Madonna’s show on Copacabana beach, next Saturday (4), should have more than 30 songs and last around two hours. The sequence tries to tell a story from the 1980s to the singer’s current moment.
The expectation is that the show in Copacabana will follow the same line as the other performances on the tour.
The presentation begins with Bob The Drag Queen, a black and gay master of ceremonies, promoting the opening of the show. Her Marie Antoinette costume references the one Madonna wore to perform “Vogue” at the 1990 MTV Awards. The pop muse’s first appearance is dressed in a black kimono, and with a halo of light on her head like the crown of a saint.
The first song of the show is “Nothing Really Matters”. Next comes “Everybody”, her first single, from her first album (“Madonna”), and “Into the Groove”, from the film “Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985), starring the singer.
Another Madonna film, this time “Who Is That Girl?”, appears in an a cappella excerpt from “Causing a Commotion”, followed by “Open Your Heart” — this is when she sits on a chair that refers to the opening of her first world stadium tour, the Who’s That Girl Tour in 1987.
“Holiday”, from 1983, is accompanied by choreography under a giant disco ball. After the group’s performance, one of the dancers “dies”, to represent the time of the arrival of AIDS, in the 1980s. On the screens, images appear of hundreds of famous and anonymous victims of HIV, such as dancer Martin Burgoyne and singer Freddie Mercury. There is the expectation that, in Rio, it will now include an image of the musician Cazuza.
To sing “Like a Prayer”, Madonna wears a monk’s robe and walks through the chapel-like setting. It is at this moment that David Banda, one of the artist’s childrenmakes a special appearance.
Host Bob The Drag Queen reappears, now on the big screen, represented as a telemarketing attendant. He is “Dita”, an alter ego that Madonna created for the album “Erotica” and the book “Sex”. The song that gave the album its name enters the setlist, and is sung while Madonna finds herself in the middle of a boxing ring.
Among the controversial moments are a simulation of masturbation during “Like a Virgin”, and another, of group sex, in “Justify My Love”.
“Hung Up” is followed by “Bad Girl” with Mercy James, Madonna’s daughter, playing the grand piano. “Vogue” follows, with Madonna wearing a version of the famous corselet designed by French designer Jean Paul Galtier in 1991.
“Human Nature”, “Crazy for You” and “The Beast Within” mark this part of the show, and then Madonna returns dressed as a cowboy and in a black cape to sing “Die Another Day”, made for the soundtrack of a film by James Bond. Next comes “Don’t Tell Me”, from the album “Music”.
The muse sings “Mother and Father” while a photo of her appears on the screen, before opening an acoustic set on the guitar, which must include “I Will Survive”, by Gloria Gaynor. From there come “La Isla Bonita”, “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” and “I Don’t Search I Find”, from the album “Madame X”.
The electronic vibe resurfaces with Madonna dressed as Donatella Versace to perform “Bedtime Stories”. “Ray of Light” promotes a show of lights and colors with Madonna “flying” — upon landing, she sings “Rain”.
The central screen then shows a duet that never happened, between Madonna and Michael Jackson, making a mashup of “Like a Virgin” and “Billie Jean”.
The end has come, and several dancers spread across the stage dressed as countless versions of Madonna in music videos, shows, films and public appearances. It all ends with “Bitch I’m Madonna” and the farewell to the sound of “Celebration”.