I'm going to do my best at this... I'm not sure of all the music that was used.. some of it was Celtic Woman (who were fabulous by the way!!!), some of it was not. First, the cast... Todd (of course), Katia Gordeeva, Brian Orser, Caryn Kadavy, Jennifer Robinson, Rudy Galindo, Shae Lynn Bourne, Jozef Sabovcik, and Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon. We had never seen Jozef skate live before, and it's been a long time since we've seen Rudy, so it was great to see him!!! Our seats were pretty much at center ice, which was great, except for the fact that we had one of the TV cameras in our way, so I had a bit of a blind spot at the opposite end of the ice.
Okay... on to the show!!!!!! The opening number was a combination of songs from Celtic Woman.. the guys were wearing black pants and a lavender colored shirt.. the ladies were wearing lavender dresses (I initially thought they were the ones from "Ladies in Lavender" from SOI last year, but those dresses popped up later in the show). I'm trying to remember all the details... I know at some point Todd was on the ice by himself... but I can't remember if that was at the very beginning of the opening number, or not. The opening number was very nice... Celtic Woman sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and there was a part of what sounded like the music from Riverdance... Shae skated to that solo at first, and then the rest of the cast joined in (at this point, there were people getting to their seats late, so I missed that part of it ).
Katia: Katia opened and closed the show. I'm not sure what song she used for her first program, but the second one was "You Raise Me Up" by Celtic Woman... and it was absolutely beautiful... she even got a partial standing ovation. All of the skaters in this show had heart disease effect someone in their family, and Katia & Sergei's story is so well known.. it was a very special moment... looking forward to seeing that again. Katia is always a joy to watch!!
Jennifer: I have no idea what music Jen skated to... LOL. She looked great... had a few jump issues she fixed during the retakes, but it was great to see her again. Looks like she cut her hair recently.. it was shorter than I'm used to seeing it.
Shae Lynn: I would love to see Shae skate on the full SOI tour.. she is very good... you really don't miss the jumps at all. Her first program, I'm not sure what the music was, but the second was a sort of tango with a chair... very cool use of the chair.. the crowd was impressed.
Caryn: Caryn was her usual graceful, elegant self. She skated live to Celtic Woman... which song, I have no idea... are you sensing a trend... LOL. There was a group of young girls sitting a couple seats away from us (from a local skating club I think) and they were big fans of Caryn. I know the song she used for her first program, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it is right now... LOL.
Jozef: As I mentioned earlier, this was our first time seeing Jozef skate live. He is very exciting to watch with his backflips and great russian splits. He made us nervous with his backflips though.. it looked like he was going to hit his head on the ice almost every time (I guess because he's so tall?!). He had to fix a couple things during the retakes... he was joking a little with the crowd... after he fixed his first program, he said "I'll be back"... LOL. As usual.. no idea what he skated to.
Rudy: It was so great to see Rudy again.. it's been about 3 or 4 years since we've seen him skate.. we haven't gotten to see COI in a few years. You could never tell he's had 2 hip replacements... his jumps were on, and he looked like he was having so much fun out there. He skated to "Fields of Gold" (I'm assuming it was Celtic Woman, but it wasn't live, so don't quote me on that) and his second program was Rudy being Rudy... LOL... it's a song I've heard many times, but I don't know the actual name of it... anyway, it was great... he really had the crowd going.
Marie France & Patrice: My first time seeing them skate live, and they were fabulous. You could tell the audience really didn't know who they were, but at the end of their programs, they had the audience cheering.. they were great. Their first program was upbeat, as usual.. no idea what the music was... LOL. The second program was their "At Last" program they competed with last year. I'm looking forward to seeing them on the SOI tour this year.. I think they will be a great addition to the cast! I saw them walking through the hotel lobby before the show, but it looked like they were in a rush to get to the arena (it was just about 6:30.. show started at 7:30!!) so I didn't want to bother them.
Brian: Brian only skated one program... it was a song with Celtic Woman in the second half of the show. He was eventually joined by Jennifer, Shae Lynn, and Marie France & Patrice.. nice little group number within his solo.. then they left the ice, and he was by himself again. I was thinking that he only did the one program because he was still recovering from his broken arm, and he confirmed that during the retakes. He was the emcee, and was waiting for Jennifer to get changed, and asked if anyone had any questions for him. Someone asked how his arm was and he said it's still healing, and that was the reason he only skated once (he was also in the opening number and finale). He also said that he usually does a backflip during the retakes while waiting for the next skater, but that because of his arm, he couldn't do it today. It was so good to see him again, even if it was only for one program.
Last, but certainly not least......
TODD!!!!!! First of all, Todd looked great.. he was really enjoying himself out there. He skated to Shenandoah by Celtic Woman.... awesome program.. looking forward to seeing it again, since like I mentioned, I had the TV camera blocking part of my view. His spins were fast as usual, and from what I could see, his jumps looked great too (a couple of his jumps were done out of my view, but he didn't do any retakes). His second program was "Better Days"... so great to see that one again. I was thinking maybe someone messed up during the opening number, because it looked like Todd was laughing, but there weren't any retakes of the opening, so I guess everything turned out OK. Celtic Woman came out to fix something with Shenandoah (it sounded fine the first time, but I guess it wasn't the way they wanted it)... Todd didn't come out since his part of it was fine.
The finale: Everyone was dressed in black for the finale... it was very elegant looking. Obviously, the finale was done to Celtic Woman, and as usual, I have no idea what the song was... LOL. I think the ladies came out first (minus Katia who closed the show) and then the guys (minus Todd... he skated just before Katia)... and then Katia & Todd came out and skated together and joined the rest of the cast. It was a really great show... definitely looking forward to seeing it again on TV. I'm sorry I don't know more of the music details. Everyone I heard talking after the show really enjoyed it, which is always good to hear!!!
