Earlier this week I opined that Lady Gaga’s Olympics performance was not what it could or should have been. The assignment was perfect for her — emulating French chanteuse Zizi Jeanmaire’s classic and quirky cabaret style. Gaga doing Zizi? Mais oui! Granted I’m already partial to feathers, but I think it’s still a general consensus that the execution of the look was hands down the best part of the number (thank you House of Dior). Because seriously, what happened with the wonky sound? Blame it on the gamble of live TV? Turns out we can’t — the official choreographer for the opening ceremony spilled the beans to the press that Gaga’s entire performance was pre-recorded for “safety reasons,” due to the rain. Sacré bleu! Guess now we know why it was the only “rehearsal” of the whole ceremony that papa-paparazzi caught on camera…
Lady Gaga said “rain on me,” and the Parisian weather listened.
In an interview with Variety published Sunday, Paris Olympics Director of Dance Maud Le Pladec revealed that when the 38-year-old popstar performed Zizi Jeanmaire’s “Mon Truc en Plumes” during the Olympics opening ceremony Friday, it actually happened earlier than televised.
“Unfortunately, it was the only (performance) that, for safety reasons, we had to prerecord late in the afternoon, once we knew for sure that it was going to rain,” Le Pladec said. “We had minute-by-minute updates; we had never watched the weather forecast so closely in our lives.”
She added: “We assessed that it was going to be too dangerous for performers, even with a few drops of rain. (Gaga) wanted to do it absolutely, so we preferred to prerecord it rather than cancel it.”
For her performance, Gaga sang and danced on a gilded staircase next to the Seine river with a crew of dancers wielding pink feathered pom poms. After taking a beat to show off her piano chops, she emerged wearing an ivory feathered tail attached to the back of her black bustier to finish off the routine.
Le Pladec explained that the soil at the location of the performance “would have been slippery,” and the wet conditions would not have been ideal for Gaga, who was wearing heels.
“We had to be extremely cautious,” she said.
After recording the number earlier than scheduled, Gaga watched it air from her dressing room as part of the four-hour opening ceremony, according to Le Pladec. She added that the singer’s four-minute performance was the “most artistically challenging” number among the dozens that took place.
The venture involved props borrowed from the now-shuttered Parisian cabaret theater Le Lido, French-inspired choreography and custom costumes from French fashion house Dior.
Shortly after her set aired, Gaga wrote in an X post 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.”
“Although I am not a French artist, I have always felt a very special connection with French people and singing French music,” she said.
Le Pladec said Gaga “wanted to make a show à la Française,” adding that she “puts so much effort and thought into everything she does” and “has a very developed creative process.”
Where to begin, mon dieu. So Gaga had NOAA on speed dial and decided Friday afternoon to pre-record the number based on the forecast. Now Le Pladec explains (publicly) that it was the only performance that had to be filmed ahead of time, because the “soil at the location … would have been slippery,” which would have been bad for all the dancers but especially Gaga who was in high heels. Taking it in order: this was the only bit of a four-hour outdoor parade and sequence of interwoven performances adversely affected by the rain? I think the Can Can dancers might want to kick back about that. And as for the wet soil, I’ve watched the number many times now, and, um, they’re all on a platform. Is this just a mistranslation of “soil?” Even if Le Pladec meant the surface would have been too slippery to wait to film live, well, a dancer slipped and fell anyway! I say the biggest problem with the number was the stairs, not the weather! How many performances have you seen and thought, “that would have been SO much better with a staircase!” Hmm? The one talking point I’ll concede on is the high heels; yes, they’re death traps, that’s why I don’t f–k with fashion stilts.
Look, I don’t mean to pour a wet blanket on safety. In fact I think it’s so important, that what I’m really surprised by is that none of this was anticipated by the creative team — months ahead of time. There should have been at least three assistant directors tasked with imagining the worst conditions so they could preemptively design a stronger show. I’ll say this for the Lady, though: between this admission of the pre-recording, and the Prime Minister outing her engagement on TikTok, I think it’s gonna be a long long time before Gaga messes with the French again.
Mon Truc en Plumes 🩷 @Olympics https://t.co/8shm2QFsy1 pic.twitter.com/RoG9zkzXvO
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) July 27, 2024
photos credit: IMAGO/Volker Essler/SVEN SIMON / Avalon, Sina Schuldt/dpa / DPA Picture Alliance / Avalon