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Organizers of Friday’s opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics–the first time it will be held outside a stadium–have provided teasers for their spectacular plans but refused to give specifics.
Here is what we know about the concept, the artists and music based on public statements over the last few months and press leaks:
Instead of using the main athletics stadium for the opening parade, as is customary, organizers have moved the event outside and into the heart of the capital — in keeping with their motto “Games Wide Open”.
Around 6,000-7,000 athletes are set to sail down a six-kilometer (four-mile) stretch of the river Seine from the Austerlitz bridge in the east to the Eiffel Tower, on 85 barges and boats.
Up to 500,000 people are set to watch in person from specially built stands, where tickets have sold for up to 2,700 euros ($2,900), on the river banks for free and from the overlooking balconies and apartments.
“Organizing a ceremony on the Seine is not easier than doing it in a stadium… but it has more punch,” chief organizer Tony Estanguet told AFP earlier this month.
Because of the size and complexity of the parade, it has never been rehearsed in full.
The show has been designed by prodigious theatre director Thomas Jolly, a 42-year-old known for hit rock-opera musical “Starmania”.
He brought on board a creative team that includes the writer of French TV series “Call My Agent”, Fanny Herrero, as well as best-selling author Leila Slimani and renowned historian Patrick Boucheron.
The show has been split into 12 different sections, with around 3,000 dancers, singers and entertainers positioned on both banks of the river, the bridges and nearby monuments.
