My mom & I (along with Gail & her husband, and her friend Andy) attended the Caesar's tribute last night... the show was wonderful. Here's my review.. sorry I don't remember many of the songs.. Gail might be able to fill the blanks in for me.... enjoy!!
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Wow. Where to start?? The show was fabulous!! Not everyone skated, of course but throughout the show they had little interviews... Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara Lipinski, Tai Babalonia & Randy Gardner, Tenley Albright, Tom Collins, Paul Wylie, Scott Hamilton and there may be a few more who I have missed. Mary Carillo was one of the hosts of the show (along with Peggy Fleming and Nancy Kerrigan) and she was doing the interviews. Dick Button was there and was presented with a lifetime achievement award by Scott Hamilton. He gave a nice little speech....you can tell he really loves the sport. When Dick Button came out Scott said that he idolizes him so much he even has the same haircut..... LOL!!!
The show started off with Evan Lysacek skating to "Firebird" I believe...he was very well received by the crowd of course. After Evan they introduced the show and then the first half got started with the ladies.
As the skaters were on the ice they showed pictures from their competitive days up on the screen in the arena. Kimmie Meissner skated to "It's a Man's World"...it was great to see Kimmie on the ice again.
Sasha skated one of her new SOI programs "Mein Herr". Definitely a fun program and really suits Sasha's personality. Look forward to seeing that one again in April!
I'm not sure what music Sarah Hughes skated to but it was a lovely program and she looked great! Great to see her skating again...I think the last time I saw her skate was at her Sarah Hughes & Friends show in 2005.
I don't remember seeing Caryn Kadavy's name listed as part of the cast so it was a nice surprise to see her come out to skate! I don't remember what music she skated to but it was a lovely program as usual from Caryn.
Debi Thomas skated to a Christina Aguliera song...maybe from the movie Burlesque?! She had on a very skimpy outfit!! She looked great considering she doesn't skate all that much...great energy and the crowd really enjoyed it!
Nancy Kerrigan skated to a song from the musical "Wicked"... "Defying Gravity" I think it was called. I normally don't care much for Nancy's skating but I really enjoyed her program last night.
The second half of the show started with the pairs. Jenni Meno & Todd Sand skated to "True Companion". They skated to that on the COI tour in 1998 I believe...nice to see them perform it again. They are just so cute... I was excited to hear they would be at this show.... we miss seeing them on the SOI tour.
Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval skated to "Roadhouse Blues" and really got the crowd going!! They had some great tricks in there.. earned a standing ovation from the crowd.
Nancy Kerrigan & Paul Wylie skated together a program I believe they said they had done in an Olympic exhibition in 1992. I think the music was from Miss Saigon but not sure of the name of the song. It was beautiful and they had pretty good unison considering they are both single skaters...better than some of the current pairs' teams!!!
Naomi Lang and Peter T (sorry not even going to attempt to spell his name) were the only ice dance representatives. I'm not sure what exactly the music was but it was a blues-y number...very nice. Again I can't remember when I saw them last....probably at a COI show and the last COI show we went to was in like 2002 or 2003. They are still such a pleasure to watch.
The men were the last to take the ice (saved the best for last, IMO). Richard Dwyer, who I have to admit I had never heard of before came out and skated a little and then "his ladies" came out one by one. Tenley Albright, Tai Babalonia, JoJo Starbuck and Linda Fratrianne were on the ice along with him! The ladies didn't do much "skating" but Richard skated around them. Brian Boitano then came out and skated with Richard a bit...they both did spread eagles and things like that...very nice.
Michael Weiss skated his "Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy" number from SOI a year or so ago. Great choice of music...crowd really gets into it. I admit I was not a fan of Mike during his competitive years but since he's become pro I've always enjoyed his skating...always a highlight at shows!!
Todd Eldredge skated his "Il Mare Calmo Della Sera" program!!!! I love this program...it's one of my all time favorites from Todd and is the program that made me a fan when I saw it for the first time at 1998 Worlds and COI that year. It's such a beautiful program and it was such a pleasure to get to see live again! Todd was fabulous as usual...and our little group (as well as others) gave him a standing ovation =)
Rudy Galindo skated his Village People program...it's a medley of "In the Navy", "Macho Man" & "YMCA". He performed it on the COI tour and at other shows in the past. Such a fun program and always a crowd pleaser! Rudy looked great, so happy to see him again.
Brian Boitano was the last skater to take the ice...he skated to an older program as well I think the song was "They Call the Wind Mariah". Very nice.
Everyone came out for the finale to "America the Beautiful". Tara Lipinski skated a little in the finale...nice to see her on the ice again. All the others who were there who didn't skate (Scott, Kristi, Dick, Peggy, etc) came out as well and everyone stood together and "We are the Champions" played. Very nice moment. The skaters then did a lap or two around the rink and then took their bows.
Before the second half started "America" performed a medley of some of their hits and while they performed the names of each national champion appeared on the screen in the arena.
Scott emceed the retakes. Todd was the first one out. He didn't have a fall just a little funky landing on his double axel that as usual was fixed in one try 
When Todd came out for the retakes Scott said "YOU messed up?!" LOL.
Mike came out and fixed two things....again he didn't have a fall but a little funky landing that he wanted to fix and one other area. Sasha and Kimmie had the only falls of the night so they came out to fix those. Nancy & Paul had to fix their side by side jumps in their program and then the group "America" came out to redo their medley they did because their were audio issues the first time.
Overall it was a wonderful show. I am really looking forward to seeing it again on the NBC broadcast. I'm sure they won't show everyone's performance which is a shame because the whole show was wonderful. For this one time I think NBC should lengthen the time slot to fit everything in.
