Skaters Glide Under Broadway-Style Spotlight : Spectacle: Champions scale down their moves, but not their skills, in intimate extravaganza on stage.

Memo to the audience at tonight’s Orange County Performing Arts Center presentation:

No, the performers are not going to fall off the stage.

Why even raise such concerns?

Because for the first time in its seven-year history, the center is hosting an ice show, the World Cup Figure Skating Champions. And though the 40-by-60-foot ice surface is indeed far smaller than the customary ice arena, the two-hour show is chock-full of the triple jumps, back flips and fancy footwork that figure-skating audiences have come to expect.

A multinational cast of 16 skaters is headlined by 1992 Olympic and World dance champions Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, 1988 Olympic silver medalist Elizabeth Manley, 1987 World bronze medalist-1993 U.S. Pro-Am champion Caryn Kadavy and 1984 Olympic and World pair champions Elena Valova and Oleg Vassiliev. Skaters hail from the United States, Canada, Russia, the Slovak Republic and other countries.

The World Cup tour continues a trend in professional figure skating that has developed over the past decade or so: ice shows designed specifically for proscenium houses rather than sports arenas.

“I wanted to play theaters with an ambience of Broadway--touring markets that were not used to seeing so many Olympic and World champions,” said show producer Michael A. Rosenberg, 50, a prominent skaters’ manager from Palm Desert. He launched the tour two years ago, using his clients, at the suggestion of then-partner Barry Mendelson. “That’s why we’re playing Orange County, not the (Great Western) Forum.”

This year’s edition is directed and choreographed by 1979 World Pairs Champion (with Tai Babilonia) Randy Gardner and Las Vegas dance choreographer David W. Gravatt. It is more ambitious than its two predecessors, with a larger cast, more production numbers--six, with music ranging from contemporary Cirque du Soleil sounds to Gershwin, country to rock--more intricate choreography, glitzier costumes and more lavish production values.

“This is the hardest I’ve ever worked,” said Manley, 28, who skates all but one group number plus solos to “The Jellicle Ball” from “Cats” and “Hanky Panky” from the film “Dick Tracy.”

“I’ve been with the show three years, and I can honestly say that this one has outdone itself. It appears to me as a skater to be more polished, and the choreography has more skaters interacting. Last year in the opening, the headliners came on at the end of the number. This year, we’re there from note one. At the first rehearsal, it looked so difficult. We said, ‘Oh, my God, you want us to do this ?’ ”

The task of melding the cast’s different skating styles is made more challenging by the theatrical environment.

“Theater choreography is a little more tricky because you have to do more in place. In an arena, you skate out and do backward crossovers,” said Gardner, 35, who next week teams with Babilonia to star in a touring production of “The Nutcracker.” “The patterns are different. You always have to play the front, and you have to make sure everyone’s on the correct angle.”

The skaters say they enjoy rising to the occasion. “Some people think this is a little easier, because you’re not moving as much,” said Kadavy, 25, who solos to Nana Mouskouri’s “Over the Rainbow” and a “Tosca” selection. “But it’s just as much of a workout.

“It’s a matter of pacing yourself. I love to skate big, so I have to keep it scaled down. But it’s fun and challenging at the same time. And it’s more intimate than arenas.”

That intimacy is welcomed by married ice dancers Ponomarenko, 33, and Klimova, 27, who skate to Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Song of India” and a tango/”Mack the Knife” medley.

“I like this much better,” said Ponomarenko. “The people notice everything--the curtain, the lights. The people sitting close can see our emotions, and we can see their faces. It’s much more fun for us, and it’s new for the audience; they’ve seen arena shows before.”

Center audiences may be in for a bonus: With many skaters preparing for professional competitions, the performance level will be sharper than ever.

Not that they need an incentive. Said Rosenberg: “With this show, they’re no longer athletes who can do great artistic numbers. They’ve all become artists.”

* The World Cup Figure Skating Champions show is tonight at 8 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $20-$38. (714) 556-2787.

The Icing on the Stage Installing an ice rink at the Orange County Performing Arts Center involves an 18-hour process to produce the surface yet protect the hardwood flooring from any water damage.

Making the Ice 1. Plastic sheeting is laid over the stage, and a 40-by-60-foot, 5 1/2-inch-deep frame is constructed. 2. A one-inch layer of plastic foam and plastic liner insulate the frame. 3. Specially made refrigeration mats, lined with three-eighths-inch pipes, cover insulation. 4. Mats are coated with 6,000 pounds of crushed ice. 5. Antifreeze is pumped through the mat piping from chiller unit outside. 6. Water is added and frozen several times until the surface is smooth. Ice Refrigeration mats Plastic liner Plastic foam insulation Frame Plastic sheeting Chiller unit Source: Don Yontz; Researched by Libby Slate / For the Times