Debbie S
04-15-2007, 02:30 PM
I posted this on another forum and didn't see any tour reviews here so I thought I'd post it here as well. I saw the Wash, D.C. show yesterday with my mom. Overall, we enjoyed it (although it started off on a sour note when the usher at the door made me throw away my bottled water, which hadn't even been opened yet :twisted: ). At Worlds in '03, we were allowed in with bottled water all week, just like in St. Louis last year at Nats. WTF? And then the guy demanded that I come back after throwing the bottle away (in a trash can about 8 feet from the checkpoint) so that he could check me again. For crying out loud, aren't there more important things to worry about than bottled water? :roll:
It was strange and a bit sad not to see Michelle Kwan. And the arena was barely half full. The lower bowl sections along the long axis of the arena were pretty full, but the area around the corners was pretty empty, except for the lower rows. The second tier was pretty sparse. Audience reaction seemed muted for most numbers - Kimmie, Sasha, and Evan got the most applause, I think.
Warning: Irina Grigorian appears not once (which is too much for me, sorry) but twice! Once near the end of the first act, where she twirls a cube (no hoops) and then takes off her skates and rolls around in a human-sized version of an exercise wheel that you'd put in the cage of your pet hamster. Did I mention that she was dressed as Cat Woman? :roll: She then leads off the second act (maybe this was to have filler so those stuck in ladies' room lines wouldn't miss anything interesting?) and does her usual hoop-twirling thing. Sheesh! Wasn't anyone else available to take the extra spot vacated by Irina Slutskaya? Emily Hughes? Greg/Pet? Davis/White? Castile/Okolski? Somebody? Anybody?!!!:twisted:
Anyway, the show started off with Ryan Bradley doing a modified version of his "Saturday Night Fever" LP from last year. Lots of flips and arabian-type gymnastic moves. A few jumps and spins. Alissa Czisny was next skating to Sarah Brightman's "Anytime, Anywhere". Beautiful skating, even if she did underrotate and 2-foot a 3 lutz and 3 flip. Nice 2 axel, though. At the beginning, when the music was very light, she started off with a couple of back cross strokes and I could hear the edge rips from the 14th row. I'm really struggling with those on the (Adult) Silver MIF test and I was in awe of how neat and easy she made it look.
The order of the rest of the first act is a bit fuzzy, but it included Dan Hollander (new number, with costume changes between Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman) - typical, silly stuff - I know he's on the tour for the comic relief, but I wish he'd get to do a semi-serious skating number once in a while; Rudy Galindo in a typical Rudy performance - does a costume change in the middle, in an ad hoc change room on the ice that consisted of a curtain strung around a circular rod that Shae-Lynn Bourne held up for him - of course, he ended up in the obligatory sequined jumpsuit; Shae-Lynn Bourne doing a tango with a chair to an Italian song (or was it Spanish?); Surya Bonaly (totally forgettable sorry); Pang/Tong, who skated beautifully to a song that sounded like Bocelli, but my mom didn't think it was; and Johnny Weir, who skated to the Stevie Wonder song he did at Marshall's. He was fabulous.
I think Victor Petrenko was in the first act but couldn't swear to it - and I'm sorry, but I'm totally blanking on what he skated to, but I remember thinking he did a pretty good job.
Belbin/Agosto closed the first act with their hip-hop number. Oh dear. For those of you who saw the Marshall's broadcast (which I taped and watched last night), she changed her shorts - basically she's wearing boy short-type underwear, with fishnet stickings and sparkly over-the-boot knee highs (that were part of her and some of the other ladies' finale costume and I guess she figured they'd go nicely in her number) that made it look like she was wearing knee-high boots. Sorry, but if Ben is wearing a shirt, vest, and tie (and long pants), Tanith does not need to dress like a lap dancer. I have no issues with the bra top or baring her midriff, but I think a pair of leggings (they can be tight, low-rise, sparkly, whatever) would be a lot more tasteful. I also wasn't fond of their Detroiter-type lift where Ben wraps his arm around her crotch - one of the things that I've liked about B/A is that their moves are usually tastefully done, compared to some other dance teams. Aside from that move and Tanith's icky costume, I thought the skating was well done and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. I have to add, though, that Tanith really looks scary - way too thin. In the finale, when she was dressed in the same outfit as some of the other women, you could really see the difference - she was thinner than Sasha....and that's not something I thought could ever be said. 8O
Second act started off with Hula Hoop Woman Part II. I'll be kind and spare the details. Again, I'm a little fuzzy on who skated in what order. Anissina/Peizerat did some weird number about the circus and Gwendal starts out as ringmaster. Then the music changes, they lie on the ice to a few bars of the "Hurt" song that Sasha skates to (I'm thinking, WTF?). Then, the music changes again (at which point Gwendal changed his shirt, accompanied by some hoots and hollers from the audience - lol) and they skate to some other semi-upbeat song. It was odd.
Evan skated the INXS number ("Need You Tonight") and skated very well. Lots of screams and squeals from the (teenage?) girls in the audience.
