The show was held in the Munn Ice Arena on the Michigan State University campus. I had never been there before & liked it a lot. It's a very small(no more than 16 rows top to bottom) arena which leads to a very intimate feel...much different than the mega-Palace of Auburn Hills! It's actually the home of MSU Spartan Hockey which leads to the only problem - they had taken the hockey glass down but not the supports for the glass so you had 2 inch steel beams about every 4 feet or so all the way round. Since my seatswere in the corner I had more of them to look around :-(. But I still really liked the venue & am disappointed that there appear to be no advance sales for next year on the SOI website. Also the ice surface looked a little small as they had standard hockey ice & then had to put the on-ice seats inside the boards. See http://www.munnicearena.com/about.html for info on the venue. I'd estimate attendance at about 2/3 full so that's around 4000 people. And everyone was very enthusiastic!
There have already been a lot of reviews so I'll just do general impressions. I couldn't believe when the first half was already over...the whole show just flew by & I enjoyed it immensely.
The opening number was just gorgeous. I could watch Yuka skate all day & was really disappointed that she had only 1 solo number. I thought the mirror skating with Alexei & Todd was great...they seemed to enjoy outdoing each other with both the tricks & the choreo. Lots of smiles exchanged. Also Todd did a very nice double axel right into our corner.
Ina & Zimmerman's number was a lot of fun...they did have one really crashy twist though. I'd thought she'd injured him a la Dungjen (sp?) for a minute.
Kurt was one of our guest stars & was Mr. Happy Feet as usual in both numbers. The audience really loved him & was quite disappointed in the second half when he came out after Todd & they told him there wasn't time for him...lots of boos!
S&P's first number was gorgeous BUT they never came over the blue line into our 3rd of the ice (I was in the corner by the skaters entrance). I think one lift came our way but that was it. The second one had it's moments but the whole concept of the program just seemed rather low-brow.
Now to the important news :-) Todd's Flamenco program. This looked loads better than the TV appearances. He's definitely getting the flamenco attitude down. I still wish there wasn't quite so much ramp-up time into the axel (which I believe he popped into a double but it was on the complete opposite corner so I couldn't be sure). Todd also unfortunately had the worst fall of the evening as he did a full-body SPLAT on the triple salchow. So the jumps were a little off but everything else looked very good.
Oksana was our other guest star. She had the most embarrassing opening as she popped her double axel into what looked like a waltz jump (again, other end of rink & I'm nearsighted). But I thought she skated well. All the other double axels were fine ;-) I wasn't as fond of the swan lake number but it was better than I had expected.
B&S - WOW! I always loved these two and both their programs were great. They are just SO smooth. Pairs just hasn't been the same...
Alexei - sigh:-( The program was good but it seemed so scaled down by comparison with Todd. It's just sad to see what the injury has done. The second number was fun - it's probably not a good thing that I was reminded immensely of Elvis's exhibition numbers. And he had a VERY slow and awkward exit from his final knee-slide pose. I really hope he can spend some time in the off-season getting some good therapy before he has to hang up the skates for good. On a happy note, three of the on-ice folks had brought "happy birthday" signs for him which was a nice touch.
I just LOVED the first half closing number - I wish this could have been the closer for the show. Really fun & upbeat.
The broom number lost a bit from my odd view in the corner as most things were at center ice but was still cool. One broom drop (not sure who - it was a throw from Todd but I couldn't tell who was supposed to catch)
Meno & Sand are always great & tonight was no exception.
And the other big news :-) Todd's Garth Brooks program was really on! The audience loved it & gave him a partial standing O. He did have a hand down on the triple axel but considering that's the only one we saw, I don't think anyone minded. Everything else was solid including the salchow ;-) BTW, does anyone know why Todd's doing his least favorite so much in these exhibitions? Just curious...
The finale echoed the opening number in tone & just seemed to be a little subdued for a closing number. And I thought it should be longer but then I couldn't believe the show was already over.
I briefly thought of going to tonight's show in Auburn Hills (or the one in two weeks in Grand Rapids) as I really loved the show and wanted to see it again but the saner head prevailed. ;-) I still haven't watched all of the TV version yet so that will have to do.
Til next year,
Jen in Brighton/Detroit
