Boitano, Davis&White, Weir 12/1 Bryant Park

(PS My blog has finally reached the status of 'media'! :thumbsup: Here's my official very first plug...sadly, I get no swag, but hey I posted the questions I'd ask if I could actually go! )

DANNY AIELLO, NANCY KERRIGAN, BRIAN BOITANO
AND JOHNNY WEIR STAR IN FIRST-EVER TREE LIGHTING SKATE-TACULAR
AT BANK OF AMERICA WINTER VILLAGE AT BRYANT PARK

WHAT: New to the annual Tree Lighting, Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park presents an original theatrical ice skating show, narrated by Danny Aiello and starring Olympic skating greats: Nancy Kerrigan, Brian Boitano, Johnny Weir and Davis & White.

The Tree Lighting Skate-tacular is a holiday tale about a very special family on the night before Christmas, written for Bryant Park by New York playwright Jon Caren. The show features music from Big Band Holidays, a new album by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. The public can skate to live music curated by Jazz at Lincoln Center after the tree is lit.

The event, which coincides with Giving Tuesday and World AIDS Day, sustains the season of giving at Bryant Park by spotlighting Bank of America’s support of (RED). On this day, Bank of America is contributing $.30, the cost of a full day of life-changing medication, to (RED)’s fight against AIDS for every purchase made at participating Winter Village merchants with a Bank of America credit or debit card.

WHO:
• Danny Aiello—Academy Award nominated actor and native New Yorker
• Nancy Kerrigan—Two-time Olympic medalist and US National Champion
• Brian Boitano—1988 Olympic Gold Medalist, two-time World Champion and the first American skater to land a triple axel
• Johnny Weir—Two-time Olympian and three-time US Champion
• Meryl Davis and Charlie White—2014 Olympic Gold Medalists, two-time World Champions, and competitors on Dancing with the Stars
• The Haydenettes—synchronized skating team and 2015 National Gold Medalists
• Representatives from Bank of America and Bryant Park Corporation

WHEN: Tuesday, December 1, 2015

• 6:00 p.m. Skate-tacular begins
• 6:35 p.m. (approx.) Tree Lighting

For more information about Winter Village, please visit: www.wintervillage.org.

Bumping this - I'd really like to go but the weather is supposed to be rainy tomorrow. Is anyone in the NY area planning to go and report back?

As Johnny Weir says "crickets"....

Anyhoo - nice picture of Brian, Nancy, Meryl, Charlie and Johnny at rehearsal yesterday.

It's still supposed to rain tonight but I think I will try to go to this.

apgold said:

... Anyhoo - nice picture of Brian, Nancy, Meryl, Charlie and Johnny at rehearsal yesterday.

It's still supposed to rain tonight but I think I will try to go to this.

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Thx for the photo, apgold. (p.s. Have a good time.)
Wish I'd had the foresight to scope out when the rehearsal was and try to catch that. (Don't know whether I'll make it tonight or not. Thus my previous silence in the thread. Sorry for the crickets.)

With that in mind, notes to self for future reference:

The rink closed at 7:30 pm last night for rehearsal. https://twitter.com/bryantparknyc/status/671417292165677056
The skater photo was tweeted at approx. 9 pm. https://twitter.com/bryantparknyc/status/671511172630380544

Also just for my own future reference, links to the press release for the event. (Much the same information as in the OP.)
http://ht.ly/VgFtk
http://wintervillage.org/static/pdfs/events/tree_lighting_press_release.pdf

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apgold said:

As Johnny Weir says "crickets"....

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Grrrrr ... but because other great skaters are involved, and b/c everyone in the show is supporting a good cause, I will hope that the weather is decent and that Johnny and the whole group will not be hearing crickets. No matter what he said about Mirai :sad4:.

Hope you were able to attend golden411icecoverage.

I wound up going to Bryant Park last evening to see this. I got there a few minutes before it started and there were a lot of people there - a mixture of tourists (2 near me were from Australia (Adelaide and Brisbane)) and locals. Not sure how many were figure skating fans or were there b/c of the tree lighting and it was free. The rain had stopped when I got there but picked up again. Lucky for me, Bank of America (who sponsored this) had set up some big umbrellas so I got a spot under one of them. I wasn't able to get any good video or pictures b/c of the crowd and my phone camera is pretty bad anyway.

