Wowie kazowie! Check out Evening w Champs Lineup!

[snoopysnake]

http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~ewc/performers.htm

Now that is one legendary cast!

[MOIJTO]

Great skaters, but I wonder about Nancy right now?

[Dave of the North]

Great skaters, but I wonder about Nancy right now?

Well, the show is April 16 & 17th. I would expect she'd be able to skate by then.

[Tammi]

deleted, sorry wrong thread

[HeatherC]

I'm glad they asked Amanda & Mark to do this show again. They've been great to them the past few years when they were more unknown and now people will actually know a little more about them after the Olympics. I wish I could get there for the show but I'll settle for some videos if anyone else is going. Great cast!

[ryanbfan]

I really wish I could go to this!!

[Kelleys6th]

This will be the first year in a long time that the Protopopov's won't skate. I wonder if they will be there anyway?
Any news on Oleg?

[snoopysnake]

Lots of changes to the skaters' lineup since I first posted. There is a new update, though, adding the local skaters (Curran Oi! Yes!!!!) and some exciting additions to the special non-skating guests (including the legendary Janet Lynn.)

I do hope my friend Judy Sladky is going to dress up as Snoopy. Maybe I'll wear my special Snoopy hat! Hope DH and I will get some good photos on Saturday.

http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~ewc/performers.htm

[icecat]

Nice that they are letting Jessica Lin skate for one performance. She's a lovely skater, lots of poise and presentation. One of those unfortunate ladies that came down with the flu at NE Regionals. Looking forward to seeing Curran and Brittney again, miss seeing them on the ice at SCOB.
Outstanding that so many "icons" are making it in forthe 40th anniversary. Can't wait to see what SCOB comes up with for Ice Chips 100th Anniversary in 2 years.

[Iceman]

I had rather see the nonskating guests skate, including dick and peggy. Wonder why no Michelle, she's in Mass?

[danceronice]

Maybe she's super-busy at school?

[azskatefan]

Wonder why no Michelle, she's in Mass?

Maybe she does not want to skate. Also, based on her schedule of appearances, it's likely she had something else to do - or gasp, attend class.

[Screenie]

Does "special guest" mean that they're not skating?

[snoopysnake]

Does "special guest" mean that they're not skating?

I think so; I suppose some of them could conceivably skate onto the ice but I don't think they are performing. Tenley Albright was there a few years ago and stepped on the ice with skates on to receive a bouquet of flowers. It's more likely to be a red carpet on the ice kind of thing.

It has occurred to me that Michelle Kwan could certainly be part of the special guests group, as she did perform in this show as a young teenager. Maybe she has schedule conflicts, or is just trying to lay low from skating at the present time. Hope she might be there as a last-minute addition!

[HeatherC]

Oh gosh, Amanda & Mark, NavBoms, Melissa & Denis....that whole cast is wonderful! I wish I could go but I'll just have to look forward to pictures and videos from anyone else who is lucky enough to go. Have a great time!

[Screenie]

i wish i could go.. it sounds amazing!!

[ioana]

I'm not sure if the weather is partly to blame for this, but the arena was only about 1/3 full for Friday's show. Dick Button did part of the introductions/MC'ing and was in rare form.

"I was taking to my old friends Kitty and Peter Carruthers. Yes, old friends. They're old; I'm not."
Peggy talking about working with Dick at ABC over the years. "You have a passion for the sport like no one else."
Dick "Yes, but you have the legs for it."

Something was wrong with the sound system for the better part of the first half of the show, so we couldn't really hear what was being said. Case in point, they were talking to one of the guests of honor who was very funny and at one point referred to herself as 'an old ice dancer', but I couldn't hear what else she said.

Onto the actual skating...Brittany Rizzo and Curran Oi did a cute "pairs" number to Sweet Caroline, The Dropkick Murphys and a few other 'greatest sports hits in Boston' that actually worked well and had some good footwork, spins and none of the odd 'what do I do now while she's spinning?' moments that I've seen in other programs like it.

Gretchen Donlan and Andrew Speroff did a very nice program to Bohemian Rhapsody -the original Queen version, for a change. He actually 'dies' during the 'Mama, I just killed a man' part, but then she prods him back to life. Great lifts and a nice throw 2 sal.

