ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010013
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
The public appetite for figure skating seems to be insatiable.
It seems like, well, just last month that the Roanoke Civic Center hosted a star-studded figure-skating show. In fact, it was last month - three weeks ago, to be precise - that the Tour of World Figure Skating Champions rolled through Roanoke featuring Brian Boitano, Oksana Baiul, Viktor Petrenko and Nancy Kerrigan.
Now, it's the turn of the Discover Card Stars on Ice. Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton, Katarina Witt and Kurt Browning, among others.
That's enough triple lutzes to make your head spin, and enough Olympic medals to stock a mint. The Stars on Ice have collected seven of them, plus a slew of world and Canadian titles.
The tour stops at the Roanoke Civic Center on Wednesday, after a weekend gig at New York's Madison Square Garden.
The show will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which fulfills the wishes of terminally ill children. One dollar from every ticket sold goes to the foundation. Tickets range from $22.50 to $32.50.
The show will highlight individual and paired skating routines set to music. In the finale, the entire cast performs ice interpretations of Beatles music including ``With A Little Help From My Friends,'' ``Magical Mystery Tour,'' ``Oh, Darling'' and ``Help.''
Other routines will be set to music from the films ``Apollo 13,'' ``Casper,'' ``Don Juan DeMarco'' and ``Desperado.'' Kurt Browning will skate to the song, ``Brick House,'' by the Commodores.
Browning is a four-time world figure-skating champion. Yamaguchi, Hamilton and Witt all are Olympic gold medal winners. The Stars on Ice tour was the brainchild of Hamilton, who conceived the first of the annual events in 1986.
Press information includes some up-close facts about the Stars on Ice skaters that you will likely not learn by merely attending the show.
Did you know, for example, that Kristi Yamaguchi's favorite actors are Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford, Meg Ryan and Denzel Washington? Her favorite movies are ``The Little Mermaid,'' ``Top Gun,'' ``The Sound of Music'' and ``The Wizard of Oz.'' Her favorite books are ``Charlotte's Web,'' ``The Firm'' and ``The Bridges of Madison County.'' Her favorite TV shows are ``ER'' and ``Friends.''
By contrast, Scott Hamilton prefers Burt Lancaster and Katherine Hepburn and counts among his favorite films any really bad martial arts movie. The person he would most like to meet is rocker Bruce Springsteen.
Katarina Witt likes Jack Nicholson, Angelica Huston and Billy Crystal. Her favorite movie is ``One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.'' Her sports hero is Magic Johnson. Her favorite dinner is pasta with lots of friends and if she weren't a skater, she says, her occupation would be selling praline ice cream.
Discover Stars on Ice: Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Roanoke Civic Center Coliseum. Tickets are $32.50 and $22.50 through box office (981-1201), Ticketmaster or charge by phone 342-8100)
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Scott Hamilton and Rosalyn Summers are two of theby CNBskaters featured in the Discover Card Stars on Ice.