Kimmie skated to Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel" in a different costume than she wore at Marshall's - this one was lavender with sparkles and wings on the sleeves. She skated beautifully, although I wish she had held her spiral positions longer, as they were very pretty. She popped a 3 lutz, but otherwise did everything very well.
Tot/Mar did a nice number to some slow music that I didn't recognize.
Acrobats somewhere in this act - wore 18th century wigs and velvet vest/suit outfits and started off skating to "Four Seasons" which quickly changed to "Rock Me Amadeus". They really annoy me, but the crowd liked them, and as long as they're getting a crowd response, I'm sure Tom Collins will keep them. Hula Hooper didn't get as much of a response, but I suppose it's wishful thinkng that she would be replaced with a real skater or skaters.
Shizuka skated to "I Have a Love" from West Side Story and she was fabulous. I must say that I've never been a huge fan of hers (not that I don't think her wins were well-deserved) but she really won me over with this number. It was really beautiful skating, no gimmicks, with nice spins and spirals and of course, her Ina Bauer.
Plushenko skated to an instrumental rock-type piece that I think he has skated to before. He landed 1 or 2 2 axels (can't remember exactly) and a 3 toe, and had a straight-line footwork sequence that was very Yagudin-esque and was punctuated by extended posing at each end (before and after the sequence). Other than that, the program was surprisingly gimmick-free.
Sasha skated to "Hurt" and did a great job. She landed a 2 axel and 3 sal and had a beautiful flying camel, Charlotte, and other spiral moves. I really hope she sticks with show skating and leaves competitive skating up to Kimmie, Mao, and Yu-Na. I'd much rather watch her enjoying herself and skating her heart out in a setting like this than see her wound up and stressed out and making mistakes at comps. OK, so she *only* got silver at Olys and Worlds, so what? A gold medal doesn't make or break your achievements. Since Michelle is not on the tour this year, Sasha is the headliner, and she filled MK's shoes very well. Maybe it's the acting classes, who knows, but she looks really comfortable and happy out there.
The finale was a James Bond theme and they used several different movie songs - started off with the standard intro theme and then I recognized "You Only Live Twice", "Goldfinger", and "Live and Let Die." Lots of small-group numbers-within-a-number and there were these plastic (although it must have been some specially-treated material b/c some skaters stood or kneeled on them on their blades) cube/prism type blocks that were pushed around the ice and carried skaters at certain points. It ended with everyone in a circle around the blocks and Evan standing on one block facing one side and Johnny standing on another block facing the other side.
Funny footnote: My mom and I were looking through the program and in the candid photos (Behind the Scenes) pages, there are about 5 pics of Tanith and Evan either by themselves or with others looking cuddly and 'together'. My mom asked me if they were dating. I replied yes and reminded her that ABC mentioned it about 10 times on the Nats broadcast, but my mom pointed out that she missed part of the men's comp, b/c she fell asleep - hey, it was on pretty late - lol.
It was strange and a bit sad not to see Michelle Kwan. And the arena was barely half full. The lower bowl sections along the long axis of the arena were pretty full, but the area around the corners was pretty empty, except for the lower rows. The second tier was pretty sparse. Audience reaction seemed muted for most numbers - Kimmie, Sasha, and Evan got the most applause, I think.
Warning: Irina Grigorian appears not once (which is too much for me, sorry) but twice! Once near the end of the first act, where she twirls a cube (no hoops) and then takes off her skates and rolls around in a human-sized version of an exercise wheel that you'd put in the cage of your pet hamster. Did I mention that she was dressed as Cat Woman? :roll: She then leads off the second act (maybe this was to have filler so those stuck in ladies' room lines wouldn't miss anything interesting?) and does her usual hoop-twirling thing. Sheesh! Wasn't anyone else available to take the extra spot vacated by Irina Slutskaya? Emily Hughes? Greg/Pet? Davis/White? Castile/Okolski? Somebody? Anybody?!!!:twisted:
Anyway, the show started off with Ryan Bradley doing a modified version of his "Saturday Night Fever" LP from last year. Lots of flips and arabian-type gymnastic moves. A few jumps and spins. Alissa Czisny was next skating to Sarah Brightman's "Anytime, Anywhere". Beautiful skating, even if she did underrotate and 2-foot a 3 lutz and 3 flip. Nice 2 axel, though. At the beginning, when the music was very light, she started off with a couple of back cross strokes and I could hear the edge rips from the 14th row. I'm really struggling with those on the (Adult) Silver MIF test and I was in awe of how neat and easy she made it look.
The order of the rest of the first act is a bit fuzzy, but it included Dan Hollander (new number, with costume changes between Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman) - typical, silly stuff - I know he's on the tour for the comic relief, but I wish he'd get to do a semi-serious skating number once in a while; Rudy Galindo in a typical Rudy performance - does a costume change in the middle, in an ad hoc change room on the ice that consisted of a curtain strung around a circular rod that Shae-Lynn Bourne held up for him - of course, he ended up in the obligatory sequined jumpsuit; Shae-Lynn Bourne doing a tango with a chair to an Italian song (or was it Spanish?); Surya Bonaly (totally forgettable sorry); Pang/Tong, who skated beautifully to a song that sounded like Bocelli, but my mom didn't think it was; and Johnny Weir, who skated to the Stevie Wonder song he did at Marshall's. He was fabulous.
