Musical Revue on Wheels at Knott’s Seeks Popularity of ‘Starlight’

Roller skates were invented two centuries ago by a Belgian craftsman named Merlin, but since that time their artistic and athletic wizardry has remained largely undiscovered by the media and general public, in favor of their more elegant ice cousins.

That has begun to change with the extraordinary popularity of the hit roller-rink musical “Starlight Express,” which has whirled through London and to Broadway, though it has yet to roll into the Southland. But hot on its wheels is Knott’s Berry Farm’s featured summer stage production, “Rollin’,” a high-tech musical revue on wheels that shows off the sport’s many facets.

Performed several times daily except Mondays in the park’s Good Time Theatre, the show stars World Artistic Roller Skating Champion Gregg Smith and U.S. Artistic Roller Skating Champion Patti Jefferson in their professional debuts, and the international champion adagio pair team of Cathy and Mark Pollard.

Also in the cast are comedian Ron Pearson, illusionist Tim Kole, skateboarder Daryl Grogan, champion BMX rider Robert Castillo and a 12-member skating ensemble, with a special appearance by Snoopy.

The show’s sequences run the gamut from beach parties and freeway traffic jams to graceful competition-style exhibitions, presaging the inclusion of roller skating as a demonstration sport in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games.

“We want to show how entertaining roller skating can be as an art form,” said David Gravatt, who directed and staged the production. “It’s always been viewed mainly as a street pastime, but with costumes and choreography it has the entertainment potential of ice skating. We’re trying to maintain the integrity of said David Gravatt, who directed and staged the production. the contemporary street feel, while incorporating the sophistication and glamour of theater.”

Indeed, with its propulsive music, state-of-the-art special effects such as lasers and ramps that allow performers to skate into and above the audience, “Rollin’ ” inevitably invites comparisons to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Starlight Express.” But, according to producer Lynne Foster, there is actually little resemblance between the two shows.

“ ‘Starlight Express’ cast singers and actors and put them on skates, whereas we always had the intention of using roller skaters,” she said. “ ‘Starlight’ is legitimate theater that happens to be on roller skates. We are not a book musical, but a variety entertainment vehicle.”

The idea for that vehicle first occurred years ago to Foster’s husband, Dick, executive producer of “Rollin’,” when he happened to catch a roller-skating competition while flipping TV channels. Having been closely aligned with ice skating--his many production credits include five Peggy Fleming TV specials and a touring theater ice show that starred Dorothy Hamill--in 1986 he decided to see how audiences would react to professional roller skating by incorporating a segment with Cathy and Mark Pollard into a gymnastics show starring 1984 Olympic Champion Bart Conner.

Encouraged by the positive response, Lynne Foster consulted with former competitor Matt Terry, then presented the idea to Joseph Meck, vice president of entertainment and operations at Knott’s. In 1976 Knott’s became the first theme park to present an ice show, so Meck decided to break similar ground with roller skaters.

Probably the show’s most impressive element, and the most expensive of its $1-million budget, is the set, designed by Tom Cluff, which features ramps made with seven tons of plexiglass and steel pipes, elevated 15 feet above the audience; there is also a floor-level runway cutting through the center of the auditorium. Under construction for more than four months, the ramps were installed by a crew of riggers who normally build bridges.

Director Gravatt and co-director/choreographer Karen Kresge use the set to full effect: Even the most sophisticated ice show cannot match the sight of skating stars and ensemble zooming down the ramps and onto the stage, or of the Pollard pair finishing their number by zipping through the audience straight to the theater’s rear exit.

“That’s what’s so much fun for me,” Dick Foster said. “You can actually bring the skaters out to the audience. You can’t put ice just anywhere, but here all you need is ground. To me it’s a new choreographic form, a complete new element to stage.”

The production team’s biggest challenge, Gravatt said, was to avoid creating a show that too closely resembled ice skating; not only do the two sports share similar moves, but choreographer Kresge had been an “Ice Follies” star, and costume designer Jennifer Langeberg frequently works with ice skating star Brian Boitano. They capitalized on what he calls roller skating’s “contemporary gut feel, one you don’t often get with ice skating because roller skating is inherently a street form.”

The show’s four principals all perform some maneuvers missing from ice skating. Most say they are somewhat bothered by their sport’s relative anonymity.

“We put just as much time into roller skating,” said Smith, 20, who has competed in and given exhibitions all over the world. “Even the people on my street, when I’d come home and say ‘I just won nationals,’ would say, ‘Oh, in roller derby?’ ”

The Sept. 4 closing date of “Rollin’ ” does not mean the end of this new performing medium. Dick Foster plans to extend the show’s 45-minute running length for an international tour, to be followed by a U.S. itinerary.

“I think roller skating has always been there,” he said. “It’s something almost every American has done, and can do. Maybe we’ll help put it in a new light. I think we’ll have some impact when people see this new art form.”

“Rollin”’ continues through Sept. 4 at Knott’s Berry Farm, 8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park. Performances daily, except Monday, at 3, 6 and 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2, 4, 6 and 9 p.m. Admission included with park admission, $15.95 to $19.95; $10 to $12 after 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Information (714) 220-5200.