The Influence of Musicals on Figure Skating

[aliceanne]

You just made me think of"Porgy and Bess". Who HASN'T skated to "Summertime"? Katarina Witt, Torvil and Dean, Annenko and Sretenski, probably every singles skater at one time in their life - including me.

Porgy and Bess
80 Pairs SP Irina Vorobieva, Igor Lisovski URS Summer time
85 Pairs FS Melinda Kunhegyi, Lindon Johnston CAN Summer time
87 Men FS Brian Boitano USA Summer time
88 Dance FD Klara Engi, Attila Toth HUN Summer time
91 Dance OD Maia Usova, Alexandr Zhulin URS Summer time
91 Dance EX Maia Usova, Alexandr Zhulin URS Summer time
91 Dance OD Stefania Calegari, Pasquale Camerlengo ITA Summer time

[DORISPULASKI]

Dorothy Hamill skated to Tom Thumb from Barnum as a pro (T&D of course skated to it as well as amateurs)

I don't see her program on youtube.

Did anyone ever skate to Rent?

[Ozzisk8tr]

Mack and Mabel, Barnum - Torville and Dean

Has anyone skated to the overture from Urinetown?

[Maofan7]

16 funny girl
Annette poetzch 1980 lp
19 on the town
Tara 1996 sp
20 grease
Evan 2006? Scraped sp
22 beauty and the beast
Kerrigan 1993 lp
23 guys and dolls
Dotty hamil 1980s world pro lp
25 moulin rouge
Far too many tango de Roxanne's to ever count, so I'm just going to list my fav: kwan's rumored sp from circa 2005 that never materialized. The myth had a life of its own.

I can't believe you forgot Yuna's Tango de Roxanne(from Moulin Rouge), her senior debut short program which set the world record of 71 points at Worlds 07!

Here are numbers 16-25 from the AFI's list incorporating your suggestions:-

16. Funny Girl

Film Excerpt

Anett Pötzsch - 1980 Olympics - LP (Funny Girl)

17. The Band Wagon

Film Excerpt

Kurt Browning - That's Entertainment (The Band Wagon)

18. Yankee Doodle Dandy

Film Excerpt

Kristi Yamaguchi - 1992 Olympics - Exhibition (Yankee Doodle Dandy)

19. On The Town

Film Excerpt

Tara Lipinski - 1996 US Nationals - SP (On The Town)

20. Grease

Film Excerpt

Evan Lysacek - Skate America 1995 - LP (Grease)

21. Seven Brides For Seven Brothers

Film Excerpt

Any ideas?

22. Beauty and the Beast

Film Excerpt

Nancy Kerrigan - 1993 World Championships - LP (Beauty and the Beast)

23. Guys and Dolls

Film Excerpt

Sadly, could not find the Dorothy Hamill version of Guys & Dolls on YouTube. However, I did locate Kurt Brownings version of Luck be a Lady:-

Kurt Browning - Luck be a Lady (Guys & Dolls)

24. Show Boat (1936 Film)

Film Excerpt

Katherine Healy - Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man (Show Boat)

Here's a challenge - apart from Katherine Healy, can you think of any other figure skaters who were also professional ballet dancers?

25. Moulin Rouge!

Film Excerpt

Kim Yu-Na - 2007 World Championships - SP (El Tango de Roxanne - Moulin Rouge!)

[Vash01]

Midori Ito skated to 'Cats' (Memories) at the 1993 Pro competition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd4YLNRJbGY

Who else skated to Cats (this or any other song from it)?

[falling_dance]

Midori Ito skated to 'Cats' (Memories) at the 1993 Pro competition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd4YLNRJbGY

Who else skated to Cats (this or any other song from it)?

Caryn Kadavy skated to "Memory" for an exhibition at the 1986 Goodwill Games. Shizuka Arakawa skated to the same song at various events in the autumn of 2004.

[Vash01]

I don't know if this qualifies- Klimova & Ponomarenko skating to Mack the Knife from Three Penny Opera (not sure if that qualifies for a musical; I know it's a play by Bertolt Brech, but the song was written later)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCSjkGk62uQ

[TwizzlerS]

Who else skated to Cats (this or any other song from it)?

Brian Orser in 1984

[Vash01]

Kristi & Rudy skated an exhibition to Cats in Sun Valley around 1988- I watched it in person; they were the junior world champions then. They wore costumes like cats for the ex. I don't know if a link is available for this on YT.

[floskate]

Kristi & Rudy skated an exhibition to Cats in Sun Valley around 1988- I watched it in person; they were the junior world champions then. They wore costumes like cats for the ex. I don't know if a link is available for this on YT.

I've never seen that, but they must have loved their musicals because at Worlds in 1989 they were skating to Starlight Express for their exhibition. That used to be on youtube but seems to have disappeared,

[paskatefan]

Actually, he started using it during the 1992-93 season (I think midseason IIRC) and kept it through 1993-94 except for Goodwill Games when he already had a preliminary version of Swing Kids, not the final cuts.

Then he brought The King and I back for fall 1995. I'm sure I read or heard somewhere that he said the reason was because he had spent a fortune on the costume and wanted to get it on TV. But then he didn't wear it at Skate America, which was his best chance in the fall to get a short program on TV!

