`SNOW WHITE' BLENDS ART, COMMERCIALISM (REVIEW)

Triple jumps, spectacularly colorful costumes, fireworks and boy and girl get each other. What more could anyone want?

How about a plastic Aladdin sword or the Queen's magic mirror?

"Walt Disney's World on Ice -- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," which opened before a full house Friday night at the Show Me Center, is the perfect combination of artistry and commercialism that has always been Disney's magic formula.

On the ice, Karen Preston as Snow White and Russia's Serguei Tartykov as the Handsome Prince put on displays of Olympic-caliber skating within the context of a children's fable captivatingly brought to life. Outside, the Show Me Center corridors were jammed with vendors selling innumerable items that presumably had some connection to the show.

That connection wasn't hard to find, as Disney characters from "Beauty and the Beast," "The Jungle Book," "The Lion King" and many other recent classics joined Goofy, Donald Duck and narrator Mickey Mouse on the ice at the beginning and end of "Snow White."

Only Pocahontas and John Smith were missing, but they'll fit right in someday.

The lavish production boasts beautiful costumes, particularly those of the zebras, leopards and other animals from "The Lion King," first-rate sets and a sound track of memorable hits from the animated version along with new songs.

Preston is winning in the title role, and she and Tartykov make a nice pair as they say at the ice skating competitions.

The pairs team of Serguei Boroda and Tatiana Tropina, who are featured twice in the program, drew gasps and applause with their daring moves.

Also delightful were the Seven Dwarfs, particularly the unknown skater who portrays Dopey.

The production starts a bit slowly but grabs the audience in the second act with a magical black-lighted scene in which the queen transforms herself into a hag. The kids around me jumped when a thunderbolt boomed over the sound system.

And they got involved in Snow White's dilemma over the poisoned apple. "I wonder if I should take a bite," she says.

"No, no," the kids cried.

Their parents were saying the same thing out in the hallways.

"Snow White" will be presented again at noon, 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. today, and at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.