The Imperial Ice Stars company was created in 2004 by Tony Mercer. Tony’s love of figure skating was born whilst he watched the incredible achievements of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean winning their Olympic Gold medal in Sarajevo in 1984 with the incredible Bolero programme. Struck by not just the technical level of the performance, Tony fell in the love with the intricate theatricality.
His first venture into the world of ice began in 1988 when he began studying the concept of creating theatre on ice and developing and building an ice rink for theatre stages and not for the usual arena setting. Throughout the years from 1988 to 2003, he worked on various sized productions whilst he refined his idea of bringing true theatricality to the theatre on ice genre and this was brought to life by creating the Imperial Ice Stars.
The first production of the Imperial Ice Stars was in July 2004 and this was a tour of Sleeping Beauty on Ice which was in collaboration with one of the theatre world’s leading producers, James Cundall and businessman and former speed skater, Vladislav Olenin. Having previously worked with James in Hong Kong in 1998 and again in Australia and New Zealand on a production of Nutcracker on Ice in 2003, it was a natural fit that they co-produced the first tour of the Imperial Ice Stars.
Since the first tour , Tony Mercer has become widely regarded as the world’s leading ice director and choreographer and has over 30 years of experience in creating ice shows such as Swan Lake on Ice , Barnum on Ice , Sleeping Beauty on Ice , Carmen on Ice , Cinderella on Ice , Phantom of the Opera on Ice , Nutcracker on Ice , his production Swan Lake on Ice gaining the distinction of being the first ice skating show to win a theatrical award in the category of ‘best special entertainment’.
Imperial Ice Stars productions have seen the company visit 31 countries over 5 continents and have been watched by almost 15 million people.
From 2004 to 2017 the productions of Swan Lake on Ice, Cinderella on Ice, Nutcracker on Ice Sleeping Beauty on Ice all toured in continual cycles at the worlds leading venues from Finland to New Zealand, from China to Canada and also had the honour of performing (twice) at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In 2018 , Tony created a one act version of Peter Pan on Ice for Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland and in 2019 created a two act version of PPOI for a 3 month theatre tour of South Africa.
The pandemic gave Tony the opportunity to imagine new staging ideas and since 2022 he has created and added to the Imperial Ice Stars portfolio, one act 75mins versions of Cinderella on Ice and Nutcracker on Ice. In addition, he has created an arena version of Peter Pan on Ice and at the end of 2023 launched his new arena production of Fairytales on Ice in collaboration with Lets Go productions in Spain , which also included new design ideas involving projections and 3D mapping and was watched by almost 100,000 people over its 4 week run.
The Fairytales on Ice production will be given its first run on theatre stages in the autumn of 2024 along with the new staging of Swan Lake on Ice for autumn and winter touring 2024/2025 and all the companies productions now have available LED screen technology sets as well as their standard theatre set versions.
The Imperial Ice Stars company was created in 2004 by Tony Mercer. Tony’s love of figure skating was born whilst he watched the incredible achievements of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean winning their Olympic Gold medal in Sarajevo in 1984 with the incredible Bolero programme. Struck by not just the technical level of the performance, Tony fell in the love with the intricate theatricality.
His first venture into the world of ice began in 1988 when he began studying the concept of creating theatre on ice and developing and building an ice rink for theatre stages and not for the usual arena setting. Throughout the years from 1988 to 2003, he worked on various sized productions whilst he refined his idea of bringing true theatricality to the theatre on ice genre and this was brought to life by creating the Imperial Ice Stars.
The first production of the Imperial Ice Stars was in July 2004 and this was a tour of Sleeping Beauty on Ice which was in collaboration with one of the theatre world’s leading producers, James Cundall and businessman and former speed skater, Vladislav Olenin. Having previously worked with James in Hong Kong in 1998 and again in Australia and New Zealand on a production of Nutcracker on Ice in 2003, it was a natural fit that they co-produced the first tour of the Imperial Ice Stars.
Since the first tour , Tony Mercer has become widely regarded as the world’s leading ice director and choreographer and has over 30 years of experience in creating ice shows such as Swan Lake on Ice , Barnum on Ice , Sleeping Beauty on Ice , Carmen on Ice , Cinderella on Ice , Phantom of the Opera on Ice , Nutcracker on Ice , his production Swan Lake on Ice gaining the distinction of being the first ice skating show to win a theatrical award in the category of ‘best special entertainment’.
Imperial Ice Stars productions have seen the company visit 31 countries over 5 continents and have been watched by almost 15 million people.
From 2004 to 2017 the productions of Swan Lake on Ice, Cinderella on Ice, Nutcracker on Ice Sleeping Beauty on Ice all toured in continual cycles at the worlds leading venues from Finland to New Zealand, from China to Canada and also had the honour of performing (twice) at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In 2018 , Tony created a one act version of Peter Pan on Ice for Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland and in 2019 created a two act version of PPOI for a 3 month theatre tour of South Africa.
The pandemic gave Tony the opportunity to imagine new staging ideas and since 2022 he has created and added to the Imperial Ice Stars portfolio, one act 75mins versions of Cinderella on Ice and Nutcracker on Ice. In addition, he has created an arena version of Peter Pan on Ice and at the end of 2023 launched his new arena production of Fairytales on Ice in collaboration with Lets Go productions in Spain , which also included new design ideas involving projections and 3D mapping and was watched by almost 100,000 people over its 4 week run.
The Fairytales on Ice production will be given its first run on theatre stages in the autumn of 2024 along with the new staging of Swan Lake on Ice for autumn and winter touring 2024/2025 and all the companies productions now have available LED screen technology sets as well as their standard theatre set versions.