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purplecat
02-19-2005, 12:05 PM
Here's my review! (Especially for Sing_Alto!) ;) :)

I was in the corner and we had a huge cable line in front of us, but what was worse is a Hyundai SUV was at the end of the ice too blocking our view of the corner! Those who were directly behind the car got moved, but not us...though some moved on their own. There were many empty seats.

Opening - Hooray For Hollywood. Girls in big black ball gowns which quickly came off to become short black dresses with necklines that looked like necklaces. Missed some of this while people were getting seated. I know that Shae-Lynn did a spin, Yuka & Jason did a death spiral and Brian B. and Kristi together did russian splits and double flips.

Brian Orser - Believe from The Polar Express. All five nominated Oscar songs were used, this was the first. Brian did a double axel, double toe and a open axel in this nice soft program. His back flip is always a crowd pleaser.

Yuka Sato - Wine Safari from Sideways. Fun, a little funky number. Yuka landed a triple loop here. She wore the outfit from the Kenny Loggins opening which was based on the 03 SOI opening costumes. This was short, but I liked it.

Caryn Kadavy - Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King. This was the first time I've seen Caryn live so it was nice to finally see her grace in person. She did a single axel, double loop and double flip.

Rosalynn Sumners - De-Lovely. This was the same number she did for Kristi's show, but without the guys with feather fans. She landed a double toe and single axel. People criticize Roz, but I still enjoy her great flow over the ice and good speed.

Kristi Yamaguchi with Gorsha Sur, Jason Dungjen and Brian Orser - Al Otro Lado Del Rio from The Motorcycle Diaries. The second nominated song. Kristi does a layback spin alone, a beautiful platter lift with Jason, side by side 'tano single axels with Brian O. and the lift that Gorsha does with Renee where he carries her in one arm and she is laying horizontal. Fun number with a latin feel. Kristi wore her Smooth dress. The guys were in red and black.

Shae-Lynn Bourne with Michael Bolton singing You Don't Know Me from Ray. Shae was in the blue 01 SOI finale outfit. Nice program. I enjoyed her skating here. Lots of edge moves.

Elvis Stojko - music from The Aviator. This was an entertaining number. Elvis was very solid with his jumps tonight. He did a triple toe and a double axel. And I think some Charleston moves! I'm not sure because he was behind the Hyundai!

Renee Roca & Gorsha Sur - Learn to Be Lonely from The Phantom of the Opera. Lovely number to the third nominated song. Lots of my favorite lifts of theirs including the one where she is just balancing on his back/neck. They got stuck together at the end. It was very funny, but cute. She was wearing a costume that looked like the ones from the 04 SOI opening...Grand Canyon Suite. Very pretty.

Brian Boitano with Franc D'Ambrosio signing The Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera. The highlight of the night for me. Brian was amazing. He did a double axel, beautiful 'tano triple lutz right in front of me (which made up for the bad seats!), a triple salchow and stepped out of his triple toe. Love the end spread eagle which seems to go on forever! Partial standing ovation.

Act Two

Rosalynn Sumners - Closer. Serious, slow number. Big single axel here. I think she could do a double if she wanted to, she gets enough height.

Elvis Stojko - Lose Yourself from 8 Mile. This surprised me! Elvis was dressed very rapperesque! LOL! The audience loved it and Elvis got into the music. He did a double axel and I think an open axel and triple toe.

Renee Roca, Shae-Lynn Bourne and Caryn Kadavy - Look to Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin) from The Chorus. The fourth nominated song. Interesting program. The three were connected pretty much the entire time. They started by traveling in a circle and then did lines with Shae doing moves on the end and then wove in and out of each other.

Yuka Sato & Jason Dungjen - Lovers from House of Flying Daggers. Asian inspired program. Lots of pretty lifts. I was disappointed though that they didn't do a throw or a twist lift. First time seeing Jason. They had one star lift that didn't get up all the way. Nice number though.

Shae-Lynn Bourne - All That Jazz from Chicago. Fun number. She shoots that water pistol and jumps at the crowd here!

