Skaters wow Maine fans> Stars on Ice strut their stuff

Fourteen of the world’s best figure skaters kept a sellout crowd in awe Friday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

Discover Card Stars on Ice entertained the audience with a variety of solo, pair and group performances throughout the two-hour event. The troupe, which includes six former world champions, skated both serious and comical numbers.

With the advent of a marked increase in televised professional skating championships, many of the numbers performed Friday had previously been aired. But that didn’t seem to affect the audience’s enjoyment one iota.

Although former Olympic and professional champion Kristi Yamaguchi now gets star billing, Stars on Ice founder and co-producer Scott Hamilton remains the show’s heart and soul. He’s still the showman people come to see.

Hamilton wove together a dizzying assortment of spins, leaps and fancy footwork in his two solo numbers, the jazzy “Steppin’ Out” (to the Tony Bennett song) and the rumbalike “Cuban Pete” (to Jim Carrey’s interpretation of the Desi Arnaz classic).

Hamilton also served as comic relief in the group numbers. In “Five Minutes For Icing,” Hamilton and fellow solo skaters Paul Wylie and Kurt Browning took turns showing off their stuff to a soundtrack of skate blades cutting the ice. In “It’s A Guy Girl Thing,” Hamilton, riding on the shoulder of Doug Ladret and Genrikh Sretenski, stuck out his chest and flexed his muscles to the Rolling Stones’ “Emotional Rescue,” only to be rejected by the female skaters.

Browning proved to be almost the ham that Hamilton is. To the tune of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Blues Berry Hill,” Browning, in a black cowboy outfit, raced around the ice, doing big jumps and intricate footwork while mugging for the crowd. In the “Guy Girl” finale, Browning did his best Mick Jagger impression, pursing his lips and strutting, to the Stones’ “She’s So Cold.”

The show had its serious moments as well. Both Wylie and Katarina Witt performed dramatic routines to John Williams’ “Schindler’s List” soundtrack. Yamaguchi, garbed in a blue kimono, skated a graceful number to Puccini’s “Butterfly.”

Two-time Olympic pairs champions Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov were the best of the pairs, performing elegant, flawless routines to Ella Fitzgerald’s “The Man I Love” and Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise.”

The use of colorful lights and costumes also added to the spectacle of the show, as did the wide range of music.

By the standing ovation, the troupe had well exhibited the skills and showmanship that had made them champions.