Stars on Ice

Stars on Ice is a touring figure skating show produced by IMG. It was originally conceived in 1986 as a vehicle for IMG client Scott Hamilton, who had been released from his contract with Ice Capades, after being told that male skaters do not sell tickets. Hamilton now has retired from regular touring with the show, but remains actively involved as a producer.

Stars on Ice was originally conceived as an ice show for adults, without the skating Smurfs or Disney cartoon characters typical of other commercial ice shows of the period, such as Disney on Ice. Another concept that has carried through the show from the beginning is that of a small cast of elite skaters who perform together in ensembles as well as solo numbers. In 1991, the Canadian branch of the show, Canadian Stars On Ice, began.

The tour started on a shoestring budget, playing only a few dates in small-town arenas. 1986-1987 was Stars on Ice's first year. In 1992, IMG bought out the rival "Skating" tour from Bill Graham Presents and merged its resources with that of Stars on Ice. Among the acquisitions from the "Skating" tour was Sandra Bezic, who took over as choreographer and director of Stars on Ice for several years. In recent years, Christopher Dean has taken over choreography duties for the show.

Stars on Ice primarily tours in the United States and Canada, although shows have also been staged in locations in Europe and Japan. The 2008-2009 tour will be its 23rd season.

Current cast

The cast for the 2008-2009 tour is:

* Sasha Cohen
* Ilia Kulik
* Todd Eldredge
* Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao
* Yuka Sato
* Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon
* Michael Weiss
* John Zimmerman
* Jennifer Robinson

Former cast members

The original cast was Scott Hamilton, Dorothy Hamill, Toller Cranston, Rosalynn Sumners, Brian Pockar, Lea Ann Miller & Bill Fauver, and Lisa Carey & Christ Harrison.

Skaters who have previously toured with the show include:

* Elena Bechke & Denis Petrov
* Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze
* Kurt Browning
* Kitty Carruthers & Peter Carruthers
* Chen Lu
* Steven Cousins
* Jason Dungjen
* Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov
* Christine Hough & Doug Ladret
* Sarah Hughes
* Tara Lipinski
* Jenni Meno & Todd Sand
* Brian Orser
* Renée Roca & Gorsha Sur
* Lucinda Ruh
* Rosalynn Sumners
* Debi Thomas
* Katarina Witt
* Paul Wylie
* Kristi Yamaguchi
* Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean
* Alexei Yagudin

Other ice shows named "Stars on Ice"

"Stars on Ice" was also the name of an ice show put on at the Center Theatre in New York City in the early 1940's. The show was produced by Arthur Wirtz and Sonja Henie.

Beginning in the mid 1970's and lasting for 8 seasons, CTV Television Network in Canada produced a weekly television series called "Stars on Ice", hosted by Alex Trebek, and featuring skaters such as Toller Cranston skating in Studio 6 of CFTO TV, Channel 9, located in Scarborough, Ontario. The series was produced and directed by Michael Steele, had a regular cast of 14 world-class ice professionals, most of whom lived and taught skating locally in and around Toronto. The variety show format on ice consisted of a glitzy "show opener" by the regular cast of skaters and a bigger budget production number (usually tributes to Hollywood musicals) with elaborate set pieces in the middle of the half-hour. Rounding out the half hour were famous and novelty-act figure skaters, vaudeville-type acts, and "affordable" (on the series' modest budget) non-skating celebrities at the b-list phase of their careers, such as Davy Jones and Mickey Dolenz formerly of The Monkees, Eddie Mecca, (The Big Ragu) of Laverne & Shirley and Donovan. Due to being only minimally dependent on language, and its unusual ice/variety show format, the series went on to be widely syndicated throughout the world.

References

* Hamilton, Scott (1999). "Landing It", ISBN 1-57566-466-6.

External links

* [http://www.starsonice.com/ Stars on Ice web site]
* [http://www.starsonice.ca/ Canadian Stars on Ice web site]