by Fran Buhman
Madison Square Garden has to be one of the larger arenas in the United States, and for this year's edition of Stars of Ice the cavernous space was filled to capacity, with only the upper nosebleed sections containing empty seats.
Shortly after the start of the first Act, Todd was introduced to the crowd by Kurt Browning, as a friend and "special guest", "straight from Salt Lake City." Thunderous applause greeted this introduction, with various people getting to their feet for a standing O, with the result that it was several additional moments before the crowd had settled down sufficiently so that Todd could skate.
Although Lord of the Rings was his Olympic long program, it works well in this show, as a nice lyrical contrast to some of the snappier, more lighthearted numbers that both proceed and follow it, and the audience really seems to go for the quality of skating it is able to showcase. This night's performance was admittedly not one of Todd's better ones. Although the opening triple loop was textbook perfection, he opened up on the intended first triple axel, popping it with such height and force that the result provided a classic illustration of what the sport calls a "Waxel". The unexpectedness of this botched jump may have rattled him a bit, because the triple lutz that was to follow wound up being doubled. However, the second triple axel (leave it to Todd to plan *two* triple axels in one exhibition program!) was delivered without a hitch, and was a beauty, as was the final jump (a triple toe). He was rewarded for his efforts with thunderous applause.
Todd's next appearance in the show was towards the end of the second act, when he performed to Your Song. This performance was relatively problem free, with the only glitch a wonky landing on the Triple Axel that nearly resulted in a hand down (leave it to Todd to plan to do *three* triple axels in one show, and to plan on doing it in every performance of that show!). However, the triple loop and triple toe came off to perfection, as did the rest of the program, including the audience pleasing spiral (one enthusiastic fan at the Philadelphia show actually screamed when he performed that element). This time around his effort was awarded with a partial standing ovation in addition to thunderous and lengthy applause.
As if to prove he was far from having exhausted his jump quota for the evening, he managed to pull off a couple of triple toes and a double axel during the show's finale. Not surprisingly, he looked much more comfortable in the closing group number than he did when I last saw the show in Philadelphia, but then in Philly he was still really new to the show and he had now had five more weeks to become accustomed to doing the number.
Having seen this edition of Stars on Ice twice before he joined the company, and two more times *after* he joined it, I have to say that Todd's presence makes a huge difference to the show. It's almost as if he's breathed new life into it and as a result brought the energy of the entire company up a notch. Indeed, shortly after Todd started with the show, Todd Sand told Richard Callaghan that Todd's presence and example had inspired them all to want to skate better. And the results of that inspiration was more than evident during the performance at Madison Square Garden.
Note: A special insert has been added to the Stars on Ice program featuring a glorious picture of Todd in his 1492 costume. For those of you who don't have or haven't seen this year's SOI program, in it each skater and skater pair writes their own "ad copy" or as the program's intro puts it, "In this book, the members of the cast share their moments of gold. For these champions, gold is not just a medal. It's a once-in-a-lifetime feeling that they will never forget." Here's what Todd wrote for his: "This year I experienced two of the most memorable moments of my career. The first was winning my sixth U.S. National title at the age of 30 after competing for the past 18 years. The second came during my final trip to the Olympics with the honor of bringing the World Trade Center flag into the stadium for Opening Ceremonies. It made me think about how important life is and how proud I was to represent the United States in my last Olympics."
Also, 8X10 color photographs of Todd, both with and without autograph, appeared among the show's souvenirs for sale rather quickly, joining similar type photos of his fellow castmembers. In Madison Square Garden the number of souvenir stands were legion, but some of the smaller ones only contained a fraction of the extensive merchandise available at the larger stands - usually confining themselves to programs, magnets and a couple of the photographs of castmembers that were probably thought to be the best sellers- and I couldn't help but note that these were - Tara, Kristi, Kurt and -Todd!
Fran
FranBuhman@aol.com
