Holiday on Ice is an

ice show An ice show is an entertainment production which is primarily performed by ice skaters. Such shows may primarily be skating exhibitions, or may be musical and/or dramatic in nature, using skating as a medium in order to accompany a musical work ...

currently owned by Medusa Music Group GmbH, a subsidiary of CTS EVENTIM, Europe's largest ticket distributor, with its headquarters in Bremen, Germany.

History

Holiday on Ice originated in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in December 1942. It was the brainchild of Emery Gilbert of Toledo, Ohio, an engineer and builder who created a portable

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

. He took his idea of a traveling show to

Morris Chalfen Morris Chalfen (June 3, 1907 – November 4, 1979) was an international impresario and sports entertainment executive. He founded the Holiday On Ice show, and later purchased and relocated a near-extinct National Basketball League (NBL) franchise ...

, a Minneapolis executive, who supplied the financing, and George Tyson, who used his theatrical background to create the show. The touring show made its first international trip to Mexico in 1947. In 1946, the company expanded with another ice show and secondary unit, "Ice Vogues", which took over the Holiday's last season's production and extended it for another year making stops in Cuba and Hawaii. Then the Vogues toured in Central and South America while Holiday remained in North America. After 1956, the Ice Vogues became a second unit of Holiday on Ice. After her touring company was shut down,

Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norway, Norwegian figure skating, figure skater and film star. She was a three-time List of Olympic medalists in figure skating, Olympic champion (Figure skating at the 1928 Winter Olympics, ...

joined Holiday on Ice in 1953, remaining part of the show until 1956. Her first performance with the company was in Paris while her final show was in South America. In Asia, Holiday on Ice first performed at the Philippine International Fair of 1953 in Manila; followed by a return visit in 1955. Starting in 1961, the company performed almost annually at the newly opened Araneta Coliseum under impresario J. Amado Araneta's auspices. HOI returned to the Araneta Coliseum in 1962, 1963 and 1965. The HOI company that performed in Manila was assembled in Europe and recruited cast members from Japan. US was represented by Holiday on Ice at

Brussels World Fair Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (french: Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles de 1958, nl, Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling van 1958), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Bel ...

in 1958. While in 1959, the new Cultural Exchange Program allowed the company to travel to Russia. A Holiday on Ice show on , was the scene of a gas leak and subsequent explosion at the

Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum The Indiana Farmers Coliseum (originally Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum and formerly Pepsi Coliseum and Fairgrounds Coliseum) is a 6,500-seat indoor multi-use arena, located on the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. The Indiana Farm ...

that killed 74 people. All owners except

sold their shares of the North America Holiday on Ice to Madison Square Garden Corporation in 1964, while Chalfen retained ownership of the international Holiday on Ice tour and remained as executive producer of the North America company. By , General Ice Shows, Inc., a subsidiary of

Thomas Scallen Thomas Kaine Scallen (August 14, 1925 – March 21, 2015) was the first owner of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks. He owned the team from 1970 to 1974, when Frank Griffiths Frank A. Griffiths (December 17, 1916 – April 7, 1994) was a Canadian ...

's Medical Investment Corporation (Medicor) and parent company of

Ice Follies The Ice Follies, formerly known as the Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies, is a touring ice show featuring elaborate production numbers, similar in concept to Ice Capades. It was founded in 1936 by Eddie and Roy Shipstad, and Oscar Johnson. In later ...

, had purchased Holiday on Ice (North America) from Chalfen and Madison Square Garden Company. At that time, Chalfen had purchased $2.2 million in Medicor convertible subordinated notes, which when converted to stock would have made Chalfen the largest shareholder of Medicor. Scallen had Medicor stall registering the notes and he sold 400,000 Medicor shares to

Arthur Wirtz Arthur Michael Wirtz (January 23, 1901 – July 21, 1983) was an American entrepreneur. He was the founder of Wirtz Corporation, a holding company that owned Chicago Stadium, the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago, the Chicago Black Hawks, and the Chic ...

. After lawsuits by HoI's Chalfen and Wirtz in 1976, Wirtz gained ownership of both shows.

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

's Irvin & Kenneth Feld Productions purchased the Ice Follies and the Holiday on Ice (USA) from Chicago-based Wirtz for $12 million in 1979. Ice Follies merged with Holiday on Ice in 1980 operating as a combined show in 1980 and 1981. The first '' Disney's World on Ice'' began touring in 1981.

