Jump to content

Opening Ceremony


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 2.6k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Not bragging - but slightly over the moon - have just been emailed to say i have been given a place in the cast of the opening ceremony - cue the pink leotard and leg warmers! really really chuffed!

Feel free to 'accidentally' post some spoilers. No-one will hold it against you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, I already experienced that Nimrod goes very well also with joyful occasions. They used it for the 60th anniversary of my home state North-Rhine Westphalia, which was celebrated in 2006 in the Tonhalle, a big concert hall in the state capital Düsseldorf. And I thought they made a very good choice with that piece. It was such a strong reference to the Britons who founded North-Rhine Westphalia during their occupation of the region in the first years after World War II. And it was melancholic, but also created a mood of gratitude for what the Britons did for us in the first years, especially for the build-up of a new democracy.

To complete the Anglo-German connection, Elgar dedicated his 9th Enigma Variation to his close friend, the German music publisher August Jaeger and named it 'Nimrod' in his honour because Nimrod was a mighty hunter in the Bible and 'jaeger' is German for 'hunter'! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

At a guess, the overall concept of the show will be revealed today, but no details of execution will. And there were suggestions that other places outside the stadium might be used too a while ago. Maybe they NEED to reveal some details early for it to work?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the age of leaks and twitter nothing can be kept a secret these days. The whole ceremony needs to be rehearsed in the days leading up to it so I doubt there will be any major surprises, and this press release will go someway to appeasing people desperate for any ounce of information.

That said, the 'way' individual things are done can be kept a surprise until the final night.

Whatever is announced though I expect, as always, will be ripped to shreds by the armchair critics and gutter press.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All this from Twitter so going to be random order and I'll keep adding to it as I see more:

Olympics opening ceremony to be called "Isles of Wonder", says director Danny Boyle. Details to follow: http://bbc.in/zZClGG

The opening ceremony will be called the Isles of Wonder after Caiban's speech in the Tempest

Boyle reveals the recovery of the "poisoned land" in industrial east London is a key part of the opening sequence in the opening ceremony

Danny boyle says he used Frankenstein production as test run for olympic opening ceremony

Boyle has commissioned the Whitechapel Bell Foundry to build the biggest ringing bell in Europe - will fit at one end of Olympic stadium

Massive bell inscribed with shakespeare will signal start of london olympic ceremony..

Bell will be transcribed with Caliban line: "Be not afeared, the isles are full of wonder"

London olympic opening ceremony to celebrate the NHS with nurses and children one of the segments

Boyle: "You're standing on the shoulder of giants in this job - the spectacle of Beijing was breathtaking & beauty of Athens inspiring.....but Sydney has inspired us - it had a feel of the people's games - the reduction in scale is inevitable but it will be spectacular"

Daldry: "there'll be 2 dress rehearsals in the stadium with crowds". Boyle: "there will be problems with people leaking details"

Boyle: "we'll be celebrating the whole of the country...there are so many 'Isles of Wonder'"

Boyle admits he devised a show "then went looking for the money". A third of the £81m for the 4 ceremonies goes on the opening show

Pre-show starts at 20:12, bell rung at 2100

Opening ceremony has to finish by 12.30 am because trains stop and people have to get home says danny boyle

In order to speed up the ceremony, Underworld will be composing marching music at 120bpm, jokes Boyle.

Oly stadium model usewd by danny boyle http://yfrog.com/es4idrkj

Right, I'm heading out now, any more updates will have to come from other people!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the NHS segment will be a comedic routine, sorta Carry On style...

It's going to start quite late. Pre-show starts 8.12pm, and proper show only at 9pm with the bell rings. Everything will end right before 12am. A 3 hours ceremony including the athletes procession, a bit short no?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

London 2012: Isles of Wonder is Olympic ceremony theme

London 2012's opening ceremony is to be called Isles of Wonder, organisers have revealed six months ahead of the Games.

The ceremony's artistic director, Danny Boyle, revealed the name at a press briefing alongside creative director Stephen Daldry.

Boyle said it would be about a land that has been poisoned by industrial legacy and the recovery of that land.

It is anticipated the opening ceremony on 27 July will be watched by one billion TV viewers.

Advertising experts estimate this is worth up to £5bn in airtime exposure.

Bolye, who is best known for directing Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting, said they had commissioned the biggest ringing bell in Europe to hang at one end of stadium and ring at opening of Games.

It is to be inscribed with a quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest: "Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises".