The skating presentation was aboout 20 minutes long and featured Nancy, then Johnny, then Meryl and Charlie and finally Brian. They also had skating from the Haydenettes (synchronized team) and some girls from Figure Skating in Harlem, which was nice to see. They all skated to Xmas themed music while Danny Ailello read a story about a little star whose light grew to light the Xmas tree.

Nancy played the little star and she was dressed like a little girl in a Xmas story - white nightgown and bow in her hair. Looked kind of silly on a 40 something woman, but whatever. IIRC, she performed the most jumps, a single axel, a double flip (which she stepped out of) and another double jump. Her Kerrigan spiral was lovely as always.

Next up was Johnny, who was dressed in a red outfit picture here with some red streaks in his hair, peforming as a naughty Santa or elf, it was hard to tell, lol. It was a Johnny performance with the usual moves (cannonball spin, sliding across the ice with his back arched) - I think he did one or two jumps. I think he got the loudest cheers.

It started to rain harder when Meryl and Charlie came out - Meryl was dressed in a blue sparkly dress with her hair up and Charlie in a matching shirt and pants. They did a graceful routine with plenty of lifts but nothing as complex as when they competed.

I was most impressed with Brian Boitano, who at 52, is still jumping. His spread eagle is as gorgeous as always. He skated to a Josh Groban Xmas song wearing all red. (I had to laugh at some of the comments near me - one woman didn't know what country he was from and someone thought he was Canadian. I guess they thought he was Orser?)

They all came out at the end for a finale with the girls from FSIH and the Haydenettes and the tree was lit. I think the tree is almost as tall as the one in Rockefeller Center, which gets lit tonight (also on top of skating rink, go figure!).

Although I watched a lot of it on a big screen b/c my view was blocked from the folks standing in front of me, it was a treat to see all of those Olympians in one place. It's funny, living in NY, we don't get a lot of figure skating tours or events but occasionally we do get a (free) treat like this!

apgold said:

Hope you were able to attend golden411icecoverage.

I wound up going to Bryant Park last evening to see this. ....

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Thx for the detailed report, apgold . I did end up going. Very appreciative to all the skaters for performing in the rain.
My third time at a free show in Bryant Park, and the caliber of skaters at this one was the highest ever. Plus it was my first time seeing Brian, Nancy, Meryl/Charlie live.

My observations are very general ... nothing specific about the skating, b/c I too had quite a limited view. (And I didn't even realize that umbrellas were set up anywhere .)

Loved Nancy's spiral. From my not-ideal vantage point, she had the right look for the little-girl character that I thought she was playing ... did not realize that the little girl was supposed to be the little starlight. For me, Nancy's flouncy skirt and bouncy beribboned ponytail took me back in time (in a good way) to when she was young.
I was impressed that for most of the intervening time btwn Nancy's solo and the group finale, she did not disappear into the curtained-off backstage area. Instead, she unobtrusively stood slightly behind the boards and watched the other skaters. (Maybe others in the cast did the same? I could tell Nancy was there b/c of her white costume.)

Johnny was Santa, IMO -- seen at first with the big bag of toys, and IIRC, what I thought was a Santa hat. I giggled to myself that I had never seen Santa in a shiny skintight red bodysuit before, but I did think it was cool that within the ersatz storyline, Johnny was able to keep true to his own style. I heard good applause for him ... although not more than for the other headliners, IMO.

I had never seen any ice dance live before, so I really enjoyed the one-ness of Meryl/Charlie together -- esp. without the frantic-ness of their competitive programs. (I know that some people considered their frantic-ness to be a positive quality, but I never did.) Their music was Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. I felt lucky that my partial view did allow me to glimpse one of their lifts -- very simple by their standards, with M balanced on C's leg -- but I loved it.

After M/C, the Haydenettes performed a full-fledged number of their own, IIRC? (And then the Haydenettes reappeared in the finale with the others.) But hard for me to get the full effect of synchro, b/c I could see only a few skaters at a time. Not their fault, of course.

Brian was the #1 highlight for me. His music was Silent Night, sung by Groban. So happens that I had just seen Brian's program on the Disson TV show on Sunday -- in which he was given the chance to explain that the program is a tribute to his deceased parents. The red lantern that was his prop is something he came across in their house after they died.
I was glad to see his program live ... just wished that the Bryant Park storyline did not prevent any mention of the tribute to his parents.

I gasped with delight when the young skaters took the ice -- a very pleasant surprise that was perfect for a holiday show . I wondered whether they were from Figure Skating in Harlem ... so was glad that you said so in your post, apgold. (If they were introduced as such, I missed it.)

All in all, a very nice opportunity to see some great skaters for free.

