For the 1998 Olympics, Stars on Ice created a fun parody of the
Olympic games in their show. For the 2002 Olympics, Stars on Ice chose
to focus on the wealth of Olympic gold medalists in its cast, even
going so far as to make GOLD the theme of the show. The 2001-02 tour
featured Olympic Gold Medalists Katarina Witt, Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara
Lipinski, and Ilia Kulik, though Ilia seemed to be a little on the
side of the whole GOLD focus. The tour even went so far as to put
microphones in the hands of Katarina, Kristi, and Tara and making them
rap about G-O-L-D. Microphones also made their appearance during Kurt
and Tara's "Rainy Days" bit, which featured the two skaters reciting a
poem about "rainy days" but not skating much. The theme of the show
was actually a bit of a hybrid, since in 2001, the movie Moulin Rouge
came out, and the creative directors of Stars on Ice seemed to be in
love with that movie. The show kept alternating between a very
Moulin-Rouge focused theme and a Gold-theme, with the unifying focus
being strong women - strong women at the heart of Moulin Rouge, and
strong women Gold Medalists.
Somehow, despite songs from Moulin Rouge being scattered throughout
the show, the finale was centered around a medley of music by the
Carpenters. This finale featured an especially breathtaking interlude
by Kurt, skating to "Solitaire", creating the illusion of solitude
around him on the ice, even as he was surrounded by his fellow cast
members. Kurt also skated to a song that his friend, Barenaked
Ladies' lead guitarist Ed Robertson, wrote especially for him while
sitting in his living room. The song simply featured Ed playing his
acoustic guitar, and was called "Kurt's Song" by Ed, "Ed's Song" by
Kurt, and "Guitar" in the show program. The program had a loose
improvisational feel to it, in both the music and the choreography.
Kurt's second solo was to "Elevation" by U2. He also appeared on the
ice skating with a vanity, for the "Vanity Tango", and in feather boas
and fishnet stockings for the "Because We Can" act I closer that
followed the G-O-L-D rap.
In Lake Placid, unlike every other stop on the tour, they started
accepting advance order forms for the next year during intermission,
and they literally attached numbers to the forms as they came in, so
your seat assignment priority was very much dependent on where you
were in line. I was torn between wanting to watch every second of the
brand new show and getting good seats for the next year. I finally got
up and headed for the ticket office during the "G-O-L-D" rap number
because 1) the rap was excruciatingly bad and 2) I saw a bunch of
other people heading out. As I walked rapidly towards the door,
though, I kept trying to keep an eye on the ice, and hence my first
glimpse of Kurt in a feather boa and fishnet stockings (for "Because
We Can") came as I was rushing out. I almost tripped and fell. - Tina
I've never been fortunate enough to see SOI in person, I've had to
rely on the TV versions... two of my favorite SOI moments on
television are Kurt
In one A&E broadcast they were showing the midnight rehearsals and the
camera man asked Kurt if he was tired. Kurt's response was a
hyperactive: "Not tired... WIRED! Was tired before, not now, now
WIRED!"... someone needed to take the caffene away from him
lol
but one of the most touching was the year Scotty retired from the
tour. During the finale Scott went around to Kristi, Tara, and finally
Kurt where he gave him a high five. The reluctance of Kurt putting his
hand up to 'catch the five' and the small shake of his head like he
was in denial made me (huge scott fan) cry. I felt the EXACT SAME
WAY. The close up with Kurt looking a bit teary eyed didn't
help....
Kurt was and is part of the core SOI family. I can't imagine the tour
in it's hey day doing half as well without the Jr. Skate god.. - Toni Reitter
