“It’s a pretty exciting circus of a show.”
That show, Skatetacular Dreams on Ice, is being presented next week by the Bradford Creative & Performing Arts Center (BCPAC). It will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Bromeley Family Theater located at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
Performer Catharine League talked to The Era about what the audience can expect.
League, who plays main character, gets to do two of her favorite activities in the show: skate and sing.
“It’s the first full live musical on ice,” said League. “Everything is sung live.”
The family-friendly show features a one-of-a-kind soundtrack from Mirror Mirror Music.
The idea for the show came up when her group was asked to come up with a specialty act, and she thought it would be fun to skate and sing simultaneously.
It turned out to be “a lot harder than I thought,” but at the same time “really cool.”
Skatetacular Dreams on Ice, a production of Ice Creative Entertainment, has a unique storyline, too. The main character, played by League, “goes on a sort of journey to find herself through the seasons.” As she travels through summer, autumn and winter, she meets a variety of characters, such as an autumn enchantress. She noted the villains are not too scary.
“In the end, she gets to find her sense of self,” said League.
League loves the part where she encounters the fire enchantress and her cronies. They “do a fun, creepy group number” which includes a contortion act. The scene “always gets massive applause,” she said.
“We have all sorts of cool specialty acts,” League added. This includes scenes with LEDs, a hula act, a number full of magic tricks and even an act with fire. “It really is non-stop.”
While most theater fire codes prevent the use of fire on stage, the group is allowed to have fire on the set in some arena shows.
In addition to having appeal for people of all ages, both boys and girls will find themselves enchanted by the color and excitement of the show. And children are especially entertained by the show’s protagonist.
“She’s cool. She’s a sassy character who’s really entertaining,” League said.
For venues where the performers can’t skate on ice, the company brings a substitute surface to skate on.
“We have a product that’s plastic ice,” League said. She explained the “ice” is about 1 ½ inches thick and has a texture like a lawn chair. The surface is covered with oil once it’s set up on stage.
She noted that the skating surface can be made to fit any size that is needed for a performance, as it’s made of pieces that “fit together like a jigsaw puzzle on the stage.” It just needs to be set up on a flat surface.
This allows the cast to take the show to a variety of venues, anything from arenas to ballrooms to theaters such as the one at Pitt-Bradford.
If the show goes as planned, the performers’ energy will be contagious.
“The whole feeling of the show is to get the audience energy. It’s not a typical theater show,” with the audience separated by a “fourth wall,” she noted. Despite the story element, there is a certain amount of interaction with the audience, and viewers are invited to clap along.
“I would say, don’t be afraid to get involved and enjoy it. We just want people to have a really fun time and to feel free to clap, hoot and holler and get into the spirit of it.”
