Robin Cousins
Robin Cousins is sitting in a busy Soho hotel. Quite frankly, it's a miracle that he's found time to stop for a coffee let alone spend a few hours chatting to the press. He's currently on tour in Grease, where he's playing Teen Angel. He's also busy choreographing and putting together this year's Holiday on Ice. He's working on the opening ceremony of next year's European Championships. Somewhere in between all of those, he'll be back as a judge on Dancing On Ice. He shrugs and smiles. “When you consider the alternatives of sitting at home, thumb-twiddling...
“I suppose the other thing, the cliché, is the phone will stop ringing, so I've always been one to have a go. You have to keep mentally healthy and physically healthy. And if you spend your life saying 'what if' you never do anything, I couldn't live like that.”
While sportsmen usually go into punditry and commentating - “I do that too!” adds Robin, probably inevitably – the only stage performing most would do is panto. For Robin though, performing brings his career full circle.
“Theatre work came first: I always say the skating came along and took me on a side journey. I went into the Olympics in 1980 knowing I was finishing and going to choreograph and direct. I love to create, I love the choreography and the directing. Now, as I like to say, I get other people to do the things that this body can't do any more. And with something like Holiday on Ice, I get to combine it all."
With figure skating perhaps as popular as it's ever been, taking on the mantle of Holiday on Ice is quite a challenge. Aware of the need for a spectacular, crowd-pleasing show, Robin found inspiration in the work of Barry Manilow.
“I did a television series in America called Star Skates. We had themes - Star Skates goes Country, Star Skates goes Rock - and found Barry's music is melodically perfect for skating. It has that fluidity, that motion. I had a meeting with Barry in London and he knew who I was. I think what appealed is it wasn't just Barry Manilow's Greatest Hits on ice - I always try to find bits of music that people will know but other versions of it. I was going through his back catalogue, and there's so much great music. I had his blessing for the TV show, and he ended up coming on to sing Can't Smile Without You and we had a great time. At the party afterwards, we said we need to take this on the road or find an excuse to do it again. And however many years later, Holiday on Ice asked if I had any ideas and I thought perhaps it's time!
“He wrote ballads, he's a big band fan, so there's swing, some funky pop...Even if you're not a Manilow fan you might find yourself enjoying the music. Everyone initially says 'ooh, Manilow?' and then you say hang on a minute, have you listened to more than one or two songs? If you only know Mandy and Copacabana, it's like thinking Sinatra only did Fly Me To The Moon.
“What's great is we're not having to shoehorn music in. I knew what I wanted to do, what sort of scenes, and Barry has a song that fits.”
As well as the music, Robin has added a technological angle to this year's tour, with a state-of-the-art LED backdrop playing a part in the spectacle.
“I wanted to do something that hadn't been done before,” explains Robin. “I was in Vegas, I saw the Celine Dion show and the huge screen and I thought 'I'm having that!' It's not quite the size of Celine's but if you don't ask you don't get...”
As a long term fan of the Holiday on Ice show, Robin is also aware that he can't alienate the crowd.
“You're trying to reinvent the material, but you're not reinventing the wheel. You know it has to be round, it has to have 12 spokes.... you can't mess with that. People need to feel 'yes, we got our money's worth.' I've been working on it thinking 'would I want to sit here watching it?' I think we've done that, that people will enjoy it. I want people to look at their watches and not believe 50 minutes has gone.” Robin grins. “I want the audience to have a quick 50 minutes, not a slow 49...”
Holiday On Ice - Tropicana The Passion Tour plays across the UK from 13th January 2012 and tickets are on sale now from the national booking line on 0844 581 1313 and online at www.holidayonice.co.uk.