Kurt's Gotta Skate

[erin_m]

Jamie just posted on their official site and David fractured a bone in his foot on Sunday so they obviously will no longer be in the show. You can see Jamie's post here: http://www.sale-pelletier.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=14&t=000014

[sillyskates]

WAAAHHH !!!!! :cry: :cry:

[shopper]

what terrible news... i will really miss them. hope david heals quickly.

[ceceB]

That's awful. That sucks that they won't be able to skate in Gotta Skate. I mean, it's not like I get to go or anything, but I'm sure lots of people will be disapointed. Probably no more so than Jamie and David though.:(

[jcspkbfan]

Very disappointing news indeed...I certainly hope David gets well and gets back on the ice soon, but I also hope he doesn't rush things too soon and risk injuring himself even further. There have been sooo many skaters with serious injuries lately, and I'd hate for David to become one of them. :(

Jamie and David will definitely be missed at Gotta Skate, but even if a last-minute replacement can't be found for them, I'm sure it'll be a wonderful show nonetheless. I hope everyone here lucky enough to see the show this weekend has a great time (and don't forget to come back with lots of nice, detailed reviews!)

[Blade1]

*sniff sniff* I was looking forward to seeing Jamie & David skate at Gotta Skate, and I am sure that Micheal Bubble was really excited to perform for them as well. *sigh*

Well I do wish David a quick recovery. Jamie did say she was going to pamper him.

[jcspkbfan]

Ticketmaster just added a few Gotta Skate cast changes to its website:

https://ticketing.ticketmaster.com/cgi/purchasepage_ca.asp?event_id=10003695A9656CA0

It looks like B&E are replacing S&P and Michael Bublé won't be performing at all. I guess S&P's "Come Fly With Me" was the only number he was scheduled to perform (it's kind of strange he was scheduled to sing only one number since most of the non-skating performers in Disson specials appear in two numbers).

It's also strange to see David Foster listed as the only non-skating performer in this year's Gotta Skate show...no dancers, singers, or acrobats this time around. I'm not even sure if David will be performing in this year's show or just hosting (but I'm guessing he'll probably be at the piano a few times). It'll probably be strangest of all not to see Sonia at this year's show; it was such a treat to see her in the first two Gotta Skate shows and this year's show just won't be the same without her, IMO (even though I'm sure it'll be a wonderful show nonetheless!)

Hopefully the bright side of fewer non-skating performers in this year's show (especially for those of us who won't be able to see it until next December's TV broadcast) will be fewer annoying "let's cut away from the skaters to show closeups of the singer/dancer/acrobats" camera shots and of course, fewer chacked performances. :)

[Blade1]

Awww no Micheal Bubble. How disapointing. I was looking forward to seeing him perform LIVE. Ah shucks. Thanks for the info. Still looking forward to the show.

[jcspkbfan]

Originally posted by Blade1
Awww no Micheal Bubble. How disapointing. I was looking forward to seeing him perform LIVE.

You still can. :-) Somebody on the Kurtfiles list saw an interview B&K did with a local Hamilton news station earlier today, and they said Michael Bublé would still be there. I guess they just forgot to list him on the Ticketmaster site.

A couple more tidbits from that interview:

Kurt himself wasn't interviewed, but he was shown skating around in the background and stopped to dump snow on the interviewer's head. ;)

The skaters will portray characters in this year's show, which will have a nightclub format with a bar. Hmm, I wonder if Kurt will resurrect a certain program from a certain movie that won him a certain world title 10 years ago? Let's just say I won't complain at all if he does! ;)

BTW, if anyone else here gets CHTV in Hamilton, they're planning to show more Gotta Skate rehearsal clips during tonight's evening news (which just started at 5:30 EST).

[ceceB]

Thanks for the info! Could you tell us what else is on the news broadcast tonight? Thanks!:D

[jcspkbfan]

The report I saw tonight didn't give a lot of new details about the show, but it was fun to watch nonetheless. ;) It began with the interviewer asking a couple of the other skaters what it's like to skate with Kurt:

Brian Boitano: Kurt is like a caffeine high
Jennifer Robinson: Fantastically controlled chaos

Brian also compared Kurt to a panting dog (made a little "panting dog" sound), but I'm pretty sure he meant it as a compliment. ;)

I was happy to see they got to interview Kurt himself this time. He said working with the other skaters was "fast, fun and furious" and compared putting the show together to giving birth. :p

"It's a lot of work because I'm learning what it's like behind the scenes. I'm used to just showing up with my costume and my music and I perform, but now I'm learning about all the work that goes into a show from conception to performance."

The interviewer said the skaters only had two days to learn two hours' worth of routines and Kurt said there's still a lot of holes and a lot of work to do.

Brian Boitano said the reason why he agreed to appear on Gotta Skate was to do a duet with Kurt (something he'd never done before). Jennifer said this was an interesting show because she's never skated to live music before.

