Today’s noon opening of Spoleto Festival USA 2008 at Broad and Meeting was the usual great mix of Italian ices, paddle fans, St. Michael’s bell ringers watching from the steeple, speeches, horn fanfares and smiling (if sweaty) faces. The bell ringers and the presence of Mayor Riley’s mother’s blooming oleanders across the railing of City Hall’s balcony are only a couple of the Opening Ceremonies traditions.

I was standing to the side near the wrought iron gate of Washington Park, so I could not make out the speeches (except for the prayer, which really isn’t a speech) other than those by the mayors — Mayor Joe Riley of Charleston and Mayor Massimo Bruninin of Spoleto, Italy, both of whom have voices that carry.

Bass Herbert Perry, a member of the cast of “La Amistad,” sang a stirring “Star Spangled Banner.”

SpoletoToday was right a couple of posts ago about confetti replacing balloons this year. After Riley made his “let the dancers dance, the singers sing, the children play …” proclamation of the opening of festivities, the all-white confetti shot out of a gun very near me and scared me half to death.

I got my wish for Chinese acrobats from the cast of “Monkey: Journey to the West.” Whoa. The contortionist was … spectacular. I have no adjectives for those who are able to bend over backward and put their face between their ankles … except amazing, talented, wow. The acrobat who did one-handed handstands on her hip girdle, which faced skyward, was also pretty … spectacular, amazing, stunning, mind bending.

Best of all … maybe … was that the brass band (sorry, I did not get a program, or a paddle fan) broke into “Saints” at the close of the events and paraded through the crowd, N’awlins-style.

Want to see a video? Of course you do. That’s why Geoff was there …

Due to popular demand, Spoleto Festival USA announced today that they will add a performance of “Monkey: Journey to the West.” The new performance will be June 1 at noon.

The festival reminds us: Called ‘Simply a piece of musical theater of the most spectacular kind,’ by The Times of London, Monkey is the remarkable brainchild of an international team of three innovative artists: Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng, whose Peony Pavilion achieved great success at the 2004 Spoleto Festival USA and the British artists behind the award-winning animated band Gorillaz, Damon Albarn (composer) and Jamie Hewlett (visual concept and animation.)

A huge success at its premiere at the Manchester International Festival earlier this year and subsequent performances at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, this ‘circus opera’ makes its American premiere at Spoleto Festival USA.

Tickets for “Monkey: Journey to the West” and all 2008 Spoleto Festival USA performances are available online at www.spoletousa.org and by phone at )843) 579-3100.

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Spoleto Day 1, Podcast Number 2. I’m sure we’ll get the numbers tallied up correctly (or even more skewed) before the next seventeen days are out.

Harriet pops up for the first time, as we discuss what’s on the menu today and the forthcoming weekend …

Hear today’s podcast direct by following this link, or why not subscribe permanently here throughout the duration of the festival and get it fed to your MP3 player automatically.

For more information on podcasts and how they work, visit our dedicated podcast page here.

Local writer/blogger/critic/filmmaker and SpoletoToday SpoJo Nick Smith alerted us yesterday to this series of videos he made about PURE Theatre’s Eurydice, a 21st-century re-imagining of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. And then, oddly enough, I ran into PURE co-founder Rodney Lee Rogers (Eurydice’s father) during my Thursday rounds.

PURE built an enviable reputation for creative, challenging theater during its years at what is now The Cigar Factory, but it’s been homeless ever since losing that lease. This production is staged at 10 Storehouse Row on the former Navy base in North Charleston, where one drawback is the simple fact that so many locals have never been there and don’t know what to expect if they go.

We’ll let Nick introduce you to the piece, and maybe we’ll come up with a SpoletoToday “Follow Us to Eurydice” trip here soon…

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The annual Spoleto Eve video from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

For four or five years now, I’ve been going out and recording what the city feels like just before the festival begins. That makes the trip (which became a video for the first time in 2007) a tradition, and y’all know how we are about traditions here.