Jason Wong has a new (to me!) exhibition to American Pie that was very musical and had quite a bit of content, including two 2 axels and a 3sal. He fell on the sal, but who cares when the rest of his skating is so nice!

Both pairs teams Zhang/Toth and Evora/Ladwig skated well. Zhang and Toth in particular look ready to move up to seniors, with excellent ice coverage, nice lines and sbs 2 axels and a throw 3sal -all under spotlights.
Evora & Ladwig skated to On My own from Les Mis with a split 3twist and throw 3 loop (both very nice). They had a weird problem with their last back press lift, but laughed it off -literally- and got a warm reception.

E/L were cute in the closing number where Mark forgot they're supposed to do a highlight move and started skating off while Amanda was at center ice waiting for him to come back. Which he did, picked her up into a quick Detroiter and Amanda sold the exit out of that like nobody's business =).

Shibutanis and Navarro/Bommentre looked great & you can really hear the difference between ice dancers's edges and the other skaters when you sit close to the ice. Sad this is probably the last time I'll see Kim & Brent skate , but Give Me One Reason to Stay Here is a very good program for them.

The Hughes sisters were both there, but Emily looked out of it in her second number (Can't take my eyes off you), catching her heel on her 2axel and stumbling while stroking around at least twice. Her first program went much better and I have to say her spirals are impressive up close. Gorgeous free leg extension and tons of speed. Very nice spins, as well. Sarah only skated in the group numbers to open and close the show, but she seems to be in much better shape than when she was doing SOI.

Dorothy Hammil and Paul Wylie did a pairs number of their own to close the show...

Oh, and 3 of the ensemble girls from Ice Theatre of New York skated to an instrumental version of Fix You by Cold Play. One of them was Alizah Allen whom I hadn't seen in years, but she still has the same beautiful edges. All three of them were great skaters actually and I thought the program was very effective without any jumps or spins.

Will try to post some of the videos soon, too.

Jason Wong's American Pie Exhibition
Zhang and Toth


ETA: Nancy was not there on Friday in case anyone is keeping track and they didn't have any videos of her on the scoreboard jumbotron either, which was a little odd since they had some videos of Michelle Kwan who was not there either -nor was she scheduled to attend.

[jlai]

Thanks for the report!

[smurfy]

Just got home. Great show.
Sound system was bad. in the beginning lots of skaters on skates got intros including JoJo Starbuck & Ken Shelley, Tai & Randy, Kitty and Peter Carruthers. The lighting was really strange - probably for the filming, but could not always see everyone.
Sarah Hughes was also in the beginning group, looking quite slim.
Standing on the ice for intros was Tenley Albright, Dick, Peggy, Janet Lynn and I think Suna Murray (who got big cheers).
Then between skaters when Dick and Peggy were chatting, one time - Judy Sladky who later on was Snuffelupagus on Sesame St and spoke in that voice.
Yasmin Siraj skated - very impressive - was at Ice Chips last week and nice to see again, she has a great presence.
Gregory and Petukhov were there, looking good, and it is the 6th time I have seen the program where their costumes light up.
Emily is the only one to do 2 programs. Seems like she had too much energy and made mistakes, but she just laughed them off.
Love Felicia and Taylor - so cute and so promising.
Ice Theatre of Ny - mesmerizing program, just lovely
Team Excel - Synchro to Riverdance/Lord of the Dance and Enya type music, really cool, and usually Synchro does not thrill me. Their costumes were pretty.
NavBoms - looked good, and yes probably last time to see them, which is sad. They always just look like they love what they do.
Evora & Ladwig, saw them during the break and said they were competing next season - yea. I have seen them at a few Skate Americas, and they seem more confident, what a great season they had.
Shibutanis - so so cute and impressive
Dorothy and Paul - so wonderful to see. Every year when Paul hosts this event, he is on skates, but does not skate a program which is a dissappointment, they were great together.
Great show, almost want to go back Sat pm, but it is a 2 hr drive each way.

[literaryfreak]

I will be going tonight - any requests for videos?