Report by Trevor Connell
17th Sept 2000
Last night the world witnessed something truly special. The Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympics which was seen by billions of people around the world.
I attended the last dress rehearsal on last Wednesday night and then watched the TV broadcast with thousands of revellers in the heart of Sydney. This is a personal record of that event so please excuse any indulgences as over the past two decades I have worked with many of the performers, designers, technicians, producers, etc involved in this event and I am proud of their achievements. The Australian Special Events industry can certainly stand tall.
At the dress rehearsal we saw almost the entire show, however there were a few tricks, such as the lighting of the cauldron, kept until the big night.
The program was divided into a number of distinct segments.
First the Prelude – basically warm-up acts for the stadium audience.
Then the Welcome – The Man from Snowy River and a big G’day.
The main story was then told in seven segments, one segueing into the next.
The Sydney 2000 Olympic Band then came on to …
Accompany the Parade of Athletes…
Once the athletes were all assembled the Olympic Flag was unfurled and then …
The arrival of the Olympic Flame and the lighting of the cauldron.
Prelude & Anthem
As a photographer for a local newspaper in Penrith in the late 70’s I was sent to cover a new locally written and produced musical called The St Mary’s Kid, which was about kids growing up in the western suburbs of Sydney. The young man who played the lead in that musical was Ric Herbert. Now here at this event Ric sang ‘Share the Spirit’, the first of several songs composed for the occasion.
James Morrison is a legendary Australian musician who composed and played the fanfare. His brother John led the 30 piece swing band. These are two guys I have worked with on many occasions, not only in corporate work, but also in work they do with young musicians at the Pan Pacific Music camps – they are such a delight to work with and it was great to see them in this event.
Welcome
This year’s Sydney Royal Easter Show had as its main arena entertainment feature a tribute to The Man From Snowy River. A feature at the Easter Show for many decades has been the Police Musical Ride in which around 20 NSW Mounted Police perform drill movements to a musical accompaniment. The leader of that team is Snr Sergeant Don Eyb who took his skills with training Police riders to train 120 riders from all over NSW. Having seen the Police Musical Ride on dozens of occasions, and knowing the skill and training that goes into that sort of performance, one can only be very impressed at the spectacular result in the Olympic Opening.
Deep Sea Dreaming
11 year old Nikki Webster walks to the centre of the empty arena, lays out a beach towel, puts zinc cream on her face and lies down. Thus begins the most exciting time of her life (and ours) as she begins a journey through the wonderfully quintessentially Australian show that is about to unfold.
Meryl Tankard is one of Australia’s most exciting choreographers who has been flying back and forth between London and Sydney for the past few months. Meryl is also choreographing a new Andrew Lloyd Webber show that opens in London later this month. Meryl has flown her dancers in previous shows, but never so many and never so high.
This segment introduced the amazing creativity involved in the event. The aerial performance by erth was defiantly a great feature. These performers are quite extraordinary and will be seen in other performances around the city over the next two weeks.
Awakening
Regular readers of this magazine will have realised by now that I have a special place in my heart for Aboriginal issues and performers. I spent 18 months working with Bangarra Dance Theatre and toured with that company around Australia and to the USA and to London. Working with Bangarra presented many challenges and had extraordinary rewards. From that time I have maintained a great friendship members of the company including Djakapurra Munyarryun. This young man is a traditional song man in his own community and his cultural integrity is important to the company. Despite his success as a cultural icon, Djakapurra is still a most unassuming man.
The Awakening segment, choreographed by Stephen Page with music by David Page, brought together traditional performers from Numbulwar, Yirrkala, Lalynhapuy, Ramingining and Maningrida communities in Arnhem Land, women from the Central Desert area, Northern Territory, and Torres Strait Islanders who joined urban based groups, NAISDA students, Aboriginal Dance Theatre Redfern, Doonoch Dance Company and Bangarra Dance Theatre along with heaps of kids from all over NSW.
Stephen Page and Rhoda Roberts did a great job in producing this segment.
Fire
So much kero in one performance!
220 performers, many of whom learned fire breathing or twirling specifically for this event. The stilt walkers were based around Icarus who perform regularly in events and festivals. The soundtrack was by the delightful Michael Askill, one of the founders of Synergy, the highly respected percussion ensemble.
Nature
Fire is a natural part of the Australian bush and after the bushfires, with the first rains, the bush is rejuvenated. The glorious designs by Eamon D’Arcy certainly captured the colours and dynamism of the Australian flora. The end of this segment when the lights were dimmed to reveal the internally lit costumes and props was a very special moment.
Tin Symphony
I grew up in the country and as kids we were forever building our own structures out of whatever materials we could scrounge. This section was quintessentially Australian and showcased the inventiveness of not only our forebears, but the current generation as well. I loved it.
Combining rural acts such as whipcrackers and woodchoppers with circus acts and dancers made for a great segment.
