Champions on Ice Entering Stage of Transition

May 8, 2007
Article © Joseph Erbentraut

Four years had passed since I last attended a stop of the Champions on Ice tour, and with some of the new additions to the cast this year, I thought that the time had come to check it out again at the May 6, 2007, stop in Chicago. The United Center, which seats approximately 22,000, was at least half full with the entire lower bowl packed, which may have had something to do with the fact that Chicago only hosted one show on the tour, as opposed to two, as in previous years.

As it turns out, four years haven’t changed the show all that much, although as a whole, this may have been one of the best skated Champions I’d ever been to, including only one fall that I can recall off the top of my head. The styles were varied and the talent included a selection of “fresh blood” that added a lot of life to the show, while playing off of the charisma of established names. Missing in action for the first time in years was perennial headliner Michelle Kwan, who had become synonymous with the show. Also largely missing in action were pairs teams – the Chinese team Qing Pang & Jian Tong were the lone representatives of their discipline, making me think back to the days of seeing the Russian greats, including Kazakova & Dmitriev, Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze and showstoppers, such as Brasseur & Eisler.

Taking over the role as lead headliner was Sasha Cohen, whose performance to Christina Aguilera’s Hurt was incredibly smooth and polished, including her well-known hyperextensions and crisp jumps – a triple salchow and double axel. One can’t help but get a new sense of freedom and expression from Cohen’s recent performances, and she is coming into her own as an entertainer, delivering one of the most confident and well-received numbers of the afternoon. That, and perhaps most importantly, her dress was fabulous – gold and laced with sequins, eerily similar to Rudy Galindo’s deliciously flamboyant golden Dreamgirls unitard, worn in the first half, but that’s a different discussion entirely.

Another clear standout from the afternoon was the fallen angels trio’s performance to Handel’s Sarabande early in the second half. Skated by Johnny Weir, Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov, the number has an ethereal quality that cannot help but leave audience members with goosebumps. It was seamless. Petukhov deserves a lot of credit for fantastic choreography, integrating Weir’s single elements (including a clean triple toe) with his and Gregory’s dance lifts. They, along with Cohen, were the only performers for which (a limited number of) audience members stood, as far as I could see, and the accolades were well deserved.

Weir’s solo performance to Stevie Wonder was also spellbinding. He is skating with more confidence than I have ever seen, landing a clean triple lutz and flip and skating with more speed than most of the other skaters. He looks completely on top of his game, in a newfound comfort zone in front of the audience.

Weir’s “rival” – Evan Lysacek – left a bit more to be desired, in my eyes. His number to INXS also included a smattering of strong triples and good energy, but the refinement is simply not there to the same extent. That said, the teen girls love him, apparently not deterred by the fact that Lysacek was costumed as if he was heading off to a Swedish Death Metal concert, wearing a black sleeveless top, tight-fitting black pants and oversized black wristbands. I wonder if Christian Dior designed this one for him, as well.

Fellow American Ryan Bradley opened the show to an adaptation of his Saturday Night Fever free skate, looking tired and a bit uninspired. Bradley managed a clean double axel and a sampling of a few different variations on backflips, but most of the choreography consisted of gyrating in the far corner of the rink, covering little ice and not exactly drawing the entire audience into the performance in the way that he is capable. He also looks to have gained a little weight, but I could be wrong.

The other men – Evgeny Plushenko, Rudy Galindo and Victor Petrenko all played to their individual strengths, delivering very entertaining performances. Plushenko, skating second to last, used an electric guitar take on the infamous Albinoni Adagio used a grand total of three times over the course of the afternoon. The Olympic champ brought the audience into his program with fast footwork and a few solid jumps, although he is clearly still in the process of recovering from the knee problems he has endured in the past year.

Both Galindo and Petrenko’s numbers were a lot of fun, skated with a level of energy that should have put many of their younger counterparts to shame. In Dreamgirls, Galindo played both butch and femme roles, adding a little bit of gender play into the mix and landing several triple toes and double axels – not bad at all for having two ceramic hips. In the finale, Galindo launched Weir into the air for a clean throw double axel, harkening back to memories of his pairs skating days with Kristi Yamaguchi. Petrenko’s Cher cowboy number also included a triple and double axel, as well as some well-executed steps during this, Petrenko’s 20th consecutive year with the tour. Both of these skaters add a great deal of professionalism and star quality to the production, and I’m glad to see them push the creative envelope each year they head out on tour.

