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Browning stars on ice - and off
| Source: |
Hamilton Spectator |
| Date: |
April 28, 2012 |
| Author: |
Steve Milton |
Need to know
What: Investors Group Stars On Ice
Where: Copps Coliseum
When: Thursday May 3, 7 p.m.
Who: Virtue and Moir; Davis and White; Weaver and Poje; Kurt Browning,
Jeffrey Buttle; Jeremy Abbott; Shawn Sawyer; Joannie Rochette; Ashley
Wagner; Cynthia Phaneuf.
How Much: Tickets begin at $25 and are available at Ticketmaster.ca;
Copps Coliseum or at 1-855-872-5000.
Kurt Browning's the boss and he still doesn't get to skate to
Supertramp.
The four-time world champion, who has spent 21 years performing with
Stars on Ice, took over as director and choreographer of the durable,
touring, skating show this year and originally planned to have the
troupe tackle the 1970s super band.
"I'd been trying to get (longtime Stars choreographer) Sandra Bezic to
do a group number to Supertramp for years," said Browning, who also
headlines the 13-skater show, which makes its annual Copps Coliseum
stop next Thursday night.
"We did the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, but I could never talk her
into it."
Browning, now 45, was pondering his future last summer when, on a
whim, he called Byron Allen, who runs Stars on Ice for IMG, the
biggest management agency in sport.
"Actually, I was thinking about doing my own show, but I already knew
the answer to that," Browning says. "What I needed to do is have fun
in the last few years of my career, not to try to become a
businessman.
"So I called Byron, literally on an impulse, and said ‘I should
choreograph Stars'. And he said sure. The conversation lasted a whole
minute and 15 seconds."
But there are stark realities to mounting any figure skating venture
in the 21st century economy. These are not skating's mid-1990s salad
days. It's now more like consommé, but Browning sees that as a
challenge.
And it was certainly a challenge. Whereas the cast once trained for
three weeks and had another 10 days or so to work out technical
details in Lake Placid, this year the rink wasn't available for such a
long stretch and neither was the financing. In a very rocky American
economy, which has been a death sentence for every other skating tour,
Stars didn't have a full title sponsor in the U.S. And there were only
10 shows stateside, two fewer than there are on the Canadian
tour.
So, Browning had only three days to work with, and some of his
original concepts - including Supertramp and a reprise of his
legendary Singin' in the Rain routine - were put on hold. They're both
on his skating "bucket list" and as his performing career winds down
("I still have no idea how long I'll do this."), he'll make sure that
he fulfils both "leftover wishes."
"I would not allow Stars on Ice to look like anything but Stars on
Ice," Browning vows. "I have a lot personally involved in Stars on
Ice. It's basically been my identity. I pack my lunch box and I go to
work for the last 20 years. Where I go is to Stars on Ice.
"We're all working under a new environment, which is constrictive,
yes, but skating is very much alive."
Browning is pleased with the new show, called Love 'n' Life, which
includes an ensemble piece - minus Browning - from the Disney-Pixar
movie Up.
The troupe is heavy in Canadian content, which is a good thing, when
you consider that no country won as many gold medals (two) as Canada
did at the recent world championships.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who in March won their second world ice
dance title in three years to go along with the 2010 Olympic gold, are
headlining. They will be joined in Hamilton by their friends, training
mates and rivals Meryl Davis and Charlie White. The American team beat
Virtue and Moir for last year's world title and also won the Grand
Prix Final in Quebec City in December.
Canadian silver medallists Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, who
finished a very strong fourth at the world championships this year,
round out an impressive dance complement.
Singles skaters include Jeffrey Buttle, the 2008 world champion,
national silver medallist Shawn Sawyer, Browning, Cynthia Phaneuf,
2010 Olympic bronze medallist Joannie Rochette and American champions
Jeremy Abbott and Ashley Wagner.
"We all worked our butts off to get this show together," Browning
says. "The cast killed themselves for three days, but no one
complained. And I think we got a show together that is easily up to
the expected levels of Stars on Ice."
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