Olympics-Tokyo opening ceremony will be 'sobering' show, not flashy

Tokyo 2020 Olympics Preview - Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan - July 21, 2021 Japan's aerobatics team, the Blue Impulse, during a practice run for the opening ceremony REUTERS/Issei Kato

TOKYO (Reuters) - Forget the mass choreography, the huge props and the cornucopia of dancer, actors and lights associated with an Olympic Games opening ceremony. Tokyo's grand opening on Friday will have none of that splendour or grandiosity.

Instead it will be a scaled down affair, a "sobering" performance, Marco Balich, longtime opening ceremonies executive producer, and now a senior advisor to the Tokyo ceremonies executive producer, told Reuters in an interview.