The whimsical arrival of white settlers on a bicycle ship, complete with the now abundant pesky rabbit, was superb. And so many Ned Kellys, a great tribute to one of our greatest artists, Sidney Nolan.
The fact that Americans in particular didn’t like/understand this segment just goes to prove that they need to get out more.
Arrivals
Lex Marinos was an actor and director who went on to be Artistic Director of Carnivale (Sydney’s annual Multicultural Festival) and turned that festival around after reclaiming it from its disastrous incorporation into the Sydney Festival.
The segment showcased the ethnic diversity of Australia as a parallel to the same diversity in the Olympic Family. Segment Director, Lex Marinos is of Greek parentage and Designer Eamon D’Arcy came from Ireland. The costumes were by some of Australia’s best known fashion designers; Jenny Kee, Peter Morrissey, Norma Moriceau and Lisa Ho.
In this segment we got to hear the voice of the ‘Hero Girl’, Nikki Webster. As she sang “Under Southern Skies”, the segment cast of around 2,250 formed into a map of Australia (with Tassie) showing us as one nation of many different heritages.
Eternity
Who could have imagined that when Newcastle’s Dein Perry put taps on his work boots and started stomping on railway lines and steel plates, that in less than five years over 900 dancers would emulate his industrial dance style in such a spectacular fashion?
This segment also saw the mechanical construction work of the set evolve into the skeleton of a high-rise building.
Segment Director and Designer Nigel Triffitt has been associated with Perry since his first major show Tap Dogs hit the theatre scene, produced by Sydney Theatre Company.
What a great way to close the journey through Australia’s multifaceted history and culture.
Sydney 2000 Olympic Band
The band was composed of musicians from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Fiji, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Tonga, United Kingdom and the USA. The band was brought together by World Projects Corporation.
The Olympic Flag
Once the athletes were all assembled in the arena a giant silk was fed down from the top of the Southern Stand to ultimately cover all the athletes. At the rehearsal I was in that southern stand and I can tell you that it was quite emotional to be involved, even if it was a rehearsal.
Then to see on TV the image of the dove of peace projected onto that silk as it covered the prime of the world’s athletes was quite stunning and emotional.
The Flame
What an amazing feeling as the torch entered the stadium and was then passed down the generations of Olympic sportswomen to Cathy Freeman.
The Cauldron
Concept by Ric Birch, design by Michael Scott-Mitchell.
Michael trained as an architect and was lured into NIDA to study theatre design. He worked with Brian Thompson on many projects and with D4 designed the Rockpool restaurant.
The only hiccup in the whole show was when the cauldron ring became stuck at the bottom of the incline. At first I thought this was a tribute to Atlanta where the flame seemed to take forever to climb the wire after being lit by the boxer formally known as Cassius Clay.
There are two stories doing the rounds as to what happened. First – a computer and/or mechanical hiccup. The other is that in order to keep the trick a secret it was never tested in full mode. The ring was hauled up by a counterbalance system, which was only tested in a “dry run”. On the night the ring was loaded with fuel, which threw the balance out. Once enough fuel had burnt off the system balanced and then started its journey up the incline.
But so what? It was a spectacular effect to end a very special night. Congratulations to all involved.
The Production Team
Ric Birch took a lot of flack over the past four years starting with the controversial “cycling kangaroos” at the Atlanta closing ceremony.
The story behind the inflatable roos is this. The kids on the BMX bikes were meant to cycle out to the stage where they would inflate the kangaroos that were in their backpacks, and then perform as dancing kangaroos. During rehearsals only half the backpacks inflated properly, so rather than have only half a pack on stage Birch decided to send then out already inflated. Incidentally the yanks loved it… and let’s face it, who was it intended for?
Then there was the Marching Band fiasco. Let’s face it, Australians may be good musicians however the best marching bands are American. The whole issue was blown out by a few shock jocks on Sydney tabloid radio fuelled by a disgruntled Sydney marching band manager, who incidentally had no part in the final makeup of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Band.
Individual segment directors and designers are mentioned in the above pieces, however I must pay special tribute to Lighting Designer, John Rayment. His design was colourful, subtle, bold or dynamic wherever called for and made little concession to outmoded television lighting standards. Modern TV cameras can operate under very low lighting conditions and so Rayment set them the challenge to do so, thus enabling the stadium audience the opportunity to see a theatrically lit performance. Full marks.
There are interesting profiles on the key players in the Opening Ceremony on the official website at http://www.olympics.com/eng/about/ceremonies/whos_who
The channel 7 Telecast
I watched the telecast at a couple of the Olympic Live sites in the city, cycling from one to the other while the Athletes Parade was happening. The atmosphere at those sites was absolutely huge.
As I mentioned earlier the atmosphere in the Stadium, even for a dress rehearsal, was electric. TV has the particular advantage to provide close-ups, which you cannot get in the stadium. However I think this was also a shortcoming with the TV presentation. Too much concentration on the close-up and not enough on the overall picture. And too many close-ups on the audience, sorry I really want to see the show.
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