Smucker's Stars on Ice Captures Moments Frozen in Time

Tickets to Smucker's Stars on Ice 2004 are on sale now at ticket outlets throughout the country.
For specific information on the purchase of tickets, you can log onto www.starsonice.com.
The site will direct you to the city of your choice and also allow you to purchase tickets online.

By ARA Content
February 28, 2004

The Emmy Award-winning Smucker's Stars on Ice is bringing its 2004 tour, a new theatrical adventure on ice, to 60 cities across the United States in 2004.

"This is not like the ice shows people may remember when they were a child. It's not an exhibition, or a competition," says Olympic Champion and figure skating icon Scott Hamilton, the show's co-creator and producer. "This is a slick, sophisticated state of the art production comparable to something you'd see on Broadway. Our stars have a story to tell -- with a beginning, middle and end."

In this year's show, they tell the story of "time," both figuratively and literally. The show begins at sunrise with the skaters moving to beautiful, lyrical classical music. Extraordinary, original music has also been specially composed and orchestrated for the opening and closing of the production and transitional pieces throughout, as well as familiar music which assists transitions to a piece -- such as when the performers carry around clubs that represent the hands on a clock and move to the music of "Time" by Pink Floyd.

"There are also numbers with lively acrobatics, and a lot of humor. It's all about maturity and aging," says Hamilton.

Changes in his own life inspired Hamilton to come up with and develop the theme for this year's show, his 18th with Stars on Ice. Not only is Hamilton recently married, he's a new father. Hamilton's wife, Tracie, whom he met back-stage at a Stars on Ice show almost 3 years ago, just gave birth to their son, Aidan McIntosh, this past September.

"In addition to worrying about whether we've forgotten anything, and if the skaters have everything they need, I find myself wondering if Aidan is hungry at various times throughout the day. Having a new baby gives you a whole new perspective on things," says Hamilton.

That new perspective is evident in the show he has produced for the 2004 season. "When we sat down to start talking about what to do for this year's show, well before Aidan was born, I'd been thinking a lot about time and how things change during the course of its passing," says Hamilton. "It's really all about balance, precision, and memories; all concepts that are beautifully brought to life on the ice."

Hamilton has brought that vision to life with the help of the show's director and choreographer, Olympic ice dancing champion Christopher Dean (of Torvill & Dean). "Time is such a wonderful concept to illustrate," says Dean. "It naturally allows you to create a mood, a feel. We've done that through the use of music, lighting, and beautiful projections on the ice. The task has been challenging and exciting at the same time."

Headlining the 2004 season are 11 of figure skating's most revered stars: 2002 Olympic Gold medalist and skating phenom Alexei Yagudin, 2002 Olympic Pair Champions Jamie SalÈ and David Pelletier of Canada, 2002 Olympic Pair Champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia (who shared the gold with SalÈ & Pelletier), World Champion and six-time U.S. National Champion Todd Eldredge, World Champion Yuka Sato, World Silver medalists and three-time U.S. National Pair Champions Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, World Bronze medalists and three-time U.S. National Pair Champions Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman.

Hamilton, Olympic Champion Kristi Yamaguchi, two-time Olympic Champion Ekaterina Gordeeva, Olympic Champion Oksana Baiul, Olympic Silver medalist Paul Wylie and four-time World Champion Kurt Browning are special guest performers in select cities. For Yamaguchi, Baiul and Wylie, the occasion marks their much-anticipated return to skating on tour.

"I love everything about being on tour. Every city has its own identity, memories come flowing back the minute I skate onto the ice," says Hamilton. "Madison Square Garden is the first place I worked as a network commentator, Detroit is about as close as I ever come to my hometown of Bowling Green; and when I skate in Florida, I think about my late grandparents and late father who lived in St. Petersburg and Lake Placid, Florida (respectively) and who would never miss a performance."

"It's a wonderful, wonderful show. Not just for the skating fans, but for patrons of the arts -- young and old alike," says Hamilton. "It's theatre, it's dance. It's really quite breathtaking. In fact, it's everything figure skating should be."

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Smucker's Stars on Ice - The cast
Photo courtesy of Heinz Kluetemeir

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Smucker's Stars on Ice - The cast
Photo courtesy of Heinz Kluetemeir

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Smucker's Stars on Ice - Kristi Yamaguchi
Photo courtesy of Heinz Kluetemeir

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Smucker's Stars on Ice - Oksana Baiul
Photo courtesy of Heinz Kluetemeir

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Smucker's Stars on Ice - Scott Hamilton
Photo courtesy of Heinz Kluetemeir

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Tour Dates

Tour dates have been set for Smucker’s Stars on Ice 2004. The show is coming to 60 U.S. Cities between November 29, 2003, and April 10, 2004.

