‘Broadway’ tour an ice blended

“Phantom of the Opera” star Davis Gaines and 1976 Olympic champ Dorothy Hamill are pairing off. On the ice, that is. But not in any arena-seating, popcorn-eating, ear-blasting, cartoon-promoting spectacular for kids. No, Gaines won’t be wearing skates.

Instead, “Broadway on Ice,” an ambitious new production that will begin its first 14-city national tour Nov. 23 at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Springs (its only Southern California stop this year), aims to take the evolution of more adult-oriented ice shows to a new level of sophistication.

Conceived as an intimate theatrical revue and presented by longtime ice-skating producer Willy Bietak, the show has been designed for a proscenium stage and legit theater venues.

At a grand piano on an iced stage -- refined technology using aluminum plates and a heavy-duty refrigeration unit makes a fast freeze possible -- Gaines, Leslie Uggams and Deborah Gibson will take the spotlight. They’ll sing songs from “Rent,” “Cabaret,” “West Side Story” and “Chicago” as well as standards by George Gershwin, Cole Porter and others.

Hamill, Oksana Baiul and Nancy Kerrigan will be among the ice-show luminaries who will interpret the songs through skating. (Pianist-comedian Dale Gonyea is contributing a Broadway-themed sendup.)

Bietak says the proscenium staging, intricate choreography, direct relation between singer and skater, and more intimate theater environment make the show “very different” from a typical ice extravaganza.

“It’s not all about rhinestones and glitz,” he says. “We’re giving skaters the opportunity to express themselves in a theater like dancers would, and they’re working with the singers as an integrated unit, projecting the emotion of the moment.

“But,” he concedes, “when you tell people they’re going to see ice-skating in the theater, they do sort of stare at you.”