Festival On Ice Reviews ???

[Blade1]

Any reviews yet from tonights Festival On Ice in Kitchener , Ontario ???

[erin_m]

I'm still working on one. It is turning out much longer than I expected. I'll post it as soon as I'm done and I'm getting my pictures developed tomorrow, hopefully they turned out...if they did I'll find a scanner and post them.

Edited to say that my review is posted over at the Jamie and David board, it's really, really long!! I guess I got a little carried away! :oops:

http://www.sale-pelletier.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=000123

[calypso56]

Gee, Erin, thanks for posting the review. I was there, too, and made some notes. When I got home and faced the keyboard I just wimped out. There was too much to say!

I loved seeing Shawn Sawyer and Brian Orser do backflips together. It always makes me happy to see the Canadian male skaters pass along the torch to the next generation. Shawn is a real showman.
So is Jeff Buttle. Loved his spins!

L&A made me gasp with the Leap of Faith and Headbanger. I can see the improvement in their connection since training with S&P. Loved the double death spiral, too.

I agree that it was shocking to see Jamie fall on the throw. When was the last time that happened? By now we are so used to S&P melting the ice that we take it for granted, but those two really know how to express the joy of their relationship.

Brian Orser is still a smoothie, but his spins are almost non-existent. And was he wearing a belt AND suspenders? Gotta love him, anyway, even when he skates to commercials!

IMO Ludmilla and Jennifer both made mistakes in choosing their props. L's scarf kept wrapping around her face, and I didn't get why J was getting dressed to go out. The coat rack was distracting. IMO Jennifer's programs from last year suited her perfectly and this year's are not very interesting.

I think Angela switched her programs because I know she did Afternoon of the Fawn in Act II, not Act I.

Kurt is just a genius. He can set the mood for a number in seconds. And he is such a goof!

I left when the retakes were starting, but more than half the audience stayed to watch. I hope they walked to their cars safely because there was black ice on the road down to the parking lot.

[Koala]

Oh the show was great-loved it!!

Retakes were fun-Kurt was such a clown like usual :)

Backflips side by side were great-did take a photo no idea if it'll turn out or not.!!

Never seen the double deathspirals before-fantastic!! Once again took a photo hope it turns out.

Hopefully I got some nice shots of Jamie in the lifts.... but I never do have much luck taking photos as shows but I'll find out when they get developed :)

Can't wait to see it on tv :)

[erin_m]

Originally posted by calypso56
Gee, Erin, thanks for posting the review. I was there, too, and made some notes. When I got home and faced the keyboard I just wimped out. There was too much to say!

I think Angela switched her programs because I know she did Afternoon of the Fawn in Act II, not Act I.

Yeah, that review definitely took me a while but I figured if I didn't do it last night I would never finish it.

I wondered if Angela switched them...I thought the one it the Second Act was the one that was most familiar to me.

[Artemis]

How are they going to fit this all into a 1 hour TV broadcast?http://www.veggie.info/YaBBImages/smilies/smiley_xmas_reindeer2.gif

[Teenes]

Actually, it is...it'll air on CBC on Dec. 15 from 9-10PM EST. Only an hour broadcast, but better than nothing. In the US, it's airing in syndication on either NBC or ABC affiliates around Dec. 21-29, so Americans should check their local listings.

Thanks for the reports and reviews! I haven't had time to check out Erin's review but I will as soon as I get a chance - thanks for taking the time to write one up! =)

BTW here's an article on the show: http://www.therecord.com/topstory_021212942.html

[Artemis]

Teenes, you must have posted a reply before I edited my post ... it's the other "Holiday something on ice" that isn't going to be on TV.

And BTW, it's on 3 times on W network from Friday to Sunday before the Sunday night broadcast on CBC.

[Teenes]

Yup, looks like I was replying at the same time you were editing =).

Oh the CBC answer was the easiest one...otherwise, yeah it's on Dec. 13 - 8-9PM EST, Dec. 14 - 1-2AM, and Dec. 15 - 4-5PM on the W Network. I envy you Canadians. Not only do you get more skating on TV than us Americans (esp b/c you get American network channels as well), you get repeats of shows in case you miss them =).

About HFOI in the US, I had a momentary scare when I looked at www.tvguide.com and saw "Holiday Dreams on Ice" w/ a bunch of American skaters from Beverly Hills on at the time scheduled for "Holiday Festival on Ice"...in fact, it was also scheduled for the same time as Kristi's Salute to Gold which was even odder. However, I looked at tv.yahoo.com and the local NBC's own website and discovered Holiday Festival on Ice will be on, not Dreams on Ice, which I'm assuming is the show you're referring to? So - those of you in the Bay Area, HFOI will air Dec. 21 at 3PM on KNTV (NBC 3). Huh...and it looks like KGO will air it on Sunday Dec. 22 at noon, except the description for that one is an old cast...

