A brilliant show celebrating a great sports event:
LIZA MINNELLI, MARJO, MARIE-CHANTAL TOUPIN, MÉLANIE RENAUD and TRACY YOUNG
at the Closing Ceremony of the 1st World Outgames Montréal 2006!

Montréal, Thursday, 22 June 2006 – After the sports, the competitions and the prize-giving, it’ll be time for partying, for celebration… and for the stars. On Saturday, 5 August, at 16:00, Montréal’s Olympic Stadium will be the setting for the Closing Ceremony of the Outgames. Like the Opening Ceremony, this will be a feast of big names and excitement to honour and delight both the athletes and the expected crowd of 45,000 enthusiasts. “We want this show to leave unforgettable memories in the hearts of all those who have participated in the event – athletes, volunteers, organisers, supporters and spectators”, said Louise Roy, CEO of the 1st World Outgames Montréal 2006. With performers like Liza Minnelli, Marjo, Mélanie Renaud, Marie-Chantal Toupin and Tracy Young, we’re betting it will be a great, never-to-be-forgotten party.

The Closing Ceremony is conceived and designed to be a huge fiesta in honour of all those who have taken part in the Outgames. “For the people who had faith in the project, were part of it and contributed wholeheartedly, the show will be our gift, rich in humour, glamour and entertainment”, enthuses Dominique Giraldeau, Director of the event.

The show marking the end of the Games will also include the formal ceremony when Montreal welcomes the Organizing Committee from Copenhagen, host city for the 2nd World Outgames. Montréal will hand over the flag to Copenhagen in its own unique way.

So let the fun begin! It will start with Liza Minnelli, a living legend of the American screen and a timeless icon of the cabaret stage: acclaimed in the film Cabaret (eight Oscars including best actress) and a rave hit in the musical New York, New York in 1977, the daughter of Judy Garland and director Vicente Minnelli is one of those immortal stars whose light will never dim. The album and show Liza’s Back, launched in 2002, proved that at the age of sixty, Miss Minnelli’s magnificent voice and charisma is never-ending.

In another key but equally legendary here at home, singer-songwriter Marjo will also join the party on 5 August. Since her start in musical revue in 1975, Marjo has developed a superb voice for singing rock and blues, both intimate and raucously sexy. She has made four excellent solo albums, the most recent being Turquoise, which earned eight Félix Awards, and hundreds of thousands of fans throughout Quebec.

The third voice of this remarkable quartet of singers is that of Marie-Chantal Toupin. A tempestuous and unusual performer, Marie-Chantal has already made four albums including Maudit Bordel, with a memorable version of Edith Piaf’s Je ne regrette rien, and Non négociable, launched in 2005, featuring passionate version of Offenbach’s song Ayoye. This rocking beauty is bound to be a hit with the crowd.

Spellbinding and seductive, Haitian-born Montreal singer Mélanie Renaud has raised the musical temperature here ever since she started with the hip-hop group Rainmen. We’ve loved her in Les dix commandements, in the revival of Notre-Dame de Paris, at the FrancoFolies of Montreal and several times in the Fête Nationale shows, in Sortie de filles at Salle Wilfred-Pelletier, at the Summer Festival in Québec City… and at last, we’ll hear her sing at the Olympic Stadium on 5 August.

These four glorious voices will surely bring the whole Olympic Stadium to its feet, backed up by many talented musicians, dancers, chorus singers, walk-ons, and well-known drag queens Claude Vaillancourt from Montréal, (a.k.a. “Nana”) and Peter Andersen, from Copenhagen. The Stadium will become one enormous dance floor thanks to DJ Tracy Young, who will spin the crowd into festive frenzy.

As for the Opening Ceremony, the production company, Télé-Vision, was chosen by the Outgames organising committee to design and direct the closing ceremony. Jean Rémillard and Daniel Cormier, Executive Producers, and Alain Dupont, Associate Producer, have brought together an outstanding team – Set Designer Mario Bouchard, Visual Designer Éric Villeneuve, Lighting Designer Alain Lortie, Music Director David Laflèche, Artistic Director Jean-François Blais and Sound Specialist Richard Lachance of Solotech. The production is in the capable hands of Dominique Giraldeau, whose list of accomplishments includes Quebec’s most important artistic events, from the ADISQ Gala to the Gémeaux Awards, the Just for Laughs Festival, Céline Dion, Un gars, une fille and many stage shows.

Tickets for the Outgames Closing Ceremony will be available through the Admission network at very affordable prices ($35 to $100). Note that you save 10% off the regular ticket prices with the purchase of a combo ticket for both the Opening and the Closing Ceremonies.

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