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Gail asked me to post her review of the show for her.... here it is!!!!!!!

Hi, there. We just got back from a weekend in Northern VA where we visited our cousins and attended Mike's show with them, which was fantastic! Let me give a few preliminary comments about some special things that happened.

Preshow - I spotted John Baldwin, congratulated him and Rena on their engagement and wished them all the best for the new season (they'll compete at Skate America and NHK Trophy). I checked out the silent auction, bid on a few items (a tote bag with a picture of Todd in the original "Bolero" costume, photos of Elvis S. and Jeff Buttle). I did win the Todd tote bag and Elvis photos. The skaters were scheduled for warm-up between 2:45 and 3:15 PM, so I got in line to get ready for seating (people were let into the rink starting at 3:15 PM), but I was eager to try to catch some of the warm-up. Two very kind ladies right ahead of me saved my place in line, so I went to the rink where the show took place and noticed one skater practicing on the rink. It was Todd - so I HAD to go over and watch from above! He was there for about 15 minutes. I happened to go over to the silent auction location and then noticed that the whole cast was warming up at the other rink, so I went there to watch the whole proceedings. I couldn't guess the music except for one thing. The skaters were all lined up at the end of the warm-up session, and they all jumped in their places in line, so I thought that they might do "Jump," as they did in this past season's SOI tour. I waved and smiled to Todd & Yuka. They saw me when they looked up and they smiled and waved back!

Please click on this thread for additional comments (mostly very favorable about the actual numbers from the show). I will say that no one in the thread mentioned what Todd skated to, so I will tell you that he skated to "Broken," but he wore a white shirt and dark pants (not the weird costume that he wore for that program in the SOI tour). I can't identify his jumps, but he did an excellent performance with his amazing spins.

A young skater named Ellie Kawamura (who has skated before in Mike's show and is a recipient of a MKF scholarship) skated to a very fun song called "I Want Candy." She wore a pink/black striped costume. Well, the scrunchie in her hair got loose. John Z. was the next skater (and received lots of cheers as he was also introduced as Axel Edge), and he graciously picked up the scrunchie and gave it back to Ellie.

One of the funniest things that happened was after Sasha skated to Avril Lavigne's "Imagine," Brian Boitano was introduced. I thought that maybe he would skate to that South Park movie song "What Would Brian Boitano Do?", but he skated to John Lennon's "Imagine!" There was a lot of laughter from the audience considering that we got to hear two versions of "Imagine" back to back, but it was still a pleasure to watch him skate.

The finale turned out to be Bon Jovi's "Make a Memory" from the SOI tour, followed by Van Halen's "Jump," (which confirmed what I saw during the warm-up. I loved how the SOI cast members participated in it and that the rest of the cast members were worked into the finale.

We stayed around the rink to check on the silent auction. We didn't have tickets for the VIP reception afterwards, but we waited around long enough to get to talk to some of the skaters. This time we saw Rena, complimented her and John on their show program. They were wonderful and were very well received by the audience. I have always been very fond of Armin M., from nearby Reston, VA. He's a MWF recipient and a gentleman who is skating on the junior level. We had a chance to talk to him after the reception. then I saw Jeff Buttle coming. I quickly whipped out my little Canadian flag & called Jeff over. He was thrilled to see a Canadian flag and said, "Oo, Canadians!" I told him we were Americans, but we love Canada. I asked him to autograph a picture of him from a skating book and Mark took a picture of both of us together. I congratulated him on winning the World title (Jeff is currently my favorite eligible men's skater). I told him that I have enjoyed watching him skate ever since he won the silver medal at NHK Trophy (circa 2001? 2002?). Then Todd came by! We spoke again and wished him well re: coaching Kimmie and his other students Again, I just can't stop noticing what gorgeous blue eyes he has. They are really striking!

Now, please check out this thread, starting with comment #114. There are also some picture links. Enjoy!

http://www.fsuniverse.net...thread.php?t=59726&page=6