The Kennedy Center Honors annually pays tribute to the best in the arts. This year the honorees are comedian/writer/actor Mel Brooks, opera singer Grace Bumbry, legendary actor Robert De Niro, rock singer Bruce Springsteen, and legendary jazz composer/musician Dave Brubeck.
The stars not only grace the stage to honor these performers, but also the audience, as peers and Washington insiders gather en masse for this production. Caroline Kennedy opens the event by introducing the honorees and quoting her father, President Kennedy, who said, “I look forward to an America that will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft.” The Kennedy Center is a living memorial to President Kennedy.
The Tributes to the Honorees
Meryl Streep begins the tributes in this black-tie affair, by saying her friend and co-star Robert De Niro is a perfectionist in his craft. He becomes his character. His career is “the Age of De Niro.”
Herbie Hancock introduces a musical tribute to Dave Brubeck by quoting Time Magazine which stated that Brubeck ushered in “a whole new era in jazz.” A highlight in this segment occurs when Brubeck’s four sons play a musical tribute to their father.
Aretha Franklin hosts the tribute to opera singer Grace Bumbry. Franklin explains that Bumbry was the first non-Nordic singer to portray Venus and has been referred to as the “black Venus.”
Jon Stewart pays tribute to Bruce Springsteen in his comedic way. Stewart jokes that Springsteen is the child of Bob Dylan and James Brown.
Carl Reiner hosts the portion of the program honoring Mel Brooks, and Frank Langella introduces a musical tribute featuring songs from his numerous hit productions, including The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, The Producers, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, High Anxiety, and History of the World Part 1.
Music, Memories, and Laughs
This event is filled with music, memories, and a lot of laughs. Ben Stiller, who stars with De Niro in the Focker series of films, matter-of-factly refers to President Obama, who is in attendance, as “The Nobel Peace Guy.”
Others who perform and present in this delightful event include Harry Connick, Jr., Jack Black, Matthew Broderick, Harvey Keitel, Ron Kovic, Sharon Stone, Martin Short, Martin Scorsese, Sting, and more.
This is the 32nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors. Every year artists in a variety of fields are selected. Each year a different set of honorees watch as their peers pay tribute to their lives and their careers. And each year this program is entertaining and enlightening. It is always a fun event for not only those being honored, but the entire audience, which includes the television viewers.
The 32nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors airs Tuesday, December 29 on CBS from 9 – 11 PM ET/PT.
