Kristi Yamaguchi Friends and Family 2005 Review

The night started with Scott coming out to say the show will be starting and that the skaters families were there. The kids were sitting at my end at the opposite side so I found myself watching them as they were watching the show. The only thing is that from my seats, the angle was bad and I couldn't see all that was happening on the stage or what was happening at the other end of the rink. I couldn't tell if Gabriel was sitting on Sonia's lap or not. Even now, I am not sure it was Sonia but whom else would it have been? Scott went to his son and asked him to say something, which he did but I couldn't understand what was said, he is a cutie though.

Next, the skaters come out on the ice and show begins with the opening. Then Scott and Kristi appear at the opposite end of the stage to start the intro. They go on the ice, do the intro and then they do it again immediately because mistakes were made.

I don't remember the order of the skaters at all. After a few skates, Kurt came out in the Raggedy outfit with no nose but a whistle and joked all the way down the side. A few more skates and he came out again next to Gabriel and had Gabriel pull scarves out of his mouth, like the clowns do. I hope that is on TV because it was cute but again from my angle being so near the corner, I missed some of it. Kurt closed the first half with Raggedy, he touched on one of the jumps so I was hoping for a retake. After his skate, the cast came out dressed as clowns and did a few fun things. I think they did magic tricks to the corner where the kids were sitting, again all of their backs are to me so I am not sure but it was fun and Kurt was the head clown so to speak trying to get them organized by blowing the whistle. It was cute. Then Kristi and Scott came on stage dressed as clowns to tell us about the intermission.

The second half went by fast. Ilia skated and received a partial standing O, in the first half he skated to the same routine he performed on Stars, Rubberman or something like that. You will know it when you see it. Todd & Jeni skated to a song that used their son's name in it, that was cute. Kurt really captured the moment. He skated to nursery rhymes and there was a child's voice saying the alphabet and then making comments throughout it, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Gabriel's voice. Nancy came out with a stool that had two hats on it but she didn't use it too much, I think she used it to store the hats. Katia and Daria skated a duet that was beautiful, Daria did a great job, they got a standing O too, mostly for Daria I am sure. She was cute.

The closing was Kenny Rogers singing while the skaters came out. The pairs came out, skated a little then came down to the end where the families sat and carried their kids to the front of the stage. Then the two single ladies did the same thing, then the three guys, Kurt, Joe S. and Ilia, then Katia (she had to change form her duet) and I think Jenny skated a little. When Katia stood near Ilia who was holding Liza, she leaned into Katia and wanted to be held by her, it was cute. Gabriel was fidgety so Kurt would put him down and he would walk to the stage, that happened a few times that I could see. Scott and Kristi were on the stage with their kids. Then they all waved and the show was over, Scott was telling us to stick around for retakes and then I heard Scott saying something like, Gabe, where are you going. Hi Gabe, Gabriel, someone came out to get him from the curtain, I would assume Kurt but I couldn't see and Scott said something like you have no idea how much he is like his father. The crowd laughed.

Not many retakes. The first was Scott and Kristi redoing the opening talk. They had to do it 4 times. Scott said we have a great show tonight and it is being aired in the afternoon so they restarted. Then he said store instead of show, re did it and said store again. Then we thought it was done and Kristi said I didn't mention that the skaters are skating for their children tonight so they did it again. Scott joked that they will be serving breakfast later. Then Katia came out to redo a jump of her first number. I didn't notice what was wrong the first time because it was at the other end but she tried the jump and fell out of it, said one more time and she double footed it and said okay. Then Tonia came out do redo a jump and she didn't do it, said one more time, fell, then said one more time and singled it and said okay. Then Kurt came out he redid the jump where he touched but then kept going to the end. Granted the jump was almost at the end anyway but I thought it was nice he kept going. Maybe he correcting something else along the way but those sitting around me thought he was being a nice guy. Because there are no boards to jump on like he ended the program before, he skates right up to the camera and puts his face right there. That should be fun to see on TV.

It was a great show and I hope everyone made it home safely as the drive back was terrible.