Renee Roca & Gorsha Sur - Some of These Days from Beyond the Sea. Another enjoyable outing from Renee and Gorsha. Unfortunately they had a freak fall in the corner and took some time to get back into the program.

Elvis Stojko - Old Habits Die Hard from Alfie. This was just really an introduction into Caryn's next solo. Elvis did an arabian and some footwork.

Caryn Kadavy - What's it All About from Alfie. Nice number with a female vocal. Caryn did a single axel and I think that got her mad so she immediately did a double axel, but stepped out of it. She later added a double flip and a nice spread eagle to this smooth program.

Brian Orser - Accidentally In Love from Shrek 2. Fun upbeat program. Brian did a double toe, double axel, open axel and back flip in this audience pleasing program. The fifth and final nominated song.

Brian Boitano with Michael Bolton singing Georgia on My Mind. Great program with a triple toe, triple salchow and two double axels. Plus a surprising flying sit spin! The audience loved him and gave him another partial standing ovation.

Kristi Yamaguchi with Kimberley Locke singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Another great program. Kristi did a great triple toe, a double axel (a little bit of a stop on the landing, but held on) and a double loop. I love her lavender dress. Lovely spins, russian splits and a lovely spiral.

Finale - Started with music from Million Dollar Baby and Caryn Kadavy. Roz and Shae come out to Finding Neverland music. Then Elvis and Brian O. come out, don't know the music. Brian B. joins them and he does a triple toe and then they all do double axels. Yuka & Jason and Renee & Gorsha do a lift with the girl on the guy's shoulder. Music from Ray. Then Kristi comes out and they they all skate to the end bows. The girls were dressed in dresses like the 04 SOI Time finale white dresses.

Retakes-

First Dan Hicks had to retake a segment, twice!

Brian Orser redid his triple toe in Believe...one take.

Brian Boitano and Franc redid the entire Music of the Night. Though Brian just skated around until the end. He was so funny when he made the 'tano motion for where the lutz was we all laughed. He picked it up at the end and did russian splits into the triple toe (perfect!), combo spin, huge deathdrop and those to die for spread eagles. Huge ovation for the retake!

Yuka & Jason redid the star lift from Lovers.

Renee and Gorsha redid the part where they fell...they did a lift that they had to omit the first time

Caryn redid Can You Feel the Love Tonight. First another single axel, then a held on to a double which she kept.

Before Brian Orser redid Accidentally in Love, Lea Ann Miller had him do a back flip for us while we waited for the set up. Then he did his triple toe, but barely held on.

Renee and Gorsha redid Learn to Be Lonely, but couldn't pick up the piece at the end after trying many times, so they redid the whole song...though they just skated around for most of it. Then after the take Lea Ann had them come back to retake their bows!

Caryn came back out for her Alfie retake and had a hard time getting in that double axel. First a single, then another single...then another single just practicing. Then a beautiful double! Whew!

Kristi and the guys then redid the entire Motorcycle Diaries number. Not sure what went wrong the first time, but I'm not complaining that I got to see Kristi again!

General comments:

I hate live singers when I watch on TV, but in person they really do add a lot of energy and excitement! Nancy O'Dell and Dan Hicks hosted. Lots of talking about the nominees in between the numbers...I worry they'll have to cut a lot of the skating! All in all I had a very enjoyable evening. I loved that so many numbers were new!

Anita18
02-19-2005, 12:34 PM
I was there too! Well, I got home at 2AM after standing in the torrential downpour for half an hour (LA public transportation sucks) so I'm glad somebody did the review first, LOL!

I was in the corner as well, but much closer to the long end of the ice (across the stage) so I could see everything that went on. Yes, Elvis did some fancy fast footwork right in front of the SUV, LOL.

I loved Brian's delayed axels. If you heard someone scream after he landed one, that was me. :) He's so graceful, but I noted that he was a bit on the slow side. Either that, or Yuka is really really fast, LOL. Oh and during his retakes for Believe, he did the triple toe then skated riiiiiiiiiight up til the backflip...and didn't do it, LOL. I think the audience was like, "Aw..."

