by Hooloovoo
Standard disclaimer: Below you'll find my latest skating event review. At events I am concentrating on photography and take no notes, so this review is from memory. As a result there may be some errors, but I'm trying my best! I am also largely a mens fan, so they'll often be the most detailed parts. Questions/comments can be sent to me at hoo@hooloovoo.com
I attended my third SOI stop this weekend up in Philly. The main reason for the trip was to see Todd in the tour. Since I've already reviewed the whole tour before, I'll save my comments for any new impressions I had from this stop. Review is in no particular order.
Overall it was nice to see the tour at a later stop. The Baltimore and Landover stops were only the 2nd and 3rd ones so some of the work was a bit rough. In Philly some of the transitions and movements had been smoothed out, especially in the group numbers.
Opening - Still one of their worst opening routines. It just doesn't really go together. I can get into the "Black Betty" portion, but the "Lady Marmalade" leaves me cold - I think the only people who get the movement/feeling right for that are Anjelika and Katarina.
Eldredge - "Lord of the Rings"
Todd is introduced by Kurt with something along the lines of "Ladies and gentlemen we have a special guest with us on tour. He's a world champion and a six-time National champion. Direct from Salt Lake City - Todd Eldredge!" Todd then got a huge round of applause just for taking the ice :)
"LotR" has been modified so that it's more of an exhibition than free skate. It was still jump packed and Todd landed two 3axels (one was really low though), 3lutz, and I believe a 3sal and 3toe. The footwork section seems to have been expanded and there's more motion in between the jump passes than in his LP. I wasn't sure at first how this would work as an exhibition piece but he really sold it. Nice standing ovation at the end.
Eldredge - "Your Song"
Oddly enough the one 'Moulin Rouge' song Todd does and it's in the second half instead of the first ;) This time Todd gets no spoken intro, but as the purple spotlight begins on him, Todd got a large applause reaction again before the music started. This was pretty much the same version of the program he's done all season. 3axel had a hand down, but there was a lovely 3lutz in there!
Overall for both of his numbers Todd seemed to be just really happy, totally relaxed and out to have a good time. He seemed more stress-free than at any event I saw him at this season. It looks like he's happy with his decision to move on and is just out to have a good time. That transmits right through his skating and just makes watching him all that much more enjoyable.
Finale - "Carpenters"
The finale includes what I would consider the best moments of the entire show - Kurt's section to "Solitaire." So many wonderful spirals, spread eagles and an ina bauer too! The best is the long back-spiral he does - simply breathtaking! I would love to see him do a whole program to this. Todd is worked into the finale just as everyone comes out for the finale sections. The cast does their pattern footwork and glides and Todd jumps. I think he did three 3toes in the finale alone. He then meets up with them and does a couple of footwork sequences with the group. He does a nice job for something that's not his best direction. For the fashionista's he was in the 2nd lightest shade of gray (same color as Steven's).
Kurt - "Guitar" and "Elevation"
I think Kurt's knees must have been feeling really good as he had more jumps in both these programs than usual. He even landed the really cool 2axel to 3sal sequence - way cool! Lots of double axels and 3toes. He seemed to be having a great time.
Todd and Kurt were the only skaters of the evening who seemed to have their jumps with them. There were loads of doubles all over the place for the rest of the cast.
Cousins - "Tom Jones Medley"
Steven did a wonderful job selling this program, despite some wonky jump problems. He hit the 3flip, but I believe the lutz and toe were both doubled - but at least 'nicely' doubled and not huge pops or step-outs. I still like the first half of the program much better than the second - the "thunderball" section just seems really empty compared to the "pussycat" half. As fun as this number is, I still wish Sandra and Co. would let him perform a more serious number on tour for once.
Vanity Tango
This was a group number that seemed most improved. The guys seems to have gotten the feel for their vanitys a little better and they no longer look like they were going to fly off in the wrong direction. I also noticed that some of the poses/flips/moves seemed more finished. Kurt's pose down the long diagonal was really well done with nicely pointed toes and leg extension.
Tara - "Color of Roses"
Her injury must really be pulling her back. She only did this number and only landed one 2toe, the other toe was a horrible pop with step out - barely even a single. This isn't one of my favorite programs of hers, but I can say the pre-injury version I saw was much better.
Rainy Days - Tara & Kurt
It's still dumb, really dumb. And really annoying. But that being said, Kurt seems to have taken over this number and it's no longer completely drippy and overly schmaltzy. Instead he's made it campy. Best moment was when Kurt was bouncing around and Tara said "down" and he crouched down and started barking like a dog - it was really funny, and likely ad-libbed as I think Tara was laughing her next few lines. It's still pointless, but at least now Kurt's humor makes it bearable.
Katarina - "Case Continues"
What can i say, I really like this number. It was even better than it was at the earlier stops and I got to appreciate the design of the program. I still dislike the costume though - my one criticism of Jeff Billings - he doesn't seem to know what to do with a woman who has a chest - none of Kat's costumes are flattering to her this tour :(
Krylova & Ovsiannikov - "Last of the Mohicans"
Same program, but kudos to Anjelika for getting rid of the pasties. It's now a red diamond shaped piece of fabric. Also kudos for getting rid of the headdress (striking though it was) - but they still have the section where he now mimes taking off her headdress and setting it aside. Looks really weird unless you know what is missing!
Kristi - Same ol' Same ol' She seems a bit more comfy with the janet Jackson number, but I don't really like either program.
Denis & Kristi - Ahhh, Denis has got to be one of the best pairs men around. He makes it all look so effortless. Too bad the number is set to highlight Kristi, with Denis all in black it's like they want him overlooked which is just a shame!
Kulik - ditto here. The one difference in this show was that while in Balt & Landover he got the 3axel and doubled everything else, here he doubled all the axels but landed everything else. I still think he needs a choreographer though. There are some nice moves, but they're just sort of tossed into a heap and not really well laid out.
Meno & Sand - The chair tango does not hold up well. Their other program however gets better and better each time I see it. Unusual for me, since this is not a team I usually am interested in.
G-O-L-D / Can-Can
*ugh* rapping. It gets worse each time. Updated dialogue though, Tara now saws something like 'and we get to welcome a new gold medalist' and Kristi says 'Sarah's phone must be ringing off the hook.' The only good thing about the Can-Can is the whip - I'm a sucker for a good whip :)
Skater-spottings. Maya Usova walking in the hallway. Yagudin down at front row center ice - he seemed to be really focussing on Kurt's footwork - wonder if he was taking notes for next year :) We were also sitting next to one of the entrances to the back and various skaters came out to watch other numbers. Todd watched all of the first half after his number, Oleg was out for all of Ilia's. At various other points there were Meno, Witt, Denis, Anjelika and Ilia watching bits and pieces.
-Hoo
