Olympic Games opens with modified pomp in Covid-struck Tokyo

Dancers perform during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics, on July 23, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. - AP

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com): The Olympic Games got underway a year late and after much rethinking - not to mention behind the scene drama and protests -- on Friday (July 23) in Tokyo. Its opening ceremony, without spectators in the stadium, began in both spectacular and ethereal fashion.

With a mixture of pre-recorded film and live performances in the stadium, the opening ceremony opened with fireworks around the top of the roof-less stadium in indigo, blue and white in the shape of a fan, an auspicious symbol in Japan.