For whatever reason he went back to Swing Kids for Nationals-series final-Worlds 1996, at the same time he switched from Chess to First Knight for the long program.

However, just for that fall 1995, with TK&I and Chess, my friend and I described his programs as Two Nights in Bangkok.

And yes, he did use a lot of music from musicals over the years.

Thanks for clarifying all that, gkelly.

Re: Summertime - Joannie Rochette skated to it in Fashion on Ice a few seasons back.

Re: Cats - Liz Manley did a program to "Jellicle Ball" (don't remember if it was an exhibition piece or a pro comp program).

[gkelly]

I don't know if this qualifies- Klimova & Ponomarenko skating to Mack the Knife from Three Penny Opera (not sure if that qualifies for a musical; I know it's a play by Bertolt Brech, but the song was written later)

Not really -- according to Wikipedia, the song was added just before the original German opening of the Threepenny Opera in 1928, so it was written a little bit later than the other songs, but before the public heard any of them.

It was a few decades later that an English-language version of the song was recorded and released as a popular song as opposed to just part of the play.

[berthesghost]

It's a curious list to begin with... I mean, where's Oklahoma!, where's Camelot, where's sweet charity, wheres fiddler on the roof?

But impressive that skaters have chosen almost all of them. I have a hard time picturing a routine to "the man that got away" ( and let's face it, that is THE only song from that "musical" anyone remembers). I could maybe see someone like Kurt doing 7b47b.. And they were Sabin, Sabin, Sabin.... But I don't expect the list to be completed anytime soon.

[orbitz]

Midori Ito skated to 'Cats' (Memories) at the 1993 Pro competition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd4YLNRJbGY

Ito skated to Little Mermaid's "Part of Your World" the following year. It was actually sort of awkward for an adult woman to skater to that music though, and she lost to Kristi.

[floskate]

Thanks for clarifying all that, gkelly.


Re: Cats - Liz Manley did a program to "Jellicle Ball" (don't remember if it was an exhibition piece or a pro comp program).

And that reminded me that Mandy Woetzel and her first partner Axel Rauschenbach had a great (for the time ) LP to Cats back in 1989/90.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Sgx6KEgZk

(Note the attempt at throw triple sal with just a step into sbs 3t's. She doubled but pretty for 1990!!)

[Maofan7]

It's a curious list to begin with... I mean, where's Oklahoma!, where's Camelot, where's sweet charity, wheres fiddler on the roof?

But impressive that skaters have chosen almost all of them. I have a hard time picturing a routine to "the man that got away" ( and let's face it, that is THE only song from that "musical" anyone remembers). I could maybe see someone like Kurt doing 7b47b.. And they were Sabin, Sabin, Sabin.... But I don't expect the list to be completed anytime soon.

Literally the only program I could find relating to Seven Brides For Seven Brothers was this one - Barn Dance (Seven Brides For Seven Brothers)

I've not been able to find anything relating to A Star Is Born. However, if there is no program out there for it, then 24/25 for the figure skating community isn't bad!

One of the omissions from the AFI's list which I was absolutely astonished by was Funny Face. That is one of my all time favourites and what can you say about the following program except, 'S Wonderful:-

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir - 2011 GPF Free Dance - (Funny Face)

Another classic Audrey Hepburn film is of course Breakfast at Tiffany's. Although it's not a musical, it does feature one of the great songs, Moon River. Alissa Czisny did an absolutely exquisite version of that, and Rachael Flatt and Tonya Harding each did a short program based on it. There have been several others as well. Here are the three I mentioned:-

Alissa Czisny - Moon River

Rachael Flatt - Cup of Russia 2008 - SP (Moon River)

Tonya Harding - 1992 World Championships - SP (Moon River)

I've also just remembered that Rachael Flatt's LP during 2006/07 was An American in Paris:-

Rachael Flatt - 2007 US Nationals - LP (An American In Paris)

[Wyliefan]

What a great thread!! I love having links to all these show-tune-related programs in one place.

[skatesindreams]

Didn't Evan Lysacek do a routine to "Singin' in the Rain"?

It was his 2005 EX. Here it is:

2005 Marshalls Challenge - Singing in the Rain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nVvpzlmxGY

Only performance I've found on YouTube.

[centerstage01]

Another classic Audrey Hepburn film is of course Breakfast at Tiffany's. Although it's not a musical, it does feature one of the great songs, Moon River. Alissa Czisny did an absolutely exquisite version of that, and Rachael Flatt and Tonya Harding each did a short program based on it. There have been several others as well. Here are the three I mentioned:-

Alissa Czisny - Moon River

Rachael Flatt - Cup of Russia 2008 - SP (Moon River)

Tonya Harding - 1992 World Championships - SP (Moon River)

I've also just remembered that Rachael Flatt's LP during 2006/07 was An American in Paris:-

Rachael Flatt - 2007 US Nationals - LP (An American In Paris)

Don't forget Amber Corwin! It was the tiara that made the program.

[Maofan7]

Don't forget Amber Corwin! It was the tiara that made the program.

I think that the 2006 US Nationals from which that SP is from was her very last competition. She designed her own costumes and retired to pursue a fashion career.