Kurt ended the interview by saying he was really going to miss skating when he doesn't do it anymore (hopefully that day won't come for a very, very long time!)

There were a few clips of the skaters rehearsing and it looked to me like Kurt was choreographing for the others--he'd do a few steps alone, then the other skaters would try to do the same steps a few seconds later.

Oh yeah, there are still tickets avaliable for this show if anyone else would still like to go. If only I lived a thousand or so km closer to Hamilton...

[ceceB]

Thanks so much for the details!

[Blade1]

THANK-YOU SO MUCH jcspkbfan for all the details. I do get that channel, however I am too busy getting packed and ready for my trip to Hamilton tomorrow. I leave first thing in the morning. I am thrilled to hear that Micheal Bubble is still performing at the show. Sounds like this is going to be a great show !!! Again thanks for all the details, its much apprecaited.

[rinkrat]

I was at gotta skate. Jen did her competitive tango piece and Kiss me Tiger, Brian B and Kurt did a duet was the absolute highlight for me and mericfully although I thought it was great the first time they redid it in retakes....yeah.....B&E did the Garth Number and um the one where she wears glasses....ummm...lemme think oh B&K did Mack the Knife and well something I haven't seen from them LOVED IT. Todd...well, todd was todd.....looked to be competitve type programs, good jumps. Brian B...Fernando...he smoked a bit of a cigar, it was cool, never seen him b4 so I can now mark him off the list. Meno and Sand....nothing is coming to mind other than have seen these programs from SOI.
The whole thing is about people at a bar but I think that was mentioned. The first half went really quick.....Kurts numbers were fantastic.....and David Lui from the USA, didn't jump and very sandhuesque I thought.....think the star shine program.....and it also reminded me of Kurt Nyah...in the fact that is was alot of spins and no jumps. Really cool to see skating done to live music beatuifully performed by Michael Bubel.....and David foster had some fun with Kurt during retakes, making him sing with him to Piano Man....too cute. Also Michael came out in hockey skated and actually skated during one group number with the girls.
that about it that I can think of.....right now anyways
rinkrat
can't wait for free programs tomorrow at octoberfest....

[ceceB]

Thanks for the review Rinkrat! I can't wait for the broadcast!

[Picton]

It was actually Anthony Liu, not David. But I agree with you about the Sandhuesque moves. That number, along with Kurt and Brian B., was the highlight of the show for me. Unfortunately, it probably won't be shown on TV.

[Dreamer]

That wasn't Anthony Liu... not by a longshot

[Oracle]

I would guess that it was David Liu that you saw. He was from the US but represented Taiwan internationally. His presentation was always excellent but he had difficulties with his jumps. He has been doing choreography (Boitano's cigar number was created by David Liu) since his retirement from eligible skating.

[leap of faith]

Doesn't David Liu have the distinction of being the last guy to ever compete figures and he hated them? I wondered where he had gone.

[VGL]

That was David Liu, he was the assistant choreographer.

All the skaters were portraying characters who were at Club Chez Shae's. (owned by the hottest dancers in town)

Kurt was Party Boy
Todd was Big Daddy (the bouncer/doorman)
Jenni and Todd were on a blind date
Isabelle and Lloyd were regulars who everyone knew
David Liu was an art student (always good at a party)
Brian Boitano was Hernando (or was he someone else at the beginning?)
Jennifer was a shy single girl

Can't believe that no one has mentioned that Kurt is now a bleached blonde?!?!?!?!?!?! 8O

[CanAmSk8ter]

VGL, I'm dying to know: what did you (and everyone) think of Shae and Vic's new program? I absolutely love it!

[VGL]

CanAm - I loved the new program, I hope they keep it and it wasn't just a one shot deal for the show!

[CanAmSk8ter]

They've been putting in a lot of work on that... I bet they'll do it again. I'm hoping they'll do it for COI this spring, because I told my mom about it and now she really wants to see it.

[~RL~]

Originally posted by CanAmSk8ter
VGL, I'm dying to know: what did you (and everyone) think of Shae and Vic's new program? I absolutely love it!

Can someone describe it? What's their music?

[shopper]

kurts hair is short short short and blonde blonde blonde.
loved shae and vic's new no.... couldn't believe they dragged out mack the knife again....i had hoped that was put to bed forever.
loved kurts nos... loved the duet with kurt and brian...
never had heard of the singer before but he certainly was wonderful.
herbie and fred entertained all of us.... they are just so so much fun and so exciting to watch...
it was a much better show than last year....
however it was very very short.
was really happy for the retakes...
jennifer robinson looks so so wonderful in red....

[Dreamer]

Originally posted by ~RL~
Can someone describe it? What's their music?

