Passion opened at the Brighton Centre last night giving UK Holiday on Ice fans their only opportunity to see this skating extravaganza in the UK this year.
With more than 327 million paying customers through the doors in its 71 year history, Holiday on Ice “is the most visited and successful live entertainment show anywhere in the world”.
Over recent years the producers have tinkled with the basic format of the show in order to develop a younger audience, which at times has left their traditional audience slightly bemused.
This production gets back to basics, is very contemporary in choice of music, costumes and dance, is beautifully designed but retains its Holiday On Ice trademark.
Passion is all about the skaters, their lives, their hopes, their dreams, their stories and includes unique back stage footage screened on a huge LED screen, which makes for riveting and at times emotional viewing.
The staging is simple but very effective with a huge proscenium arch creating a framework to the production through which the skaters are able to tell their stories in words and dance.
After a shaky start following a few falls from the principals, the skaters really turned the heat up and delivered a first class opening nights performance that gathered pace and passion as the evening unfolded.
This is the strongest troupe of skaters I can remember seeing for many years in a single Holiday on Ice production. The girls in the company are especially impressive and very strong skaters.
Usually the principal skaters are the focus in these ice shows but Passion is much more of an ensemble piece, relying on the quality of the company rather than production values, tricks and jumps.
The traditional regimented lines of skaters in the company numbers where less obvious and generally the choreography was much more fluid and current than you would expect from Holiday on Ice.
German singing trio Vintage Vegas added a touch of class to the proceedings and were very effective at getting the audience to participate, a huge risk in venues the size Holiday on Ice perform in, but their charm won the audience over each time the three boys appeared to sing.
No Holiday on Ice show would be complete without ‘the wheel’ which was performed to perfection while the lack of the usual Holiday on Ice finale with the skaters costumes lighting up almost went unnoticed.
Passion is a great contemporary production and at last nights opening night was clearly appreciated by the Brighton audience.
Holiday on Ice is in Brighton till Sunday, January 10.
For more information and to book tickets online, click here:
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