An Ambitious Experiment Made by Viacheslav Kulaev

Written by Tom White

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The opening ceremony of the AFC Asian Cup 2023 in Doha, Qatar, at the Lusail Stadium in January 2024, was a spectacular event that attracted millions of fans across the Asian continent. It was not just a simple kick-off of the tournament but a grand opportunity for all participating nations to come together, salute their sporting heroes, and immerse themselves in an atmosphere of celebration and sport. The tournament's opening was held in the format of a musical, and today, we will talk about how it went with Viacheslav Kulaev, the creative director, show director, choreographer, and show director of this large-scale performance.

Concept of the Opening Ceremony

This type of ceremony usually tells a story about the history and culture of the country hosting the tournament. It is almost always not an integral story but a set of performances, separate narratives reflecting different purposes. Those are practically always large-scale shows designed for TV broadcasting, with impressively large general plans and beauty shots.

The AFC Asian Cup 2023 Opening Ceremony show took a different path and told an allegorical parable about Man, His inner world, and His relationship with nature and the world around Him, taking as a motif the ancient Indian literary work "Kelileh and Demneh" known throughout the Asian and Arab world. Based on this major work, a new chapter was created, called by the show's creators as "The Lost Chapter".

But the most unexpected decision was to realize such a big event in the musical genre, in which dramatic, vocal, and choreographic scenes are intertwined with the most complex technological and multimedia techniques.

This show, created by show director Viacheslav Kulaev, was a remarkable and daring event for the musical genre. It was staged in an 80,000-seat arena and broadcast to a TV audience of several billion viewers.

Creative and technological solutions

This five-act narrative is based on a poetic visual concept. It combines epic musical staging, ultra-technological set design, and dazzling costumes, drawing inspiration from the diverse cultural countries involved.

Due to this show's scale and ambitiousness, creative and technological solutions are intertwined. Music's effect is enhanced by the impressive transformation of large-scale multimedia sets and huge LED screens rising into the air, making all 80,000 spectators in the stands become part of the show, using LED elements that interact with the graphic content on the screens, the music and the artistic lighting on the stadium field.

The classic structure of the musical, including dramatic scenes, transitioning into musical performances with vocals and choreography, ensemble singing, and solo parts of the main characters, were supported by multimedia effects such as video mapping on the set, further continuing to unfold the plot in the content on five 12-metre LED screens shaped like pearl shells.

In addition to the uncommon plot, musical content, and choreography customary for any musical, we would like to dwell on several technological and creative elements.

Set design

Given the gigantic scale of the space where the show took place, the staging solutions were relevant—large elements in large quantities.

The concept of the ceremony was embodied in a unique set design. Desert scenery can often be found at various shows in this region. Yet, here, the creators decided to reinterpret this landscape unusually and innovatively to set the setting, conveying the essence of the world with this story.

An unexpected element used in the show, adding a magical touch, is an oasis of red petals. This expands the visual narrative to encompass the entire Asian perspective.

Five massive mirrors rise from beneath the petals. The choice of the number 5 is not coincidental; it represents the regions of the AFC — West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.

The mirrors form an intricate architectural structure in the center of the stage, allowing the artists to perform as if they were on the large stage of a real theatre.

The stage was covered with over 600,000 rose petals, weighing more than 2,000kg.

The lighting elements of the 80,000 audience members were programmed to pulse in sync with the music in various formations and immerse the audience wholly throughout the narrative. At the same time, the scenery in the form of picturesque dunes recreated the fictional desert in which the story unfolded.

Costume design

For each of the 24 national teams participating in the Cup, a mascot was chosen as the animal representing a particular country. These characters were brought to life by artists performing in anthropomorphic animal costumes; their masks were animated — they could open their mouths, beaks, and mouths exactly in the lip-sync of the singing artist. Some particularly large characters, such as the buffalo and elephant, were equipped with external cameras and screens inside the characters' heads, allowing actors to move confidently around the stage even with a massive mask on. 

Authentic costumes draw inspiration from various Asian cultures, which is reflected in each character's choice of accessories and fabrics.

Video Content

Projection was not the cornerstone element, and the technology itself served as an additional artistic light. At the same time, content on the screens offered a new dimension rather than duplicating the act on the scene itself.

The five mirrored screens, broadcasting stunning images, were key elements of the show. This cinematic effect was realized through extensive work hours with footage shot in advance using cutting-edge technology.

Team

The show was directed by Viacheslav Kulaev, also known for staging the Closing Ceremony of the FIFA World Cup 2022 Final, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of EXPO 2017, and the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The show is fully produced by Katara Studios, with the support of prominent internationally renowned creatives and showbiz professionals worldwide.

