Skating stars coming to S.J.

qThe talent-stuffed Stars on Ice tour arrives at HP Pavilion on Sunday afternoon with a flashy new production, ``Time: A Theatrical Adventure,'' a title that suggests more than was probably intended.

The theme of time might seem amorphous, even for an event with as little need for an animating topic as this premier skating showcase. But for figure skaters who face amateur competitive careers that often end before they're fully grown, time can be cruel.

Of course, that's not a reality explored in the show, but the ticking clock faced by these athletic fireflies is an unavoidable subtext, particularly with the eagerly awaited reappearance after a two-year performance hiatus of 1994 Olympic champion Oksana Baiul, who recently noted during an online chat with fans that ``at the last three Olympics no girl over the age of 16 has won, and by the time they're 18, they have difficulty landing the same jumps that won them the medals.''

Produced by Scott Hamilton and conceived and directed by Christopher Dean, both Olympic champions, ``Stars on Ice'' boasts a roster of skaters so medal-bedecked that it's a wonder they can make it through airport security. The headliners include 2002 Olympic gold medalist Alexei Yagudin; world champion and six-time U.S. national champion Todd Eldredge; and both gold-medal pairs from the 2002 Olympic judging controversy, Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier and Russia's Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Anton Sikharulidze.

Combining choreography, words and music with state-of-the-art lighting and sound effects, the production is designed as a series of emotional epiphanies with a streak of broad humor running throughout.

``There's one serious moment where the passing of time is quite eloquently touched upon,'' says four-time world champion Kurt Browning, 37, who along with Baiul is a featured guest star. He's speaking from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where the skaters are stranded briefly by bad weather. ``But generally Christopher Dean has a very quirky sense of humor, and we all know Scott Hamilton loves to have a good time, no pun intended.''

Browning, the first person to land a quadruple jump in world competition, performs two jazzy numbers, one to fellow Canadian Michael Buble's swinging version of Van Morrison's ``Moondance'' and the other to the jump blues ``Ding Dong Daddy.'' Baiul is also featured in two numbers, one that uses a Jennifer Lopez tune and the other a balletic routine to Tchaikovsky's ``Swan Lake,'' music that she used for her 1994 triumph at Lillehammer.

Only 16 at the time, Baiul seized the gold medal while the media fixated on Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. Once Baiul's story became known, her brave performance seemed even more compelling. Born in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, she was the only child of parents who divorced when she was 2. Raised by her mother and grandparents, Baiul had lost them all by age 13 and was then left alone when her coach moved to Canada.

In the years following her Olympic victory, she seemed to fall apart in public as a bout with heavy drinking made her tabloid fodder, a period that culminated in a serious car crash. She credits her fiance, Gene Sunik, for helping her gain control over her life and career.