Champions on Ice Review 1999

Before the Show:
Well, I was running a bit late. The show was going to start at 7:00 P.M. and I got there at 6:53 P.M., but you know these things always start late. The show was being held at the New Oakland Arena near San Francisco. I usually go to San Jose Arena, but I heard they give autographs in Oakland, and plus it was both cheaper and closer. It was actually a lot cheaper than I thought. When I was standing in line to buy tickets, a lady behind me was offering my brother and I free tickets. Yes, I said FREE tickets. And these weren't bad seats either. They were in the 15th row. At first I thought there was a catch, but I just happened to be very, VERY, very lucky. As I always say, timing is everything. On my way in, I got lost trying to find the seats and I also stopped to buy a program. When I got to my seat, I was shocked they were so close. The only bad thing was I was on the opposite side of where they came out, but I'm not complaining! My brother has this little joke every time that we are going to see the skaters go through a "fire ring of death", like at the circus or something.

Act I:
Like every year, they came out for an introduction. Naomi Nari Nam came out to "Livin' La Vida Loca." I only liked it because Ricky Martin is such a hot tamale! Liz Manley came out to "Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears. Rudy came out to something weird and in some kind of tinkerbell outfit. Todd came out to a thunderous applause to "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies. I forgot the rest but Michelle got the biggest ovation of the night to "Simply irresistible." It was the fast version from the 80's or early 90's. They had a small opening number and began with the performances. Most notably missed were Elvis Stojko, and Bourne & Kraatz. Maria Butyrskaya, Alexei Yagudin, and Platov/Usova weren't there either, but I really didn't care. NOTE: I don't remember every performance so I am only doing a few.

It felt like 70's night or something because everyone did some kind of 70's medley. Nicole had one of the best ones to Blondie music. She was really on tonight but missed one of her jumps, but other than that, she got the audience on her side.

Punsulan & Swallow did their "Sonny and Cher" routine, but no matter how much I see it, I am always bored by it.

Michael Weiss did his routine to the Doors music. I really like this program and I absolutely loved the wig he had.

Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze skated to "The Impossible Dream" by Luther Vandross. It was nice, but not all that exciting.

Woetzal & Steuer skated to "Last Dance". They were very into it until Mandy fell on her throw double axel.

Rudy skated to the Village People again. I am starting to get sick of this program considering he has performed it on tour for the past to years. He really needs something new.

INTERMISSION

Act II:
When they started up again, they had this weird acrobatic act. It looked really scary. They had weird tricks and it looked like she was going to cut off her partner's leg the way Darth Vader chopped off Luke's arm in The Empire Strikes Back.

Laurant Tobel came out and skated to some music from the movie The Rugrats. He was wearing some weird baby outfit.

Oksana Baiul skated to Bach's Elegie. It was very well done with many completed jumps and when she did the double axel at the end, she let out a loud scream of joy!

Victor Petrenko skated to his Michael Jackson medley. It was fantastic as usual and Victor (as normal) got one of the loudest ovations of the night.

Todd skated to "Pity the Child". It was very well done and I thought he was going to fall, but he always managed to land his jumps.

Philippe skated to his D'Artangan program with a sword. This program I think I can never get tired of. Next time, I hope to see him use a lightsaber instead of a sword.

The moment we have all been waiting for, Michelle came out and skated to "One More Time." She landed everything perfectly and my roll of film ran out during this so I had to put in a new one during the finale.

Finale:
The final number was really good because I think that since it was pretty well rehearsed by now. It was kind of sad to see it end, but all good things must come to an end.

After the show:
This was probably the most exciting part of the evening. Since I didn't have backstage passes, I waited by the exit of the bus with a whole crowd. I was way up in the front and next to these really nice people. I was talking to them about Michelle while one of them was talking to my brother about the SF Giants game (luckily they won.) One of the girls was showing me her autographs from last year. She had Michelle's, Rudy's, Lu Chen's, and she said Tara was really rude to her because she said she was looking through her whole book while signing it, which is a total invasion of privacy we thought. I had some flowers for Michelle in my hand along with her autobiography and a pen while my brother was holding my tour book for me. Some people started to come out but they were all so rude because they didn't even wave on their way to the bus. Naomi yelled hi on her way in, but the girl on next to me said that she would never win the gold without paying attention to her fans, and I now agree with her. The only person who came out to give autographs was Michelle Kwan. I started yelling her name to get her attention. She went over to one of the people near me, and when I tried to get a photo of her, I think the flash startled her and she went over to some other people and got on the bus and left. I understand that it probably surprised her, but I think that it was the nicest thing that she was the only one who came out.