I think Victor Petrenko was in the first act but couldn't swear to it - and I'm sorry, but I'm totally blanking on what he skated to, but I remember thinking he did a pretty good job.
Belbin/Agosto closed the first act with their hip-hop number. Oh dear. For those of you who saw the Marshall's broadcast (which I taped and watched last night), she changed her shorts - basically she's wearing boy short-type underwear, with fishnet stickings and sparkly over-the-boot knee highs (that were part of her and some of the other ladies' finale costume and I guess she figured they'd go nicely in her number) that made it look like she was wearing knee-high boots. Sorry, but if Ben is wearing a shirt, vest, and tie (and long pants), Tanith does not need to dress like a lap dancer. I have no issues with the bra top or baring her midriff, but I think a pair of leggings (they can be tight, low-rise, sparkly, whatever) would be a lot more tasteful. I also wasn't fond of their Detroiter-type lift where Ben wraps his arm around her crotch - one of the things that I've liked about B/A is that their moves are usually tastefully done, compared to some other dance teams. Aside from that move and Tanith's icky costume, I thought the skating was well done and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. I have to add, though, that Tanith really looks scary - way too thin. In the finale, when she was dressed in the same outfit as some of the other women, you could really see the difference - she was thinner than Sasha....and that's not something I thought could ever be said. 8O
Second act started off with Hula Hoop Woman Part II. I'll be kind and spare the details. Again, I'm a little fuzzy on who skated in what order. Anissina/Peizerat did some weird number about the circus and Gwendal starts out as ringmaster. Then the music changes, they lie on the ice to a few bars of the "Hurt" song that Sasha skates to (I'm thinking, WTF?). Then, the music changes again (at which point Gwendal changed his shirt, accompanied by some hoots and hollers from the audience - lol) and they skate to some other semi-upbeat song. It was odd.
Evan skated the INXS number ("Need You Tonight") and skated very well. Lots of screams and squeals from the (teenage?) girls in the audience.
Kimmie skated to Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel" in a different costume than she wore at Marshall's - this one was lavender with sparkles and wings on the sleeves. She skated beautifully, although I wish she had held her spiral positions longer, as they were very pretty. She popped a 3 lutz, but otherwise did everything very well.
Tot/Mar did a nice number to some slow music that I didn't recognize.
Acrobats somewhere in this act - wore 18th century wigs and velvet vest/suit outfits and started off skating to "Four Seasons" which quickly changed to "Rock Me Amadeus". They really annoy me, but the crowd liked them, and as long as they're getting a crowd response, I'm sure Tom Collins will keep them. Hula Hooper didn't get as much of a response, but I suppose it's wishful thinkng that she would be replaced with a real skater or skaters.
Shizuka skated to "I Have a Love" from West Side Story and she was fabulous. I must say that I've never been a huge fan of hers (not that I don't think her wins were well-deserved) but she really won me over with this number. It was really beautiful skating, no gimmicks, with nice spins and spirals and of course, her Ina Bauer.
Plushenko skated to an instrumental rock-type piece that I think he has skated to before. He landed 1 or 2 2 axels (can't remember exactly) and a 3 toe, and had a straight-line footwork sequence that was very Yagudin-esque and was punctuated by extended posing at each end (before and after the sequence). Other than that, the program was surprisingly gimmick-free.
Sasha skated to "Hurt" and did a great job. She landed a 2 axel and 3 sal and had a beautiful flying camel, Charlotte, and other spiral moves. I really hope she sticks with show skating and leaves competitive skating up to Kimmie, Mao, and Yu-Na. I'd much rather watch her enjoying herself and skating her heart out in a setting like this than see her wound up and stressed out and making mistakes at comps. OK, so she *only* got silver at Olys and Worlds, so what? A gold medal doesn't make or break your achievements. Since Michelle is not on the tour this year, Sasha is the headliner, and she filled MK's shoes very well. Maybe it's the acting classes, who knows, but she looks really comfortable and happy out there.
The finale was a James Bond theme and they used several different movie songs - started off with the standard intro theme and then I recognized "You Only Live Twice", "Goldfinger", and "Live and Let Die." Lots of small-group numbers-within-a-number and there were these plastic (although it must have been some specially-treated material b/c some skaters stood or kneeled on them on their blades) cube/prism type blocks that were pushed around the ice and carried skaters at certain points. It ended with everyone in a circle around the blocks and Evan standing on one block facing one side and Johnny standing on another block facing the other side.
Funny footnote: My mom and I were looking through the program and in the candid photos (Behind the Scenes) pages, there are about 5 pics of Tanith and Evan either by themselves or with others looking cuddly and 'together'. My mom asked me if they were dating. I replied yes and reminded her that ABC mentioned it about 10 times on the Nats broadcast, but my mom pointed out that she missed part of the men's comp, b/c she fell asleep - hey, it was on pretty late - lol.