Here's an artist's rendering of what the stage at Yankee Stadium will look like. (Click here to view image http://pope2008.typepad.com/weblog/2008/03/exclusive-fir-3.html )

Stig Edgren, president of SEG Events, is producing the event, as well as the event at St. Joseph's Seminary, and the event at "Ground Zero." Edgren is flying, from California to New York today, where he will remain until the papal visit. He is no stranger to papal events. This will be the fourth papal Mass he's produced. He also produced Pope John Paul II's Masses at Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Coliseum, and New York's Mass in Central Park.

Among the challenges they face at Yankee Stadium is time. Because of the baseball season, they have 48 hours from the start of when they can begin building to when the event begins. The Yankee Stadium stage was designed by Rene Lagler, who has designed the 1984 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies and Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

Edgren told me the following regarding the "Concert of Hope," which will take place prior to the Mass, as people are entering the stadium and being seated. Il Divo will not be performing. Harry Connick Jr. is not only performing, but is composing special pieces for the opening and closing pageantry of the pre-Mass show.

Other performers will include Jose Feliciano, Marcello Giordani, Ronan Tynan, the West Point Cadets, Harlem Gospel Choir, the Young People's Chorus, and the boys' choir Libera. In addition, Edgren said that Benoit Jutras, with Cirque Du Soleil, has been commissioned for a special piece, and choreographer Daniel Ezralow and puppet designer Michael Curry, both who have worked with Cirque Du Soleil, are also putting together some pieces for the show.

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