Finally, my short review of last week's Holiday Celebration on Ice...........

In the middle of an Ice Storm that threatened to paralyze the city of
Greenville, South Carolina, Holiday Celebration on Ice went on as scheduled
at the Bi-Lo Center with a truckload of empty seats (including a bunch of
on-ice ones). At well under two hours it was not only one of the shortest
ice shows I've ever attended, but it should prove to be one of the few that
will have no trouble fitting into the two hour time slot allotted it by NBC
on Christmas Day.

There was little in the way of an opening number. Attired in rather
attractive red velvet costumes (the men in red velvet shirts and black pants,
the ladies in red velvet dresses), the skaters made their first appearance in
three groups of three, with each threesome skating out together, executing an
individual move in synch, then moving aside for the next group.. Nicole
Bobek, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Yuka Saton/Jason Dungjen came first, followed
by Rosalynn Sumners, Kristi Yamaguchi and Jenni Meno/Todd Sand. The three
male soloists brought up the rear, and in the process provided the first real
surprise of the evening as Ilia Kulik and Todd Eldredge were followed not by
Alexei Yagudin, as expected, but by none other than Mr. Brian Orser, a
happenstance that came as a shock to the Yagudin fans present and provoked
excited screams from the equally shocked Orser fans in attendance. There had
been absolutely no mention of Orser in what passed as the program for this
event and since Brian himself had had no more than 3 days notice that he
would be doing this show, there had been no chance for the news of his
appearance to have gotten around by word of mouth. After executing
synchronized double axels, the guys exited stage left and it was time for the
show proper to begin.

And begin it did, with Nicole Bobek skating to Charlotte Church (the show's
solo artist) singing When a Child is Born. It was a pleasant enough skate,
with Nicole looking fairly fit but attempting nothing more strenuous than a
double axel.

Nicole was followed by the hitherto missing Alexei Yagudin, much to the
relief of those who'd feared that the surprise addition of Orser plus no
Yagudin in the opening meant that Orser had in fact replaced Yagudin in the
show. In what proved to be his only appearance until the closing bows,
Alexei skated to a piece of Christmas music I've since been told is called
The Typewriter Song. Attired with scarf and gloves to create the illusion
of an outside, wintry skate, Alexei made full use of his ability to entertain
and connect with an audience to skate a number that, while short on jumps
(double flip, triple toe was about it), made maximum use of footwork and
personality to sell the program to the max. If nothing else, it was a number
that both didn't tax Alexei unduly physically, but yet proved that he doesn't
need jumps to entertain.

Next came Sato/Dungjen skating to It's a Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
It was very, very well done and showed the fruits of what must have been
quite a bit of work since we last saw them, as they've now reached a point
where they look like they've been skating together as a pair for many, many
years rather than just three.

Roz Sumners followed, with a cute routine to I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus,
involving some audience interaction with some mistletoe and a Santa hat. I'm
sure it will make a whole lot more sense when seen on TV.

Roz was followed by Ilia Kulik and Kristi Yamaguchi skating to Because It's
Christmas, an exercise that seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever other than
either to shorten the show or else to satisfy two skaters who really didn't
want to skate more than one solo number. They were neither skating as a pair
team, nor were they even skating in synch - although they did seem to be
trying to skate in unison. I suspect they had had very little time to
rehearse this. The idea of two Olympic gold medalists skating together might
have looked good at paper, but when it turns into an exercise of two skaters
merely skating on the same ice at the same time to the same music, it becomes
more of a pick-which-one-to-watch kind of thing than an actual program
featuring two skaters.

While the audience was left no doubt scratching their heads over that one,
Ekaterina Gordeeva appeared to skate a lively program to traditional Russian
folk music. She looked absolutely terrific, totally entertained the
audience, and amazed all present by trying a triple toe loop. She fell on
it, but when it came retake time at the end of the show, she rectified this
by landing an absolute beauty on the first attempt. The program ended with a
killer scratch spin and totally thunderous applause.

Katya was followed by Todd Eldredge skating to Russell Watson's version of
Ave Maria in the costume he wore for the Xotica short program last year. He
appeared in great shape, totally entranced the audience and landed a triple
loop, triple salchow, triple axel (albeit with a slight fall out and two
footed landing) and a triple toe loop. Thunderous applause greeted this
effort.

At this point Charlotte Church reappeared to sing the Christmas Song, with
Jenni Meno/Todd Sand skating a delightful program to accompany it.

Act One ended with Ilia Kulik skating a fast, dramatic and powerful program
to Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker during the course of which four
triples were attempted. Only one (triple toe) was actually landed, but the
other three (triple axel, triple flip and triple salchow) were all captured
in short order later during the retakes. However, jumps or no jumps, this
was a fabulous program which brought home to me how much I've missed seeing
Kulik skate to classical music.

Act Two began with the two pairs skating together to White Christmas; then
Meno/Sand exited leaving the ice to Sato/Dungjen who then skated another
extremely effective and well executed program to Three Wishes for Christmas.

The pairs were followed by Katya Gordeeva skating a very lively and
entertaining program to All I Want for Christmas is You, the jump highlight
of which was a beautifully executed double axel. Once again Katya proved to
be a highlight of the show and this time earned herself a partial standing
ovation.

Jenni Meno/Todd Sand appeared next, skating to a thoroughly delightful
program to I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.

Finally it was Charlotte Church time again, this time singing What Child is
This, while Roz Sumners skated a rather choreographically repetitive program
that did nothing at all to distract from the singing.

Nicole Bobek followed Roz, skating to Nutcracker music and for some
inexplicable reason insisting on using a nutcracker doll as a prop (no doubt
seeking verisimilitude for this revival of her 1995 portrayal of Klara),
skating a portion of the program holding it in her hands and staring at it
wistfully. This might have been a successful performance, except the
appearance of the doll had the effect of provoking snickers in most audience
quarters and outright laughter in others - which I'm sure is not the effect
Nicole was reaching for. This might come off more effectively in the TV
broadcast, but on the whole the live audience found the effort totally
hilarious.

Todd Eldredge was up next, skating his new Freedom Battle short program (no
doubt getting in some extra practice before having to do it in competition at
the Canadian Open the following afternoon <g>). It was a fabulous
performance, flawlessly executed with a huge triple axel, double axel and
triple toe loop, and earned the only total standing ovation of the night.

Kristi Yamaguchi followed Todd skating to Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer with
a triple flip, a double axel and a lot of attitude. A very enjoyable
performance.

By this point and just as his fans were starting to think his appearance in
the opening had been an hallucination, Brian Orser came out to close the show
with It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year complete with tuck axel, triple
toe, double axel and backflip. A vintage Orser performance and a decided
highlight of the show.

The finale, such as it was, consisted of Charlotte Church singing Silent
Night, while the skaters, attired once again in the red velvet costumes,
executed an individual element in turn and took a bow. This time Yagudin was
featured and, no doubt to make up to some extent for his not having been seen
in the show for quite a while, skated alone to the opening bars of the song
before being joined on the ice by the others.

To summarize, Holiday Celebration on Ice looked like a hastily thrown
together show - a lot of good skating strung together on a very flimsy
framework. Not only did it not flow, it often came to a dead halt in between
numbers. I have no doubt it's going to look much better on television.

Fran
FranBuhman@...