Sistine Chapel Aims for New Heights with Olympics-Style Show

Crux ^ | 10/14/17 | AP

[marshmallow]

Marco Balich, the artistic director for several past Olympics, is designing a multi-media show to bring the Vatican Museums to life for spectators. The multimedia presentation will feature a soundtrack by rock star Sting, and premier in Rome next year, and is expected to go on an international tour after it ends its stay in the Italian capital.

ROME - The Sistine Chapel might be coming to a theater near you.

The Vatican Museums have collaborated with British singer Sting and producers of Olympic ceremonies to create a surround-sound, live show telling the tale of Michelangelo and his frescoed masterpiece.

The $10.6 million production, “Universal Judgment: Michelangelo and the Secrets of the Sistine Chapel,” debuts March 15 at an auditorium near the Vatican.

Creator Marco Balich, the artistic director for several past Olympics, says he’s already entertaining requests to take the hour-long spectacle and its Sting-penned soundtrack abroad.

The Vatican will receive “contained” royalties from the production.

Museums’ director Barbara Jatta says the show provides an unparalleled educational opportunity to bring art, culture and faith to younger audiences. She stressed the Vatican’s history of using “tradition and innovation” to communicate.

During the hour-long show, the public will be placed in the middle of the event to explore and discover the details of the Sistine Chapel, studying each fresco until reaching Michelangelo’s Final Judgement, which the creators promise “will come to life around the spectators.”

[littleharbour]

Just when you think that Francis and his libertine minions can't sink any lower 😝

[longfellowsmuse]

Nothing says glory and reverence to God like a Sting soundtrack...

[LukeL]

The Agony and the Ecstasy was a great telling of the Sistine Chapel, why not turn it into a play?

[Radix]

They did make it into a movie back in 1964. I have the DVD. Four hundredth anniversary of Michelangelo's death I believe. He was in his 90s when he died.