Gisele, Lea T to add glamour

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen, trailblazing transgender beauty Lea T and carnival dancers will show off Brazil in its multicolor glory at the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday.

Rio has a hard act to follow after London 2012's alternately humorous and jaw-droppingly sophisticated version. This opening ceremony, held in a country suffering its deepest recession in almost a century, will be more modest.

Co-artistic chief Fernando Meirelles, who directed the hit movies "City of God" and "The Constant Gardener," has said his budget is a fraction of the London splurge.

But organizers promise to keep the more than 70,000-strong crowd in Rio's legendary Maracana stadium and the estimated three billion people watching it on television at the edge of their seats.

If Beijing 2008 was ostentatiously lavish and London quirky, Rio will try to capture Brazil's amazing diversity, love of music -- and talent for fun.

Along with thousands of athletes parading behind their national flags, as well as a contingent of refugees, there'll be hundreds of performers from a dozen local samba schools singing and dancing in wild costumes.

Two icons of Brazilian popular music, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, will feature. On the more contemporary side, there'll be rappers and baile funk star Anitta.

Another heavyweight theme in the show, which starts at 8:00 pm (4.30 am IST on Saturday) and lasts roughly four hours, will be global warming and Brazil's crucial role as home to the Amazon rainforest, reports say.

One of the most famous Brazilians alive -- Bundchen, who retired from the catwalk in 2015 -- and pioneering transgender model Lea T will provide the glamour.