With the full-time addition of Gregory & Petukhov, this year’s total of ice dance teams on the tour came to three, which was also great to see. Gregory & Petukhov’s first half solo to jazz music was a little sparse choreographically, but still pleasant, and it was evident that they’ve improved this number since they first skated it some years ago. After the show, the duo was beaming from eye to eye as they signed autographs and posed for photos and they are looking forward to skating in the remainder of the shows with the troupe.

I’m sad to admit that the representations of my favorite discipline by the more established teams were largely disappointing. Headliners Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto’s Justin Timberlake medley somehow did not convey well, whether it was an effect of the atrocious music edit, the somewhat tasteless costumes (looking like a pimp and his prostitute, complete with hooker boots) or some combination thereof. I commend their effort to bring a new edge to ice dancing, but this particular performance lacked refinement and class.

The same can be said for Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat, whose Christina Aguilera medley suffered from strange music cuts and a lack of speed. Although I personally love the song and I’m not typically a fan of censorship by any means (as you could probably tell from the tone of this review), I’m not sure about the appropriateness of lyrics such as “makes my panties drop / makes my cherry pop” in the setting of a family show. That said, they still have some spectacular lifts and they showcase each other very well… and Peizerat is clearly still in phenomenal shape, as evidenced by a shirtless segment of the program.

As said before, Pang & Tong were the lone pairs team in the show, and they skated late in the second half to an operatic duet of Adagio. Despite falling on the throw triple loop, the rest of the number was solid, including a myriad of unique moves, and their split double lateral twist was fierce as usual. The number also included a Level 3 sequined headband by Tong, which I greatly appreciated… I definitely would have liked to have seen more pairs in the show; it’s really too bad Tatiana Totmianina & Maxim Marinin scratched.

The other women in the show all brought something different to the table. Kimmie Meissner, looking more primped than usual with heavier makeup and straightened hair worn down, skated to Sarah McLachlan’s Angel. Although I’m completely over this song (it’s been out for nearly a decade… Could it please just die?), she used it well, and the number was really well choreographed and skated, including a triple lutz. She is also looking increasingly comfortable in a show setting.

Alyssa Czisny skated in the first half to Sarah Brightman’s Anytime, Anywhere, and the number was absolutely captivating. She wore an tasteful plum dress and skated with excellent pacing that was quite calming. Her triple lutz and flip were both phenomenal, and her only miscue was a missed single axel, which was more than made up for with her spins. She is a great addition to the tour, bringing a classic beauty to the ice.

Surya Bonaly’s number was energetic though completely forgettable due to more horrendous, repetitive music that was an unfortunate trend for some of the pop numbers in the show. She probably landed a triple salchow or two and is in great shape. Meanwhile, Shae-Lynn Bourne’s chair tango in the second half was well performed and innovative. It didn’t seem to translate to much of the audience, but I loved watching her edge work and ease of glide with her “partner,” whom Bourne said backstage after the show was nameless as of yet.

Taken as a whole, the other “novelty” acts, including second act-opening Hula Hoop Queen Irina Grigorian and the incredibly strong Ukranian acrobats Vladimir Besdin & Oleksiy Polishchuk were loudly appreciated by casual fans in attendance, and certainly added a different dimension to the show. Dan Hollander’s costume change and music edit-intensive hero medley included a few triple jumps and a lot of playful choreography and also got a loud reaction from the audience.

That said, besides the aforementioned entertainers’ choices of costume and music, these acts change little in concept or execution from year to year and… we’ve seen it. Meanwhile, the fact remains that only four of the eighteen medalists from the most recent World Championships are included on this year’s tour of the production that touts itself as being “known for showcasing the current and most popular Olympic, World and National Champions.” It is clear that the show is in a stage of transition, seemingly in a direction toward the better, perhaps best exhibited by the show’s entertaining James Bond finale. (Though, I digress that I fail to understand how the Pink Panther theme snuck its way into the medley, while the glaring omission of Madonna’s tantalizing Die Another Day was borderline blasphemy. Oh, and why was Dan Hollander wearing a stuffed cat, again?)

Besides simply working to include the world’s top names, however, Champions will need to continue work at streamlining the quality of its product in order to strive toward the level of professionalism seen in the mid-late 1990s hey day. Brian Boitano and Kwan, the show’s two great mainstays have moved on, leaving a tremendous void that will be difficult, if not impossible to fill. This Sunday’s show was certainly evidence that Champions is headed in the right direction, and I’m looking forward to seeing what tour organizers have up their sleeves for next year.