An early Christmas ‘special’

By John Benson

In an unusual combination of talents, the Chevrolet Centre show offers athleticism and live music.

Youngstown receives an early Christmas present this year: Smucker’s “Hot Ice, Cool Sounds.” The one-of-a-kind show is Saturday at the Chevrolet Centre.

The evening’s unique program combines Olympic and world-class figure skaters, such as Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen, Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano, six-time U.S. champion Todd Eldredge, world champion Yuka Sato and more, with live music performed by the Cleveland Pops Orchestra and solo artist Peter Cetera (formerly of Chicago).

Adding even more appeal is the fact that the entire show will be taped and nationally broadcast Christmas Day on NBC-TV.

The orchestra and Cetera will be on a stage at one end of the ice. The special that airs on NBC will also include footage of scenes and landmarks around Youngstown.

“I’ve worked with Smucker’s a lot on other similar events and it’s amazing because we have live artists singing and the energy there live is so amazing,” said Cohen, calling from Los Angeles. “We always have a great time with it. I’m doing a duet with Brian Boitano for one of my numbers, ‘Hard to Say I’m Sorry.’

“It’s just things you don’t get to see in normal competitive show skating, when we’re skating live to music and doing duets with people we normally wouldn’t do. So this is something that you have to play to the audience more and play to the song. We work on our entertainment skills more. We put that on top of the package of all our competitive jumps in the program.”

Something else that makes this show unique is the fact the skaters remain eligible for Olympic competition. While the annual Smucker’s “Stars on Ice Tour” — which this event is not part of — normally features ice skaters on the post-competitive side of their career, the “Hot Ice, Cool Sounds” line-up is filled with competitors looking forward to taking part in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. This includes 2006 Olympian Cohen.

“I’ve been training really hard this summer and will continue through the 2010 Olympics,” Cohen said. “That’s a goal of mine to be there, and if my body and everything agrees with me, I’ll try out for the team next January. I’ve been to two Olympics and skating is an interesting sport where you can do both, the show part and the competitive part. So I hope that you’re catching me in the middle of my career.”

Audiences attending the “Hot Ice, Cool Sounds” show can expect to catch Cetera sing his No. 1 hits “Glory of Love” (from the “Karate Kid II” soundtrack), the Grammy Award-nominated “The Next Time I Fall’’ and “Restless Heart,” as well as see some of today’s top skaters taking their talents to a new level.

“I think everybody loves music, especially good music, and seeing something live is so different,” Cohen said. “So I think so many people who haven’t had a chance to see skating live will be impressed by just the sheer strength that it takes and the speed and the power these athletes will be displaying.

“When you see them whiz by you super-fast, it’s really incredible. We always try to do something that’s new and had never been done before. It’s kind of to show it’s edgy and that we’re pushing skating for the new generation. So it’s about great music and really young talented skaters pushing the envelope and doing these things. It’s not your old-fashioned skating that you’re used to. We just want to keep promoting that and getting younger and younger audiences to come and participate in the show.”