The third "Holiday something on ice" that I'm aware of is "Holiday Celebration on Ice", not to be confused with "Celebration on Ice". "Holiday Celebration on Ice" is the one from Greenville with Alexei, Katia, Ilia, Todd, Charlotte Church, etc, and will air Dec. 25 from 4-6PM EST on NBC. "Celebration on Ice" is the one from Newmarket with much the same cast as "Holiday Festival on Ice" and I don't know if it'll be aired on TV. Confused yet? =)

BTW Erin, I just read your review - great review! Thanks so much for taking the time to write that out to share with us, I know how much time that can take =).

[jcspkbfan]

Thanks to everybody who took the time to post their reviews here--it sounded like a wonderful show! Too bad a lot of the performances more than likely won't be included in the TV broadcast...but hopefully at least the CBC, W, and American broadcasts won't include exactly the same performances! Since a lot of the skaters in last night's show were young, up-and-coming Canadian skaters, the U.S. broadcast might concentrate more on the "big names" who were there (Kurt, S&P, Brian O.). I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

[Artemis]

Originally posted by Teenes
"Celebration on Ice" is the one from Newmarket with much the same cast as "Holiday Festival on Ice" and I don't know if it'll be aired on TV.

Yup, that was the one I was thinking of. I figure that since it has largely the same cast as Holiday Festival on Ice, it will have largely the same programs too ... so I'm not too depressed that we won't get it on TV. http://www.veggie.info/YaBBImages/wink.gif

[Artemis]

Originally posted by jcspkbfan
but hopefully at least the CBC, W, and American broadcasts won't include exactly the same performances!

Don't get your hopes up though: for these sorts of shows there's usually 1 camera crew and 1 production only, so the broadcast is likely to be the same whatever channel you're watching.

[Blade1]

Thanks so much to all who have posted their thoughts and reviews from last nights show.

BIG THANKS to erin - GREAT REVIEW !! Its much appreciated, thanks for taking the time to write it.

[erin_m]

No problem, I'm glad everyone is enjoying the review. I just got my pictures back...some of them are pretty good...others are really, really blurry. Oh well! I'll try to post some of them later tonight or tomorrow!

[summertime]

Wow erin_m great review ! :)

I think I may have seen your two friends with the santa hats LOL !!

I really enjoyed the show too. There's nothing like live skating ! :)

I didn't take notes, and yes everything starts to blend together LOL !

These are just some things that stuck out in my mind in addition to the other reviews.

The first half of the show was very well-skated. Everyone was on.

It was great to see Angela N. landing all her jumps in her first program. I think she did 3lz, 3f and 3t. She skated much better here than in Red Deer.

This was not the first time I've seen Jeff skate live, but certainly the first time I've seen him this close (6th row) and you could definitely feel the impact of his presence on the ice. I think he did 3lz, 3s and 2A.

I can't wait to see Shawn Sawyer at Cdns either. He opened with a 3l in the first number and I'm afraid I've just blanked out on the rest :)

Kurt's second number was awesome - jumps were on; the program was more along the lines of the Carpenters' finale and "Are You Lonesome Tonight", to Tony Bennett's "How Do Keep the Music Playing". A lot of 3t's, 2A's and a 3s.

Before the retakes, Kurt had the mike. He peeked behind the curtain to see who would be the first to come out, and was told that it would be Jen.

He had his back to the curtain, then turned around to find Jeff, and remarked, "Wow Jen, you've changed !" and, "You can do it Jen !!!" LOL !!

Then Jeff did some playful bows before doing his retake, and did it without the music - the only skater to do that, not sure why.

Ludmila Nelidina really reminds me of Elena Bechke in physical appearance - maybe that's just me. She comes across much better live.

I also enjoyed Grushina & Goncharov.

I remember in the opening group number Jeff was briefly paired with Jen, and near the end of it, was a little early on one of the music cues.

In the closing group number, he was briefly paired with Angela.

The group was moving into a circle, and he ended up a little too close to Angela - he smiled at her, and it appeared that she smiled back and there was a brief exhange.

This was a last minute decision to go on my part, and I'm so glad I went :)

I bought my ticket from someone in the U.S. LOL !!!

[erin_m]

Where were you sitting? One of the girls I went with bought her tickets from someone in the US too! I think she was section 15, row F or something. Maybe you were sitting beside her, did you just get back from the Sears Open?

[summertime]

I was in Sec 14, row F, seat 16 :)

No, I wasn't at the Sears Open - would have loved to have been there though !

[erin_m]

I guess it wasn't you then, I was just wondering! :D

[summertime]

:)