Lady Gaga’s dazzling performance of Zizi Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc en Plumes” (“My Thing With Feathers”) set the irreverent tone of the Olympics’ opening ceremony on Friday night. But it nearly got called off due to the rain, says Maud le Pladec, the choreographer of all Olympics and Paralympics ceremonies who worked with Gaga for many months.
Le Pladec, who worked closely with the Olympics’ ceremonies artistic director Thomas Jolly to orchestrate the four-hour showcase and create the choreography, revealed that Gaga’s performance had to be filmed hours before festivities started for safety reasons; nevertheless, she still sang live.
For the first time in modern history, the ceremony took place outside a stadium. It unfolded along the Seine which runs through the city, highlighting Paris’ iconic landmarks. Gaga’s performance was one of 12 created for the occasion, and while it ran “only four minutes,” Le Pladec says it was the “most artistically challenging” number of all.
“Unfortunately, it was the only [performance] that, for safety reasons, we had to pre-record late in the afternoon, once we knew for sure that it was going to rain — we had minute-by-minute updates, we had never watched the weather forecast so closely in our lives…We assessed that it was going to be too dangerous for performers, even with a few drops of rains. [Gaga] wanted to do it absolutely so we preferred to pre-record it rather than cancel it,” she says.
There were plenty of reasons it wouldn’t have worked in the bad weather.
“The soil would have been slippery. She was wearing heels, very near the water, there were stairs… We had to be extremely cautious,” Le Pladec said.
Representatives for Gaga declined to comment.
While she couldn’t perform during the ceremony, Gaga was on site during the show. She watched her musical number on screen from her dressing room before returning to her hotel, Le Pladec says. Shortly after, Gaga wrote on X that she “wanted nothing more than to create a performance that would warm the heart of France, celebrate French art and music, and on such a momentous occasion remind everyone of one of the most magical cities on earth – Paris.”
While Jolly came up with the idea of a Zizi Jeanmaire song, Gaga said on X that she was familiar with the 1920’s singer who starred in Cole Porter’s musical “Anything Goes.” That’s because that show’s signature song was Gaga’s first jazz release.
Le Pladec, who tapped Nicolas Huchard to work with her on the choreography, says Gaga was adamant about delivering a spectacle that would feel authentic and that would pay tribute to the revue Française. That meant doing a cabaret number mixing singing, dancing with a dash of humor and some glamor. As Gaga “really wanted to work with archival costume,” Le Pladec says organizers connected with Moulin Rouge to work with their teams. Dior created Gaga’s black bustier outfit, and the now-closed cabaret Lido let them borrow pom poms.
The choreographer says Gaga, who she described as a workhorse and a perfectionist, worked until the last moments on her vocals and legwork. She also trained for weeks in Los Angeles with several dancers who flew in from Paris. “She wanted to make a show à la Française. She puts so much effort and thought into everything she does and she has a very developed creative process.”
Like the original Zizi Jeanmaire show, Le Pladec describes Gaga’s performance as feminist at its core, notably because “feathers have been a symbol of empowerment for women through history.”
Le Pladec won’t get a break any time soon. She’s already back to work preparing for three more ceremonies related to the games, starting with the Olympics’ closing bash which will take place indoors at the Stade de France.
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