Ahmed Al Baker and Humaid Al Bullishi at Katara Studios wrote and developed the storyline in collaboration with renowned Kuwaiti writer Heba Hamada. Ehab Abdel Wahed, a prominent Egyptian composer, composed the music for the show.

The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra contributed to the recording of the music tracks.

The renowned Sila Sveta created visual content and scenic design.

The costumes were realized through collaboration with film and television experts Diane Silliers and Jaco Snyman, known for their work on the Netflix series One Piece and District 9. Their expertise allowed the characters to combine theatrical and cinematic flavor, offering a live visual experience.

The props were created by Michael Curry, a world-renowned puppet designer who has worked on Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Royal National Theatre, to name but a few. For The Lion King, he received a Tony Award for Best Costume Design.

Roland Greil handled the ceremony's theatre lighting design. The team of choreographers worked under the direction of Dimitra Kritikidi. The dancers, ballet team, and ensemble were from around the world. Vocals were entrusted to the powerful and unique voice of the Lebanese singer Abir Nehmeh, an award-winning singer.

Artists include Humoud Alhudher, a Kuwaiti singer and music producer with an international audience. His debut album reached #1 on the GCC iTunes chart and #10 on Billboard's World Albums Chart. Performer Fahd Al Hajaji has an exceptional voice and is an icon of contemporary Qatari songs.

The role of show director

Katara Studios, the company charged with organising the ceremony, invited Viacheslav Kulaev to be the show director of the project to bring the idea to life. Viacheslav had previous experience of cooperating with the Qatari side as the show director of the FIFA World Cup 2022 Closing Ceremony and was already familiar with the culture of this region.

In the initial stage, Viacheslav participated in the project's creative development. The pre-production period took eight months to develop the concept, plot, costumes, stage design, etc. THE REHEARSAL period lasted 1,5 months.

During this time, Viacheslav worked on choreography and dramatic scenes with the main characters, who were further represented in the show.

He cooperated closely with the lighting designer Roland Greil and the director of TV broadcasting Marek Miil to make sure that not a single critical moment in the show was missed in the TV broadcast, as such a show as a musical at the stadium required careful attention to details, emotions of the characters and dramaturgical action, and at the same time, spectacular and beautiful moments in the scale of the stadium were to be captured.

From the point of view of dramaturgical and semantic lines, he supervised the work of choreographers and, being a choreographer himself, offered his ideas.

Viacheslav, as show director, worked with the main characters on dramatic lines and mise-en-scene. Their state on stage was the most important part of the show, through which we conveyed the main meanings of the performance.

The uniqueness of the musical at the stadium

The musical is a stage, theatrical genre, which is just as good in the cinema. A musical requires not only to be heard but also to be seen through the play of the actors, the choreography, the relationships of the characters, and so on. The musical is not a genre of large-scale forms of big-scale action compared to opera, emphasizing scale with big choruses, mimes, ballet, sets, and appropriate plots.

A musical is definitely not an arena show, and in that regard, The Opening Ceremony of the AFC Asian Cup 2023 is an experiment and definitely an exception to the rule. This makes this project very unusual, ambitious, and challenging. In this sense, television broadcasts are a great help, helping to bring closer what viewers on the stand can not see.

In the show "Kelileh and Demneh. In the "Lost Chapter," the authors have combined a musical's musical and dramatic form, along with the opera-like scale of THE ARENA Di Verona productions and the touring show of a pop star. According to Viacheslav Kulaev, the Ceremony's show director, this show is synthetic, but in spirit, it is the closest to the musical genre.

The stadium dictates the size and spectacularity of the stage design and the visibility of objects and happenings on stage. Since the chamberliness and drama of a solo light beam no longer work, the team had to turn to completely different laws of lighting.

A special challenge is TV filming. Ceremonies of this scale are often general plans, reflecting the scale and beauty of the scenography. However, in a dramatic play, which the musical undoubtedly is, it is necessary to reveal the relationships of the characters, the play of the actors, their feelings, and so on - and this is what 80% of the show consisted 80% of. Verifying television shootings was especially acute, but it has been successfully solved.

An important moment

The main tasks in realizing the show were the technical ones. The complex design of the stage and the limitations of the football pitch turf, after which the first match took place immediately, imposed many tasks that influenced the creative part of the show as well.

The stage was a sophisticated complex. The main task was to dismantle it within 15 minutes after the show so that the match and, consequently, the broadcast could start. 600 people were engaged in this process, which initially took 60 minutes. Through training and rehearsals, we achieved the desired result. This is a scale and experience comparable to the SUPER BOWL Halftime Show!

Audience Reaction

Reaction to the show has been very positive, as the themes covered in the show are close to the local community and generally human by nature. There have been many rave reviews in the press. Qatar has broken away from the clichés of ceremonies of this format and done something unique, something to be proud of.

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