When a Stage Director Trades Broadway for the Olympics
Directing a new musical on Broadway is a challenging task, requiring the management of hundreds of people and intricate show elements. However, the logistics behind a large-scale event like the Olympic opening ceremony are truly mind-boggling. This ceremony, a highlight of the Olympics, features performances with hundreds of ensembles, impressive technical set pieces, vocal performances, and more, all live with no do-overs! It's a one-and-done event that closes on opening night, and thanks to international TV broadcast, it reaches literally millions of eyeballs.
This year's Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Milan, Italy, featured a familiar face on its directorial team: Sammi Cannold, who made her Broadway debut in 2023 with 'How to Dance in Ohio'. Cannold, known for directing notable productions like 'Evita' and 'Ragtime', was tasked with a unique challenge: blending her Broadway experience with the massive logistics of the Olympic opening ceremony. Cannold's journey to this opportunity was not straightforward, and it required significant effort and a deep understanding of the ceremony's specific language and requirements.
Cannold's role on the team was as the creative coordinator, embedded within the creative direction team. She reported to the wonderful Italian creative director, Simone Ferrari, who, alongside the legendary Executive Creative Lead, Marco Balich, oversaw the entire production's vision. The ceremony's artistic concept had been developed for several years by a team of incredible Italian artists, and Cannold joined about four months before the show, when the vision was largely set and the focus shifted to execution at scale.
One of the key examples of Cannold's role was in the five Olympic rings sequence. She worked with the aerial systems supplier, Skywalker, to determine the specific logistics required to make the rings converge in the sky, including timing, trajectory, rigging constraints, safety protocols, and spatial geometry. This required her to integrate these practicalities with the music and staging, showcasing her ability to execute ideas and manage complex elements.
Cannold's love for the Olympics began when she was 8 years old, watching the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic opening ceremony on TV. She was captivated by the size and pageantry, but what truly moved her was the realization of how this theatrical event could symbolically strive to bring the world together after 9/11. This obsession stuck, and from the age of 8 onward, she dreamed of working on an Olympic ceremony, even if she didn't know what that meant or what the pathway would be.
Cannold's journey to this opportunity was not without challenges. She deliberately pursued the dream by researching major companies producing ceremonies, identifying Balich Wonder Studio as a global leader, and asking her agent to request a meeting with Marco Balich. This led to an in-person meeting and eventually, a position on the Olympic opening ceremony team. However, there were visa complications and many steps required to get approved to work in Italy as a foreigner, which required significant creative problem-solving by all parties.
Despite the challenges, Cannold's experience on the Olympic opening ceremony team was surreal and meaningful. She was able to learn about how ceremonies are made without having artistic pressure on her shoulders, and it made her a better theatre director. The job required her to think about the camera when putting the show together, which was something she wasn't used to from theatre, but she was familiar with it from working on the Tony Awards and directing an episode of Grey's Anatomy.
The most jarringly different aspect of the job compared to her stage work was the pre-visualizing of everything. In ceremonies, you have to be able to 'see' as much of the ceremony as possible ahead of time, with animated versions of every segment viewed in 3D from different camera angles. This required her to coordinate with the music producer and composer when changes to the music arose, showcasing her ability to navigate the various moving parts of the ceremony.
Cannold's stage work prepared her well for this job, particularly her experience directing musicals and her ability to read music and develop a sense of musicality. However, the ceremonies world is very hard to break into, even for those working at a high level in adjacent industries. The crossovers from the Broadway sphere are usually designers, and it makes sense that directing looks different in ceremonies, requiring a more junior job or observation to learn the ropes.
Cannold's next big ticket items on her vision board include living in theatre world for the next few months, working on three new musicals, a revival, and a play. She is also interested in directing her own ceremony, particularly a Paralympic or Special Olympics ceremony, and eventually, the lead director of an Olympic opening ceremony. She is also enamored with the idea of learning how to direct on the broadcast side, inspired by her experiences on the Tony Awards and working with broadcast directors like Glenn Weiss and Simon Straffurth.
