Opening Ceremony Hits All the Right Notes

Bill Plaschke, at the Los Angeles Times, "For openers, London puts on a smashing show":

LONDON -- Was that an opening ceremony or a night at the pub? Were the 2012 Olympics being honored or noogied?

Was that really James Bond tumbling out of a helicopter into the stadium with Queen Elizabeth II? Were those really a passel of flying Mary Poppins conquering one giant Voldemort?

And that compelling British national anthem sung by an inspirational choir of deaf and hearing children.… Were those kids really wearing their pajamas?

Whatever it was Friday night, it was bloody well wonderful.

After seven years of worrying how it would impress the world, London decided to be its dizzy, disjointed self, welcoming the Olympics to its cluttered backyard with a wink and nudge and belly laugh that should resound through these Games' history.

It might not have contained the tradition of Athens or the majesty of Beijing, but London's third opening ceremony was an absolute charm.

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