Theatrical Greats Laud Kennedy Center Honorees in Variety

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts have selected the individuals who will receive the Kennedy Center Honors of 2008.  Recipients to be honored at the 31st annual national celebration of the arts are: actor Morgan Freeman, singer George Jones, actress and singer Barbra Streisand, choreographer Twyla Tharp, and musicians Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who.  

An impressive list of theatrical community greats gave Variety personal messages of reflection lauding the theatre connected Kennedy Center honorees, we thought they were so wonderful that we wanted to give you a small sample of each, please click on the links to continue reading the full essays.

Jerry Mitchell on Twyla Tharp: "When I saw Twyla Tharp's ballet "Sinatra Suites," I thought, "Well, this is the most brilliant thing I've ever seen in my life." Up until then, I don't believe I had ever seen girls dance ballet in high heels. Being a Broadway choreographer, I thought I could do a ballet too. She allowed me to break rules". For more please click here.    

Peter Bogdanovich on Barbra Streisand: "Whenever people hear that I worked with Barbra Streisand, they always ask if she was difficult. And they always look slightly disappointed when I say that she was just great: a joy, a lot of fun, brilliant, very funny, a real trouper -- all of which she was". Click here for more. 

Frances McDormand on Morgan Freeman: "He's what my mama used to call "a long tall drink of water." Style drapes from his shoulders and glides down his graceful self to his well-made shoes". To continue reading click here.

Des McAnuff on Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend: "Tommy is the antihero ground zero, where west meets east, the ultimate rock 'n' roll rebel. Through new-wave and grunge and contemporary slacker rock, they won't die and they won't grow old." Find more by clicking here.

The annual Honors Gala has become the highlight of the Washington cultural year, and its broadcast on CBS is a high point of the television season.  On Sunday, December 7, in a star-studded celebration on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, produced by George Stevens Jr., the 2008 Honorees will be saluted by great performers from New York, Hollywood, Nashville, and the arts capitals of the world. Seated with the President of the United States and Mrs. Bush, the Honorees will accept the thanks of their peers and fans through performances and heartfelt tributes. 

The President and Mrs. Bush will receive the Honorees and members of the Artists Committee, who nominate them, along with the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees at the White House prior to the gala performance.  The 2008 Kennedy Center Honors Gala concludes with a supper dance in the Grand Foyer.

The Kennedy Center Honors will be bestowed the night before the gala on Saturday, December 6, at a State Department dinner, hosted by Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

The Honors Gala will be recorded for broadcast on the CBS Network on for the 31st consecutive year as a two-hour prime time special on December 30th.

Stevens, who created the Honors in 1978 with Nick Vanoff, will produce and co-write the show for the 31st year.  The Honors telecast has been honored with five Emmy’s for Outstanding Program and is nominated again this year.  It has also been recognized with the Peabody Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television and seven awards from the Writers Guild of America.  

The Honors recipients recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts— whether in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures or television—are selected by the Center’s Board of Trustees. The primary criterion in the selection process is excellence. The Honors are not designated by art form or category of artistic achievement; the selection process, over the years, has produced balance among the various arts and artistic disciplines. 

Past Honors recipients, as well as Members of the Kennedy Center’s national artists committee, made recommendations of possible 2008 Honorees.  Artists making recommendations included: Alan Alda, Dan Aykroyd, Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Glenn Close, Joel Coen, Christine ebersole, Renée Fleming, Savion Glover, Thomas Hampson, Herbie Hancock, Paloma Herrera, Hugh Jackman, Billy Joel, Evgeny Kissin, Patti LuPone, Rob Marshall, Reba McEntire, Terrence McNally, Mark Morris, Mark O’Connor, Bernadette peters, Frederica von Stade, Forest Whitaker, Damian Woetzel, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Previous Kennedy Center Honorees, including Carol Burnett, Clint Eastwood, Elton John, James Levine, and Sidney Poitier, also made nominations.

Michael M. Kaiser, President of the Center, expressed the national cultural center’s gratitude to the many individuals involved in the success of the Honors program.  “In addition to recognizing our most treasured artists, the Kennedy Center Honors also supports many of our performing arts initiatives, education and public service programming, and national outreach efforts.”

For more information, please visit www.kennedy-center.org.

Photo by Peter James Zielinski.