Michael Bublé sang "Sway" and that's their music... it's a flirty prorgam and Victor is really antimated :) Very sweet and cute, but totally humourous and not realy Shae and Victor... but they make it work really well :) Props to Victor for the chicken dance ;)

[gandalf]

Shae & Vic were fab, but I hope I never have to sit through Mack again.

Kurt was his usual self. Not so sure about the blonde hair - makes him look like Eminem.

I never thought the day would come when I would say this, but Brian Boitano was the highlight of the night for me. Fantastic. Loved the duet with Kurt, so glad they had to do some retakes.

Todd was, well, Todd. Consistent, dependable, boring...just once I'd love to see Todd do something completely out of character.

B&E - not my favourite skaters (I prefer to see more than just skate-skate-trick-repeat) but they skated well and the Garth number was a nice change of pace for them.

Meno & Sand were good, nothing memorable. She fell on both the throw-2-axels but landed them in the retakes (hey, at least they still do the throw!).

Jennifer fit in nicely, I agree she looks great in red.

I loved the consistent concept and theme that held this show together. Michael Buble was excellent, a real highlight. I think he made alot of new fans. My only complaint is I would have loved if they could have added a dance number or two (real dance, not ice dance). Considering the "extras" were National Ballet of Canada dancers, I'm sure they could have worked something out.

All in all, a really fun evening and so much better than last year.

[CanAmSk8ter]

Originally posted by ~RL~
Can someone describe it? What's their music?

As someone else said, the song is "Sway" (it's the one "Sway Me More" from Burn The Floor- I think Silvia Fontana may have done a show program to it once?) but it's not the version from Burn The Floor. It think from watching it in practice that Shae's supposed to be like a dancer or something at a club and Victor's this dorky guy that she calls up to dance with her. But then she can't get this geeky guy to quit following her around. There's one part, my favorite part of the program, where the music stops and Shae dips Victor like it's the end of the program- but then the music starts again and she drops him and skates away. I was dying the first time I saw that with the music! All in all, it's not "them" in the traditional sense, but I think it's brilliant. They do comedy better than I would have guessed!

[rinkrat]

apparently gandalf and I agree on the evening...alot of what was mentioned in the post was simular to my thoughts on the night.....cool that someone feels simular. I too was really surprised that Brian B would be a highlight and I do believe I said well todd was, TODD.....too funny
rinkrat
http://www.jeffbuttle.ca.tc

[Teenes]

My 8000 or so word review of the show, read only if you have time and want to know every detail I could dredge out of my memory =).

http://www.kurtfiles.com/reviews/gottaskate03.php

I have a lot of photos but haven't had time to crop and upload them yet. Will post when they're done.

[ceceB]

I for one LOVE detail! Thanks so much Teenes.:D That was great.

[jcspkbfan]

Long, detailed reviews are my favorite kind--thanks for posting yours, Teenes! Reading it was definitely the next-best thing to being there myself--can't wait to see the rest of the photos, too (hinthint!) Thanks to everyone else who posted reviews here as well. :)

I'm still curious about Kurt's new hair color, though--believe me, his hair definitely wasn't that color in the brief Hamilton news interview I mentioned earlier on this thread! A few people have mentioned Kurt kind of looks like Eminem with the blonde hair, and I kind of agree, but since I'm not a big Eminem fan, I'm not really sure that's a good thing. :lol:

But I don't really think of it as Kurt dying his hair; I think of it as Kurt returning to his natural hair color. ;) For those of you who haven't read his autobiography "Forcing The Edge," it includes a couple of Kurt's baby pictures where his hair is blonde and closer to the shade he wore at Gotta Skate than the darker color we're used to seeing. And if you still don't like the new color, well, at least it won't take long for Kurt to grow it out...sorry, but someone had to say it! :lol:

Sounds like it was a wonderful show, though--even without Sonia and Kurt pulling a certain classic program out of the mothballs which would have fit in perfectly with the show theme, it sounds like his two new programs (and his duet with Brian) certainly made up for it! Definitely a nice early Christmas present to look forward to this year. :)

[gandalf]

Originally posted by jcspkbfan
Sounds like it was a wonderful show, though--even without Sonia and Kurt pulling a certain classic program out of the mothballs which would have fit in perfectly with the show theme ...

It may have fit perfectly with the show theme, but I don't think it would have fit with the show at all, even if Kurt wasn't playing the "party boy".

[Teenes]

Photos are up: http://www.kurtfiles.com/pics/tyan/gottaskate03.php

I apologize for the quality of some of these shots - I wasn't very discriminating about which to put up and which to delete. Hope you enjoy.

[ceceB]

Thanks for posting those pics! They're great. I almost felt like I was there. :D

[Sing_Alto]

Originally posted by Teenes
Photos are up: http://www.kurtfiles.com/pics/tyan/gottaskate03.php

I apologize for the quality of some of these shots - I wasn't very discriminating about which to put up and which to delete. Hope you enjoy.

What fun! Thanks for sharing. :)