(Next year, I hope the producers will not attempt to tie together the disparate skaters with a storyline. Unnecessary and unsuccessful, IMO.)

P.S. Not that it matters, but what were those snowflake light thingies that some spectators were wearing around their necks? A giveaway from Bank of America, I assume, but did they have any "purpose?" LOL, I heard some cowbells in the audience, but wasn't sure whether they were being given away again. (I did get a mini-cowbell last time, although I never saw where the snowflake things were coming from last night.)

golden411icecoverage said:

Thx for the detailed report, apgold . I did end up going. Very appreciative to all the skaters for performing in the rain.

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I'm glad it wasn't pouring, but I imagine it makes skating more difficult? Although probably easier than the subzero temps at the last show I went to last winter at BP that had Johnny, Ashley and Denney/Coughlin. If you don't mind my asking, what was the 3rd show you saw at BP?

The big umbrellas were near the bandstand on the west side of the rink - I think there were at least 2 of them. I think volunteers were handing out those lighted snowflakes but by the time I arrived I think most were gone as were the cowbells.

I agree trying to tie together a story with the skating didn't really work so well. And thanks for remembering the songs that were played - I tend to tune out a lot of Christmas music this time of year b/c you hear it everywhere.

I didn't know the backstory on Brian's skate - how lovely to skate as a tribute to his late parents. I agree he was the highlight of the performance.

apgold said:

I'm glad it wasn't pouring, but I imagine it makes skating more difficult? Although probably easier than the subzero temps at the last show I went to last winter at BP that had Johnny, Ashley and Denney/Coughlin. If you don't mind my asking, what was the 3rd show you saw at BP? ...

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Forgot to say that I loved :luv17: the surprise fireworks after the tree was lit. A great photo from the Haydenettes social media:
And I had forgotten that the Haydenettes are going to the GPF. Good luck to them.

Yes, I agree that the rain prob. made the skating more difficult.
For that reason, I admit that I felt a little nervous during the Haydenettes lifts. I know that they are a world-class team, but it was the rain making me nervous.
I even wonder whether anything got cut from the show b/c of the rain. If so, perfectly understandable.
(I wonder partly b/c that other show in the bitter cold seemed longer. For example, Ashley skated two programs then -- even in the bitter cold.
And a pre-show Bryant Park tweet yesterday said that the tree would be lit before 7 pm. Waaaaaaay before 7 pm, as it turns out.)

I realize now that yesterday was at least the fourth free ice show that I have seen at Bryant Park.

2014 tree lighting:
Lysacek; Denney/Coughlin; the Haydenettes.
http://www.bryantpark.org/event/3695

Jan 2013 breast cancer benefit:
Kimmie Meissner; Emily Hughes; Nicole Bobek; Elena Glebova; hosted by JoJo Starbuck.
(I think it was possible to buy VIP tix to benefit the charity; but most of the crowd watched for free, AFAIK. Solicitations were made during the show; and an on-site desk was accepting donations. Link below is for a promotional graphic archived on a third-party website.)
http://www.lifeskate.com/skate/2013/01/sing-and-skate-against-breast-cancer-in-nyc-on-january-5.html

I don't remember how I found out about these two less recent shows. Skater social media and/or GS -- and/or maybe a random sighting on FSU, where I lurk sporadically.

I'm the OP. I got b-roll from the PR person who contacted me. I'll edit it to just show the skating. Anyway I can post it to Golden Skate? If I can't, I'll post it to my blog and put a link here.

I liked Johnny. He was like a naughty elf. Meryl and Charlie were wonderful. No video of Brian skating except at the bows.

The link will be great!

Yes, would love to see some of what I missed with my limited view. I saw some little clips on Instagram from many of the folks who were there.

Johnny tweeted that he didn't know his costume was see through, yeah right, lol. It didn't leave much to the imagination.

I can't upload the video because of size limits. So I made some GIFs.

http://icedoesntcare.blogspot.com/2015/12/skating-at-bryant-park-johnny-and-davis.html

Kerrigan had a little hand in the choreo for the show, per Nick Zaccardi's article -- which also has a nice photo of Kerrigan from the finale.

http://olympics.nbcsports.com/2015/12/03/nancy-kerrigan-figure-skating-shows-choreography/ (Dec 3)

I put the b-roll skating up on youTube. There's no sound. But yes you can see the 'see through' portion of Johnny's costume--if you have a good imagination.

https://youtu.be/KEgFO_26Z_M