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Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story

Reviewed by Lovell Estell III

NoHo Arts Center

Through June 14

RECOMMENDED:

Professional figure skating is something of the Rodney Dangerfield of spectator sports, lacking the gigantic fan base and marquis sizzle of sports like basketball or football. But the sport has produced its share of accomplished stars — none more so than Randy Gardner, who, in his one man show, gives a glimpse of his life and the sport.

Co-written by Gardner and Joshua Ravetch (who directs), the five-time US. figure skating champion and two time Olympian is a disarming, easy going storyteller and starts the show by telling of the circumstances behind his adoption, and of the journey he took to meet his birth mother. With the help of video footage and stills, he surveys his career, from early days on the ice to his meteoric ascent to the pinnacle of the sport, alongside his skating partner and friend of 45 years, Tai Babilonia. (On the night of the performance reviewed, Babilonia was in the audience and ended the show with the recitation of a lovely poem.)

The show is mostly intriguing and entertaining, although the script is in need of considerable tightening. If you are a fan of figure skating, you will love Gardner’s dish on many of the inside events and yes, scandals (i.e. Tanya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan) that rocked the world of professional ice-skating.

NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd, N. Hlwyd., Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through June 14. (818) 508-7101, www.nohoace.com