International company

In 1964, Chalfen retained ownership of the international Holiday on Ice tour separating ownership from the North America company. After several changes of ownership, today it primarily tours with only two productions in Europe. In 1996, the company was purchased by

Endemol Entertainment Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...

. On October 2, 2014, the German Medusa Music Group GmbH, a subsidiary of CTS EVENTIM, Europe's largest ticket distributor, acquired 50% of Stage Entertainment Touring Productions and Holiday on Ice; the company would acquire the remaining 50% two years later, on July 8, 2016. Hence, Holiday on Ice has become a German company with Stage Entertainment no longer involved in it. During the 1960s Holiday on Ice was introduced to the Philippines. Araneta Coliseum always was the venue until Disney on Ice came to Araneta Coliseum.

Show

Holiday on Ice was established as a family-oriented show by its founders but it has retained little of the traditional ice revue format. The actual shows focus more on a theatrical/musical aspect rather than on the glamorous revue style with clouds of feathers and millions of sequins and rhinestones to attract a new, younger audience. The once large "Corps de Ballet" of skaters has been reduced from 24 girls + 12 boys to 20 girls + 10 boys (between 1998 and 2008), and 14 girls + 10 boys (from 2009) and elaborate costuming has been replaced in favour of small modern stylings. Also the music choice from mainly Broadway show scores has been changed and adapted to the contemporary taste of actual pop music and even rock. Novelty acts such as

acrobats Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acr ...

have been added regularly to the main production numbers in recent years. A traditional element in each Holiday on Ice show is the precision number with its famous spinning wheel, in which the skaters link arms with each other, one by one, lengthening the two spokes which spin around a center point. For many years, the traditional kickline, the light finale with illuminated costumes and fireworks fountains, ended shows. Since 1988 each show has been given an official name to expose its unique identity resulting from its main production theme that weaves the various numbers into a unitary presentation. Beginning in 2005, Holiday on Ice has added several family-oriented touring shows to their schedule, including

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

, Bugs Bunny on Ice and

Ali Baba "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard ...

in "1001 Nights on Ice" in their new branch kids Ice shows ("KISS"). In contrast to the North American skating tours Stars on Ice and

Champions on Ice Champions on Ice was a touring ice show in the United States. The show featured a large cast of both professional and Olympic-eligible figure skaters along with novelty acts such as skating acrobats. The shows were focused primarily on solo per ...

, which feature primarily

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

champion

figure skaters Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

, most of the skaters who tour with Holiday on Ice are not famous, and the focus is on production quality rather than the skaters' competitive credentials. In 2011, Stage Entertainment announced the foundation of another subsidiary company which combines all its touring live productions, one of which is Holiday on Ice. This new division, Stage Entertainment Touring productions, is chaired by Caspar Gerwe. For the first time in its 69 years, Holiday on Ice did not stage a new show production under its own brand in 2012. In 2013 a new show choreographed by Mark Naylor was produced with the name "Platinum".

Robin Cousins Robin Cousins, MBE (born 17 August 1957) is a British former competitive figure skater who was BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1980. He was the 1980 Olympic champion, the 1980 European champion, a three-time World medalist (1978–19 ...

has choreographed several of Holiday on Ice's recent shows. Former choreographers have included: Stephanie Andros,

Willi Bietak Wilhelm "Willy" Bietak (born 23 May 1947) is an Austrian pair skater and skating event producer. During his career, he competed internationally with partners Evelyne Schneider and Gerlinde Schönbauer, appearing at two Winter Olympics. He was ind ...

, Marie Carr, Kevin J. Cottam, Francis Demarteau,

Sarah Kawahara Sarah Kawahara is a Canadian figure skater and choreographer who has won two Emmy Awards. Personal life Born September 15, 1961, in Vancouver, Canada, Kawahara is of Japanese ancestry and lives in California. Her father is Hideo Kawahara (1920/ ...

Karen Kresge Karen Kresge (born 1957) is a British choreographer. She has choreographed many West End productions as well as "Seattle Symphony on Ice" in 1991. In 2006, Kresge was a judge on the ITV show ''Dancing on Ice''. For unknown reasons, she did not ret ...

Jérôme Savary Jérôme Savary (27 June 1942 – 4 March 2013) was an Argentinian-French theater director and actor. His work has democratized and widened the appeal of musical theater in France, drawing together and blending such genres as opera, operetta, and ...

