Dolly Parton receives the best – and worst – of it at this year’s “Kennedy Center Honors.” Reba McEntire and Reese Witherspoon pay tribute to singer-songwriter Parton in speeches.
“Dolly always has a way of making everyone feel like they are the only one in the room,” McEntire says. “You’ve just got that gift, girl.”
Carrie Underwood, Kenny Rogers, Alison Krauss, Shania Twain and Vince Gill serenade Parton. Silky-voiced Gill croons “I Will Always Love You,” Parton’s most famous song.
Oh, and Jessica Simpson tries to sing Parton’s “9 to 5” and quickly leaves the stage, shedding tears and citing nerves.
But the track of Simpson’s tears won’t be noticeable when CBS broadcasts the 29th annual edition of the “Kennedy Center Honors.” The program, which taped Dec. 3, will air from 8 to 10 tonight (KCNC-Channel 4).
Simpson later redid her performance in the empty hall after the ceremony. As of Friday, it had been cut from the program entirely.
Even so, the Kennedy Center special boasts too many assets to linger over the missteps.
The center salutes the career achievements of five artists each year. This year’s winners are Parton, singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson, director Steven Spielberg, conductor Zubin Mehta and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Applauding these winners are President Bush and first lady Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
But the performers are the main draw. In a welcome break from most awards shows, the winners make no speeches. They hear their lives recounted in short biographical films. They watch colleagues sing and offer testimonials. The honorees’ surprise is no act; they don’t know who will perform in their honor.
Caroline Kennedy hosts the special for the fourth year in a row.
The winners were honored in this order: Robinson, Mehta, Lloyd Webber, Parton and Spielberg.
Aretha Franklin leads the Robinson tribute, describes his poetic Motown sound and tells him, “I adore you, William ‘Smokey’ Robinson.” Then the special rolls out the Robinson songs: rapper Cee-Lo on “The Tears of a Clown,” India.Arie on “I Second That Emotion” and their duet on “Going to a Go Go.” Sam Moore joins Jonny Lang on “The Tracks of My Tears.”
Violinist Itzhak Perlman guides the Mehta celebration and describes the conductor as a mensch, a Yiddish term that means “a person who is worthy and is full of good deeds.” Violinist Pinchas Zukerman performs and conducts the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sarah Brightman starts the salute to Lloyd Webber, her ex-husband.
“His music of the night is music for all time,” she says.
Tom Hanks honors his director on “Saving Private Ryan” by introducing several World War II veterans, who offer their own tributes. Renee Firestone, a concentration-camp survivor, praises Spielberg for founding the Shoah Foundation and preserving survivors’ testimonies.
