The Kennedy Center Honors

Over the years, the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC has become one of the foremost institutions for the Performing Arts in the nation. In terms of theatre, I will even venture to guess that it has done more for the art form than any institution away from Broadway. In 1978, the first Kennedy Center Honors were bestowed upon 5 people who had contributed greatly to the performing arts and therefore, enlivened American culture. The tradition as continued every December since 1978 and the annual ceremonies have given us countless memorable performances and many that I hold near and dear to my own heart. One of the most special for me, in recent memory, was the tribute to Dolly Parton, who as I have mentioned many times, is one of the 3 performers that I truly idolize. Her life story was introduced by Reba McEntire, another great lady in country music, who ultimately concluded with the tried and true statement "there ain't nobody like Dolly Parton". The following performance, Alison Krauss singing "Jolene" was a particular highlight of that broadcast for me.



I'm going to try to include a comprehensive list of all of the honorees from the past 30 years. Please inform me if I forget anybody and I will add them to the list! I'm also going to include a small list at the end of artists who I think are deserving of being honored by The Kennedy Center in the near future.

1978: Marian Anderson, Fred Astaire, George Balanchine, Richard Rodgers, Arthur Rubeinstein
1979: Aaron Copland, Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Fonda, Martha Graham, Tennessee Williams
1980: Leonard Bernstein, James Cagney, Agnes de Mille, Lynn Fontanne, Leontyne Price
1981: Count Basie, Cary Grant, Helen Hayes, Jerome Robbins, Rudolf Serkin
1982: George Abbott, Lillian Girsh, Benny Goodman, Gene Kelly, Eugene Ormandy
1983: Katherine Dunham, Elia Kazan, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, Virgil Thompson
1984: Lena Horne, Danny Kaye, Gian Carolo Menotti, Arthur Miller, Isaac Stern
1985: Merce Cunningham, Irene Dunne, Bob Hope, Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe, Beverly Sills
1986: Lucille Ball, Hume Cronyn & Jessica Tandy, Yehudi Menuhin, Antony Tudor, Ray Charles
1987: Perry Como, Bette Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Nathan Milstein, Alwin Nikolais
1988: Alvin, Ailey, George Burns, Myrna Loy, Alexander Schneider, Roger L. Stevens
1989: Harry Belafonte, Claudette Colbert, Alexandra Danilova, Mary Martin, William Schuman
1990: Dizzy Gillespie, Katharine Hepburn, Rise Stevens, Jule Styne, Billy Wilder
1991: Roy Acuff, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Fayard & Harold Nicholas, Gregory Peck, Robert Shaw
1992: Lionel Hampton, Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward, Ginger Rodgers, Mstislav Rostropovich, Paul Taylor
1993: Johnny Carson, Arthur Mitchell, Geog Solti, Stephen Sondehim, Marion Williams
1994: Kirk Douglas, Aretha Franklin, Morton Gould, Harold Prince, Pete Seeger
1995: Jacques d'Amboise, Marilyn Horne, BB Kind, Sidney Poitier, Neil Simon
1996: Edward Albee, Benny Carter, Johnny Cash, Jack Lemmon, Maria Talchief
1997: Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, Charlton Heston, Jessye Norman, Edward Vilella
1998: Bill Cosby, Fred Ebb & John Kander, Willie Nelson, Andre Previn, Shirley Temple Black
1999: Victor Borge, Sean Connery, Judith Jamison, Jason Robards, Stevie Wonder
2000: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Chuck Berry, Placido Domingo, Clint Eastwood, Angela Lansbury
2001: Julie Andrews, Van Cliburn, Quincy Jones, Jack Nicholson, Luciano Pavarotti
2002: James Earl Jones, James Levine, Chita Rivera, Paul Simon, Elizabeth Taylor
2003: James Brown, Carol Burnett, Loretta Lynn, Mike Nichols, Itzhak Perlman
2004: Warren Beatty, Ossie Davies & Ruby Dee, Elton John, Joan Sutherland, John Williams
2005: Tony Bennett, Suzanne Farrell, Julie Harris, Robert Redford, Tina Turner
2006: Zubin Mehta, Dolly Parton, Smokey Robinson, Steven Spielberg, Andrew Lloyd Webber
2007: Leon Fleisher, Steve Martin, Diana Ross, Martin Scorsese, Brian Wilson
2008: Morgan Freeman, George Jones, Barbra Streisand, Twyla Tharp, Pete Townshend & Roger Daltrey
2009: Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen
2010: Merle Haggard, Jerry Herman, Bill T.Jones, Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey
My Picks for Upcoming Ceremonies: Burt Bacharach, Barbara Cook, Renee Flemming, Billy Joel, Jerry Lee Lewis, Patti LuPone, Reba McEntire, Bette Midler, Mark Morris, Al Pacino, Bernadette Peters, Hal Prince, Meryl Streep, Betty White

Bring Broadway Home

How many times have you left a Broadway show wishing you could see it again in your living room? Well in some cases you can. Many Broadway productions and concert versions of shows are actually filmed and released commercially for purchase. Keep in mind that these are not movie musicals, they are filmed versions of live theatre. They can generally be found at book stores like Borders or Barnes & Noble or on Amazon. The following are the videos that I know of, please feel free to let me know if I've missed any.

