Hershey-bound ice stars shine

EDITOR'S NOTE: "Stars on Ice" was reviewed March 12 at the Sovereign Center in Reading.

Professional skaters don't fall.

At least that's the impression one gets watching "Stars on Ice," a spiffy and very entertaining show starring 2002 Winter Olympics Pairs Skating Gold Medalists Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia and Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada.

Oh, they occasionally bobble. They may put down two feet at the end of a breathtaking triple leap, instead of landing in a heap by trying to land on one. They may even reach out a steadying hand to someone who has been their rival in the past, in the hushed, high-pressure world of competition.

But they don't fall.

This is teamwork at its best. It's a collection of the best and brightest skaters, such as Germany's Katarina Witt, the only living two-time Olympic Women's Singles Figure Skating Gold Medalist (Sarajevo, 1984; Calgary, 1988). The show also features Canadian Kurt Browning, four-time Men's World Champion and Canadian Sports Hall of Fame inductee, who has fun playing a comically inept skater in jeans, T-shirt, suspenders and stocking cap who forgets to take his blade covers off before he stumbles onto the ice.

There are also possible future Olympic contenders in the mix, including three-time U.S. National Pairs Champions and World Bronze Medalists Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, who placed fifth in pairs at Salt Lake City.

"Stars on Ice" rocks, with skaters attired in blue jeans and leather, getting down and dirty with Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" and Bon Jovi's "Bed of Roses."

There's something for every musical (and skating) taste. Witt plays grande dame in knee-length chiffon and glass-slipperlike clear polyurethane skates, vamping through Quincy Jones' "Blues in the Night" as she enjoys the attentions of "Men in Black" Gorsha Sur (two-time U.S. ice dancing champ) and John Zimmerman (three-time U.S. pairs champ). Sur also glides with partner Renee Roca to the uplifting strains of the 2002 Winter Olympics closing number, "The Prayer," sung by Charlotte Church and Josh Groban. Sale and Pelletier join Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze on a very Bob Fosse-on-ice version of "Sing, Sing, Sing."

The cast seems to be having fun, and it's infectious. They do ice push-ups, engage in choreographed fisticuffs, and slide on their bellies across the ice. There's even a country number with Sale riding Pelletier off the ice, bucking-bronco style.

Nationality is meaningless here as Sikharulidze dons a white jumpsuit for a little Elvis impersonation to "Jailhouse Rock." The full cast of 14 joins together for a rousing finale to Will Smith's rap hit "Can't Stop."

Maybe it's the Olympic breath-holding and murmured prayers of "Don't fall, don't fall" -- the very antithesis of this triumphant "look what I can really do" free-for-all -- that lets audiences have as good a time as the skaters themselves. Whatever it is, double lutzes are accompanied by strobe lights and sit spins that make you dizzy just watching as performers segue effortlessly into tight formation skating, with 10 performers in one Rocketteslike chorus line.

Although big men lifting their tiny female partners has always had a faintly sexy undertone even in the most formal competitions, the skating legends in " Stars on Ice" turn up the heat, sensually melding into one figure and flirting outrageously with audience members lucky enough to have seats on the carpeting that fronts the stands around the ice.

In the purple glow of black lights, the skaters become wraiths, tracing visible patterns on the icy white surface. Todd Eldridge, six-time U.S. men's champion, who carried the World Trade Center flag in the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics, recites a Jack Kerouaclike beatnik poem, microphone in hand, as others skate to the recorded soundtrack. The poem clearly celebrates the joy of skating, of performing something you love with friends instead of competing under pressure, locked in country-to- country confrontation.

"Sometimes I will fall," Eldridge recites. "But my blood races, I feel the power like a compass in my heart. It pulls me up and through. So who can judge me now?"