, Ted Shuffle, Anthony Van Laast, Robin Cousins, Frank Wentink, Mark Naylor, Bart Doerfler, Christopher Dean, Kim Gavin and Francisco Negrin.

Show themes by year (Holiday on Ice Europe)

*2022 A New Day (resumption) *2021 A New Day *2020 (No new production due to

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

) *2019 Supernova - Journey to the stars *2018 Showtime *2017 Atlantis *2016 Time *2015 Believe *2014 Passion *2013 Platinum *2012 (No new production) but ICE AGE LIVE is presented *2011 Speed and Sleeping Beauty on ice (Stage Entertainment Russia) *2010 Festival and Snow Queen on ice (Stage Entertainment Russia) *2009 Tropicana and Nutcracker on ice (Stage Entertainment Russia) *2008 Energia *2007 Elements (Spirit) and Aladdin on Ice (KIDS) *2006 Mystery and

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

on Ice (KIDS) *2005 Romanza and

on Ice (KIDS) *2004 Fantasy (Dreams) *2003 Diamonds and Pinocchio on ice (KIDS) *2002 Hollywood *2001 Celebration *2000 In Concert *1999 Colours of Dance *1998 Xotika - Journey to the heart *1997 Extravaganza (Extraventura) *1996 Evolution and Asterix On Ice *1995 Broadway / Gypsy *1994 Jubilee and Circus on ice *1993 Spanish / Aladdin *1992 Magic & Illusions *1991 Carmen & Robin Hood *1990 Banjos & Balalaikas *1989 Journey through Time *1988 Around the World in 80 Days *1987 Italian / Chinese *1986 Mexican / Russian *1985 Disco / Scottish *1984 Counterpoint / Sleeping Beauty *1983 Paris / Swan Lake *1982 Bolero / Shangri-La *1981 Oriental / Western *1980 (No new production due to movement of headquarters to Bern/Switzerland and Amsterdam/The Netherlands) but HOI presented the show : BOLERO / MAZEL'TOV *1979 24 Hours / Cinderella *1979 La Traviata / Hollywood *1978 Alice / Flamenco *1977

Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film ''The Pin ...

/ Dickens *1976

Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...

/ Hollywood *1975 Bicentennial *1974 Chicago / Gershwin *1973 Spartacus / Cabaret *1972 Rock / Chevalier *1971

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...

/ Bolero *1970 Fairy Tales *1969 Showboat *1968 King Arthur *1967 Aladdin / Space Show *1966 Marco Polo *1965 Gypsy / Dolly *1964 Hong Kong *1963 Operama *1962 Indian / Jazz *1961 Black Pearl / Circus *1960 Wizard *1959 Aladdin *1958 Nutcracker *1957 Bolero *1956 Merry Widow / Alice *1955 Rhapsody / Red Velvet and Aladdin on ice *1954 Wonder Garden / Spanish *1953 Jungle / Sea and SONJA HENIE and her ice revue *1952 Pink / Carnival *1951 Indians / Candy *1950 Winter / Gay Nineties

Show themes by year (Holiday on Ice USA)

*1984 / 1985 : Ice around the world : Cinderella / San Francisco (HOLIDAY ON ICE) *1971 to 1982 : Ice follies productions in second and third tour under the name HOLIDAY ON ICE USA *1970 Sonja Henie / London *1969 New Year's / Easter/Christmas *1968 New York / Granada *1967 Country / Caribbean *1966 Venetian / Happy Land *1965 Americana / 24 Hours *1964 Blue waltz / Fiesta Caribe *1963 Barn dance / Clock shop *1962 Sleeping Beauty / Broadway *1961 Hawaii / Southland *1960 Golden Aurora *1959 Crystal anniversary / Circus *1958 Girls / Holiday *1957 Waterama / Fiesta *1956 Bacchus / Cavalcade *1955 Bolero / Guardsmen *1954 Storybook / Games *1953 Caribbean / Gaucho *1952 Japan / Fantasy *1951 Jewel / Carnival *1950 Candyland / Rhapsody *1949 Rumbalero / Enchanted Garden *1948 Spanish / Dreams *1947 Persian / Gypsy *1946 Winter Carnival / Horse show *1945 Faster on ice / Rhythmacana *1944 / 1945 : no new show but the second edition 1943/1944 performed until December 1944 *1943 / 1944 Victor Herbert / Minstrels *1942 / 1943 Winter Holiday / Gladiators

External links

References

{{reflist, 40em Ice shows Recurring events established in 1943 Touring performing arts Feld Entertainment