I had never seen Caryn or Rosalynn skate, and they were both very nice; very graceful and fluid. I'm glad I got to see them.

I also loved the Motorcycle Diaries number (and I think that song should win the Oscar too). It really suit the group.

Shae Lynn was nice to see - she does all of these really slinky moves! She really carries her own essentially doing ice dance by herself - I wish someone would also do broken leg spins as well.

Music of the Night was also the main highlight for me, except that Franc was having an off night with his singing! He wasn't in sync with the tape and his voice cracked at the end of the high note. Poor guy. I was expecting him to redo it, and he did. :) Wasn't complaining though...it's a beautiful program (the ending spread eagle! *swoon*), a beautiful song, and he has a gorgeous voice. :bow: OTOH, Michael Bolton was unmemorable (to me, at least, LOL)

The other highlight was Yuka and Jason's Lovers program. They do classical programs sooo well, especially Yuka. I would rather see her dump those cute/sassy numbers and go back to classical, LOL.

This was my first time seeing a taped show, and it really felt like I was at a rehearsal due to all of the retapes and random camera takes they had to do. I have to drag myself to a competition sometime, get my excitement up..

purplecat
02-19-2005, 02:01 PM
Hi Anita! I forgot about that funny moment by Brian O. in the retake! Franc was much better in the retake don't ya think?! Can't wait to see how the TV production comes out though.

Sing_Alto
02-19-2005, 02:45 PM
Here's my review! (Especially for Sing_Alto!) ;) :)


Thank you, purplecat! I feel so honored. I'm really looking forward to seeing the show. February has been an awful month for me, so I'm hoping this show will send it off on a good note.

Anita18
02-19-2005, 02:56 PM
Oh oh oh! I forgot to say one really really important thing:

Brian B is soooo much more impressive live than on TV. He bores me to death on TV, and I can't stand his twitchy right arm when he does crossovers. But live, you can really see the power, flow, and edges that he has. He was one of my favorite skaters here, and usually that's not the case! I'm so happy I got to see him live.

Yes, Franc was tons better in the retakes, LOL. It sounded like he just needed more practice with the timing of the tape. I saw him as Phantom in SF and I really wanted to hear him sing again. And we got to hear it TWICE! :D

Hehe, did you also see Brian B's little jig right before the bows? That was cute. It will be really interesting to see how the production comes out, since I've never been to a taping and so it would be cool to see how the final product is.

purplecat
02-19-2005, 07:23 PM
(((Sing_Alto))) Take care! Seeing Brian Boitano always makes me think of you.

Anita, I don't remember the little jig. But I can picture Brian doing that! Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how the broadcast comes out. When I went to the 01 Salute to Gold show Steven Cousins retook all three of his jumps for one number and the whole number ended up getting cut from the broadcast. So someone taking retakes is no guarantee they'll be shown. I got home around 11:30 p.m. before the deluge! Man did it pour last night! It woke me up at 4:30 a.m. I've never seen it rain harder! Then after 5:00 a.m. came thunderstorms. Sorry you got stuck! Keep dry!

I forgot to mention the airdate. Sunday, February 27th on NBC 1 to 3 p.m. Eastern, 10 to 12 p.m. Pacific. Check your local listings!

Sing_Alto
02-20-2005, 01:01 AM
So someone taking retakes is no guarantee they'll be shown.

Unless their names are Brian and Kristi. :)

Teenes
02-24-2005, 10:35 AM
It's a bit late, but I do have photos to offer!

I wrote up a review for the skatetoday.com website, and it includes a photo from each program (more photos to come, but I'm still processing them). Show is airing on Sunday (2/27) from 1-3PM EST on NBC, and I think it's really worth a look. I enjoyed it.

Here's the link: http://skatetoday.com/articles0405/022305_tribute.htm

purplecat
02-24-2005, 12:53 PM
Thank Tina! Your pics are great as always! :)