs last year, I didn't bother them with that, I just got a picture with them and talked to them some. Lucinda Ruh was the first skater that I saw. She is one of my favorites and she is so sweet!!! I told her that I had met her last year and we talked for a minute, it was great! :) Then I got a picture with Katarina Witt, she asked if I was coming to the show. Todd Eldredge was waiting for some of the skaters to come down so I talked to him for a few minutes, he is SOOOOOO nice!!! He's another one of my favs. I told him that I had front row seats for the show and he said he'd look for me!! :) Scott Hamilton was there and I told him that I saw him at my gym last summer! A little while later Kurt Browning came down and I got a picture with him (and an autograph in my friend's notebook!). He is SO nice. Anjelika Krylova seemed happy to sign an autograph (I've never met her before) and was really nice! Oleg Ovsiannikov seemed nice too but didn't say much. Tara Lipinski was the last to come downstairs and I told her that I had skated with her in Nashville and she signed the picture of me and her. She's so sweet! A little bit later I saw Denis Petrov come in and I got a picture with him, and then a bunch of skaters came in and sat around the lobby, Todd and Scott, and also Kristi Yamaguchi, Jenni Meno and Steven Cousins. I got a picture with all of them, they were all really nice! I can't wait for the show tomorrow!!!!
The show was great, but I have to admit that I liked last year better. I had on ice, near center seats. Here's my review!
SUPERSTAR: Lucinda Ruh is my favorite skater in this show and she was spectacular! In this routine she starst to spin before the lights come on, so when they come on, she is spinning at full speed! Awesome!
BLACK BETTY: Pretty good routine, each skater was announced.
LADY MARMALADE: All the girls in the show were in this, pretty good.
TANGO: Don't remember too much of this routine.
LORD OF THE RINGS: Todd Eldredge's Olympic long program (and the music is from my favorite movie!), with 2 triple axels landed clean! He's my other favorite in this show, and he was great. He was THE crowd favorite too!!!
GUITAR: Kurt Browning, lots of footwork.
COLOR OF ROSES: Very pretty routine by Tara Lipinski. She hit all her jumps, I think 2 triple toes and a triple Salchow.
VARIETY TANGO: Began with Kristi, Tara and Katarina talking about what they look for in men, while Steven, Kurt and Denis tried to get their attention. But the girls skated off right past them and they were left to skate with those lit-up table-mirror-chair things.
RENDEZVOUS: Ilia Kulik.
LAST OF THE MOHICANS: Krylova & Ovssianikov. I had never seen them skate live before, and they were great! This is a very original routine.
TOM JONES MEDLEY: Steven Cousins, pretty cool routine.
GOLD: Kristi Yamaguchi, probably one of my favorite routines that I've seen from her. She landed a solid triple lutz.
IT TAKES CHAIR TO TANGO: Meno & Sand. This involves Jenni sitting in a chair almost the entire time and Todd skates around holding onto the chair. They did a cool "death spiral" with it.
PICK UP THE PIECES: Ilia Kulik, I liked this routine MUCH better than his first, it had much more personality.
G-O-L-D: Tara, Katarina, and Kristi. They passed a microphone around and talked about what it tkaes to win gold.
BECAUSE WE CAN: This was the finale of the first half, and the men wore fishnet hose! Really funny routine.
NO ONE IN THE WORLD: Lucinda Ruh. No jumps but lots of beautiful spins!
RAINY DAYS: Tara and Kurt. This was kind of strange and very short.
THE FIRST TIME: Meno & Sand. Thsi was a slow routine but they did it well, and Jenni landed a throw double axel.
TRUST A TRY: Kristi Yamaguchi. Didn't like this routine much.
OH YEAH: Cool routine with Lucinda, Denis, Anjelikna and Oleg. The lights are all outs, and they skate with flashlights, ending with Lucinda spinning and the others' lights forming a triangle over her.
RUBBERBAND MAN: Ilia Kulik. This reminded me of one of his routines from last year.
CASE CONTINUES: Katarina Witt. She has been doing this routine for a WHILE now. She landed a double axel.
YOUR SONG: Todd Eldredge, another triple axel! Great routine!
ONE DAY I'LL FLY AWAY: Kristi & Denis, they looked like a pair that's been together for a while! They did some great lifts.
ELEVATION: Kurt Browning. Again lots of footwork, and some good jumps.
AMERICAN TRIBUTE: Tara Lipinski, graceful beginning, great footwork in the middle, and it ended with an American flag being hung right over the ice. Great!
BEFORE THE SECOND SHOW: Several songs were in this, all the skaters in it, but it just didn't seem like a big finale kind of routine. At the end the skaters came around and shook hands with the audience members. Oleg & Ilia went by really fast and just kinda hit hands with people (including me!), but Katarina & Lucinda shook hands and said hi, it was great! When Katarina came to me, my camera was in my right hand so I held out my left hand like an idiot! :P
Almost every skater got a standing ovation! The crowd was really into it. The skaters looked great, NO ONE fell!!! Really good show.
After the show, there was a group of people standing back by where the bus was, so I HAD to go see what was going on, and Katarina Witt was signing autographs! Since I had bought a program, I wanted to get it signed, so I went over and she signed it, and also Tara, Kurt, and Lucinda! Kurt was filming everyone with his video camera!! Lucinda asked me if she could borrow my pen. :) Later, I also got Denis Petrov to sign my program, and Ilia Kulik. All of the skaters are so nice!!!
As always, I had a GREAT time, and I can't wait til next year!