Boyle said he wanted people to hear it "for hundreds of years".

'Fabulous opportunity'

Talking about all four Olympic ceremonies Daldry said they were the "greatest shows on earth and the task was enormous."

He said they represent one journey to the end looking at who we are, who we were and who we would wish to be.

More detailed information will be released about the artists in April and the content of opening ceremony in June, he added.

At the opening ceremony Boyle will again be collaborating with electronic musical duo Underworld whose 'Born Slippy' featured in Trainspotting.

The pair have been named musical directors of the three-hour ceremony.

Some 20,000 performers are being sought for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

London 2012 ceremonies

  • Cast of 15,000 volunteers
  • 23,000 costumes
  • 12 hours of music
  • 60 musicians
  • 15,000 sq m of staging
  • 13,000 propos
  • one million watt PA system with 500 speakers

They will be drawn from members of the public and more than 10,000 have already been auditioned.

Speaking earlier on Friday about the challenges that lay ahead in the next six months, London 2012 Chairman Seb Coe said it was a fabulous opportunity but a "heavy weight of responsibility".

Locog chief executive Paul Deighton said it would be all about attention to detail as well as building the excitement and helping people to be a part of what will be "the greatest thing this city has seen in their lifetimes".

A ceremony was also being held marking the handover of the Athletes' Village, on the Olympic Park in Stratford, from the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to Locog.

The 2,818 flats will now be fitted out to cater for 16,000 athletes and officials from 200 countries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All this from Twitter so going to be random order and I'll keep adding to it as I see more:

Olympics opening ceremony to be called "Isles of Wonder", says director Danny Boyle. Details to follow: http://bbc.in/zZClGG

The opening ceremony will be called the Isles of Wonder after Caiban's speech in the Tempest

Boyle reveals the recovery of the "poisoned land" in industrial east London is a key part of the opening sequence in the opening ceremony

Danny boyle says he used Frankenstein production as test run for olympic opening ceremony

Boyle has commissioned the Whitechapel Bell Foundry to build the biggest ringing bell in Europe - will fit at one end of Olympic stadium

Massive bell inscribed with shakespeare will signal start of london olympic ceremony..

Bell will be transcribed with Caliban line: "Be not afeared, the isles are full of wonder"

London olympic opening ceremony to celebrate the NHS with nurses and children one of the segments

Boyle: "You're standing on the shoulder of giants in this job - the spectacle of Beijing was breathtaking & beauty of Athens inspiring.....but Sydney has inspired us - it had a feel of the people's games - the reduction in scale is inevitable but it will be spectacular"

Daldry: "there'll be 2 dress rehearsals in the stadium with crowds". Boyle: "there will be problems with people leaking details"

Boyle: "we'll be celebrating the whole of the country...there are so many 'Isles of Wonder'"

Boyle admits he devised a show "then went looking for the money". A third of the £81m for the 4 ceremonies goes on the opening show

Pre-show starts at 20:12, bell rung at 2100

Opening ceremony has to finish by 12.30 am because trains stop and people have to get home says danny boyle

In order to speed up the ceremony, Underworld will be composing marching music at 120bpm, jokes Boyle.

Oly stadium model usewd by danny boyle http://yfrog.com/es4idrkj

Right, I'm heading out now, any more updates will have to come from other people!!

Rob - thanks for this. Sounds great! I have to say the industrial theme is something i gleaned from the audition process. The bell sounds amazing - nice with the Shakespeare overtones. A bit Berlin 1936 though (the bell that is)!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love that he is incorporating rains in the ceremony, such quintessential british element. Also he mentioned he used Frankenstein as a testing ground, and there's a brief scene of rain in the show. It's one of the most beautiful scene of the show, can totally imagine that in the ceremony now!

And generate emotions, going to be cinematic too I think!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As with everything, it all depends on the execution and nature of what is done. The 'NHS' being used as a theme might seem a bit mundane but I suppose the nature of it -- that is caring, sharing, contribution to society etc, as well as its parodies in culture e.g. Carry on Films etc, means that it has so much potential from which to develop as a memorable opening ceremony piece.

However, if it remotely resembles the abomination that was the handover ceremony, the UK will be laughed at because that show was utter sh*te.

The part about the 'kids from the boroughs' worries me. It may seem very 'multi-cultural' and 'open' to have the 'yoofs' in the stadium, but people around the world will not give a flying f*ck about Shanika and Mohammed from Hackney twiddling a glockenspiel in the Olympic stadium.It has to wow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...