Date	City	Venue	Guest
11/29/2003	Lake Placid, NY	Olympic Center	Hamilton/Baiul
1/2/2004	Spokane, WA	Spokane Arena	Browning/Baiul
1/3/2004	Portland, OR	Rose Garden	Browning/Baiul
1/4/2004	Seattle, WA	Key Arena at Seattle Center	Browning/Baiul
1/7/2004	Fresno, CA	Save Mart Center at Fresno State	Browning/Baiul
1/9/2004	Bakersfield, CA	Centennial Garden	Browning/Baiul
1/10/2004	Sacramento, CA	ARCO Arena	Browning/Baiul
1/11/2004	San Jose, CA	HP Pavilion at San Jose	Browning/Baiul
1/15/2004	Phoenix, AZ	America West Arena	Browning/Baiul
1/16/2004	San Diego, CA	San Diego Sports Arena	Hamilton/Baiul
1/17/2004	Anaheim, CA	Arrowhead Pond	Hamilton/Baiul
1/18/2004	Los Angeles, CA	STAPLES Center	Hamilton/Baiul
1/20/2004	Denver, CO	Pepsi Center	Hamilton/Gordeeva
1/21/2004	Albuquerque, NM	Tingley Coliseum	Hamilton/Gordeeva
1/23/2004	Houston, TX	Toyota Center	Hamilton/Gordeeva
1/24/2004	Dallas, TX	American Airlines Center	Hamilton/Gordeeva
1/27/2004	Omaha, NE	Qwest Center Omaha	Hamilton/Gordeeva
1/28/2004	St. Paul, MN	Xcel Energy Center	Hamilton/Gordeeva
1/30/2004	St. Louis, MO	Savvis Center	Hamilton/Gordeeva
1/31/2004	Chicago, IL	Allstate Arena	Hamilton/Gordeeva
2/2/2004	Sioux City, IA	Tyson Events Center	Hamilton/Gordeeva
2/4/2004	Indianapolis, IN	Conseco Fieldhouse	Hamilton/Gordeeva
2/6/2004	Cleveland, OH	Gund Arena	Hamilton/Gordeeva
2/7/2004	Moline, IL	MARK of the Quad Cities	Hamilton/Gordeeva
2/8/2004	Milwaukee, WI	Bradley Center	Hamilton/Gordeeva
2/10/2004	Jacksonville, FL	Veterans Memorial Arena	Baiul/Wylie
2/13/2004	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Office Depot Center	Baiul/Wylie
2/14/2004	Orlando, FL	TD Waterhouse Centre	Baiul/Wylie
2/15/2004	Tampa, FL	St. Pete Times Forum	Baiul/Wylie
2/16/2004	Fort Myers, FL	TECO Arena	Baiul/Wylie
2/19/2004	Trenton, NJ	Sovereign Bank Arena	Yamaguchi/Wylie
2/20/2004	Philadelphia, PA	Wachovia Center	Yamaguchi/Wylie
2/21/2004	Atlantic City, NJ	Boardwalk Hall	Yamaguchi/Wylie
2/22/2004	Rochester, NY	Blue Cross Arena	Yamaguchi/Wylie
2/27/2004	Hartford, CT	Hartford Civic Center	Gordeeva/Wylie
2/28/2004	Worcester, MA	Worcester's Centrum Centre	Yamaguchi/Wylie
2/29/2004	Bridgeport, CT	Arena at Harbor Yard	Yamaguchi/Wylie
3/3/2004	Providence, RI	Dunkin' Donuts Center	Yamaguchi/Wylie
3/4/2004	New York, NY	Madison Square Garden	Baiul/Hamilton/Four-Time Grammy Award Nominee & Recording Artist Michael Feinstein
3/5/2004	Long Island, NY	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	Yamaguchi/Hamilton/Popular Cabaret Star and Recording Artist Joan Ryan
3/6/2004	Syracuse, NY	War Memorial at Oncenter	Wylie/Baiul
3/12/2004	Albany, NY	Pepsi Arena	Browning/Baiul
3/13/2004	Pittsburgh, PA	Mellon Arena	Browning/Baiul
3/14/2004	Toledo, OH	Toledo Sports Arena	Browning/Baiul
3/16/2004	Ames, IA	Hilton Coliseum	Browning/Baiul
3/17/2004	Green Bay, WI	Resch Center	Browning/Baiul
3/18/2004	East Lansing, MI	Munn Ice Arena - MSU	Browning/Baiul
3/20/2004	Detroit, MI	The Palace of Auburn Hills	Browning/Baiul
3/21/2004	Peoria, IL	Peoria Civic Center	Browning/Baiul
3/26/2004	Raleigh, NC	RBC Center	Yamaguchi/Browning
3/27/2004	Baltimore, MD	1st Mariner Arena	Browning/Baiul
3/28/2004	Columbus, OH	Value City Arena	Browning/Baiul
3/30/2004	Fort Wayne, IN	Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	Gordeeva/Wylie
4/2/2004	Cincinnati, OH	U.S. Bank Arena	Gordeeva/Wylie
4/3/2004	Grand Rapids, MI	Van Andel Arena	Gordeeva/Wylie
4/4/2004	Erie, PA	Erie Civic Center	Gordeeva/Wylie
4/7/2004	Hershey, PA	GIANT Center	Gordeeva/Wylie
4/8/2004	Wilkes-Barre, PA	Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza	Gordeeva/Wylie
4/9/2004	Manchester, NH	Verizon Wireless Arena	Gordeeva/Wylie
4/10/2004	Portland, ME	Cumberland County Civic Center	Gordeeva/Wylie