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Show r 'Symphony on Ice7: f It was watery in spots ( by Rick Brough The "Symphony on Ice" program last week at the Salt Palace offered some dazzling, daz-zling, entertaining moments. But there were also patches of thin ice. First of all, the program was promoted as an extravaganza extrava-ganza starring Dorothy Ham-ill Ham-ill and the team of Randy Gardner and Tai Babilonia. So it was a bit disappointing to hear that Randy and Tai couldn't make it. Secondly, Dorothy Hamill appeared on the ice for only two short numbers. The program also slated her for a "Cabaret" number, but that was taken by another skater. Perhaps Hamill should be reviewed here by a sports reporter who would be more familiar with her technical moves. I wouldn't know a Hamill Camel if it sat on me. But I feel Hamill, in her short appearances, was required to skate on nothing more than star power and her standard repertoire though she still exhibited grace, skill and strength. She stood out as a pure skater in an evening when other performers were required re-quired to show more in the way of artistic expression and style. Corny as he was, my favorite was Richard Dwyer, a champion skater and Ice Follies star known as "Mr. Debonair." Dwyer is like the Liberace of skating. His savoir-faire and blinding teeth are too precious, but they're likable because he exhibits an impregnable self-confidence self-confidence as he glides, twirls and jumps around the rink. Another performer in the elegant mode was Richard Rich-ard Salter, who looked like a demonic Walter Pidgeon in tie and tails. A third high point was the skating done to "West Side Story" with Sett Wassom doing a nice job expressing the youthful passion and yearning of the music. He carried on with his performance perfor-mance despite two spills. Also good in this segment were Shane Douglas, as a dancing Jet, plus Merilee Rowland, Nicole Clark, Kathy Jacobsen, Linda Kennedy, Ken-nedy, and Buffy Lewis. Randy and Tai's replace ments, Christi Ujifusa and Stewart Sturgeon, acquitted acquit-ted themselves well skating to the "Somewhere in Time" love theme. Sturgeon also skated to the "Pink Panther" theme in a witty, throwabout performance. Sheri Heywood and Arthur Tripodush also exhibited the ballroom skating style in Leroy Anderson's song "Belle of the Ball." The Sun Valley Precision Team brought an appealing spectacular touch to "Tales From the Vienna Woods" and "Strike Up the Band." "Vienna Woods" was also highlighted by Douglas' amazing backflip. Unfortunately, it seemed as if producer-director Lu-Dean Lu-Dean Jensen had not meshed her very mixed cast of local talent, long-time skaters like Dwyer, the Sun Valley Team and Hamill the superstar. In the opening number, the skaters looked like they were just getting warmed up and their efforts didn't match the energy of the theme from "Superman." The "Fiddle Faddle" number looked like something from the cutesy "Disney on Ice" school, with -F child skaters dressed as mice, pursuing moving wed- ' ges of cheese. Young skater John Stead was good, but his vigor didn't match the orchestral accompaniment. h The Utah Symphony, di- m rected by Charles Ketcham, ' was uniformly excellent. I Perhaps the only shaky music was the arrangement of U, songs from "Cabaret" skat- 1 ed by Richard Dwyer. This number showed that some fj music isn't appropriate for ,pS skating. Or at least it seemed j the music is only suited for t the Mel Brooks joke about V "Hitler on Ice." I' There were other examples 1 of thin ice, too. Spotlights I'-' started in the audience, then I s zipped their way down to the I rink and found the skaters. Conductor Ketcham peered out over the rink, to make sure the performers were in position. And in the "Vienna 1 Woods" segment, the opening open-ing skater stood "on point" on the middle of the rink for a ; seeming eternity until her music cue came to move. a "Symphony on Ice" is a m good idea. But some of the , kinks need to be ironed out. |