• Candide (concert)
• Company
• Follies (concert)
• Fosse
• Into the Woods
• Les Miserables
• Oklahoma
• Passion (concert)
• RENT (final Broadway performance)
• Sunday in the Park with George
• Sweeney Todd (1982 staged production)
• Sweeney Todd (2001 concert)

Promises Promises Welcomes a New Marge MacDougal

Funny Lady Molly Shannon will follow Katie Finneran in the role of Marge MacDougal in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises. Finneran announced recently that she will be leaving the show in October to have a baby. Shannon will step into Marge's owl feathers on October 12th and leave on December 26th with current stars Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes. This casting change will be a reunion of sorts for Shannon and Hayes as she guest starred on several episodes of the hit comedy Will & Grace.

The Barbie Award for Acting a Song: Miss Bernadette Peters

Need I gush anymore about my idol Bernadette Peters? Yes, I think I must. I have always been a fan of Miss Peters' work, but it was not until I began to study classical vocal technique and my teacher pointed me toward Sunday in the Park with George as an example of acting a song that I began to truly respect her as an artist. Her portrayal of Dot/Marie in that show was unparalleled, and she was robbed of the Tony that year in my opinion. Those who have heard her in concert or on solo recordings know that she has a stellar voice, but what I admire about her the most is her ability to sacrifice vocal perfection for the sake of acting and character accuracy.

I had the pleasure of seeing her for the first time on Broadway this week in A Little Night Music (my formal review will come later) and from the moment she first stepped onto the Walter Kerr stage in the opening waltz, I felt tears stream down my face. Now maybe this was because I was a little starstruck and a bit enamored, but goodness does this lady have the ability to grip an audience. Now being a singer myself, I've idolized Bernadette for her vocal abilities, but interestingly enough,  I never once thought of her as a "singer" in this performance, but rather as an "actress." She only sings 1 and a 1/2 songs in the show, but even in those moments, the lyrics are about her character, Desiree Armfeldt, and not about notes or phrases. Her range is incredible, from sarcastic and funny, to terribly heartbreaking. Her Send In the Clowns is simply the best I have ever heard and not because of her voice, but because of her interpretation of Stephen Sondheim's lyrics. The pain felt by her character was so raw and on the surface and was evident in the raspy, shaky quality of her voice. Vocally pristine? No. True to the character? Absolutely. I have always loved the song for its lyrical and musical qualities, but I never truly understood the weight of it until I heard it from the mouth of this indelible songstress. I have never in my life cried so many real tears at a performance. This lovely evening of theatre is one that I will have to force myself not to see again, because as much as I would love to experience it again, I never want anything to cloud the memory of my first time. Thank you Bernadette Peters for restoring my faith and respect for the American musical theatre.

The Barbie Award for Working Hard For The Money: Miss Sutton Foster

I decided that In addition to Breaking Broadway News, Fun Facts, and Showtunes of the Day (which I plan to keep up with daily now that my life has calmed down) I'm going to start giving out my own version of the Tony Award, which I'll obviously call the Barbie Award. Unlike the Tony Awards which are given out one glorious day a year, the Barbie Award can be given to any performer or person involved with the theatre on any given day for any given reason.

So I'm going to give out my first award, The Barbie Award for Working Hard for the Money, to the busiest lady on the boards these days.

Ever since her Peggy Sawyer-esque moment of breaking out of the chorus to become the star in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Sutton Foster has become Broadway's Sweetheart. Since then she has played featured or leading roles in shows such as Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein and Shrek. She has also release a solo album entitled Wish.

She has been a busy gal since her jump into the spotlight in 2002, but nothing compares to this year. She is currently starring in the Off-Broadway play Trust at Second Stage and it was announced a few weeks ago that she will take on another starring role as Reno Sweeney in Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Anything Goes which lands on Broadway in Spring 2011. Throughout the fall and winter of this year and into 2011 Sutton will be performing across the country in her solo concert series. In addition, she recently performed in an Actor's Fund benefit show of They're Playing Our Song with Seth Rudetsky. And as if she is not busy enough, she is actually scheduled to perform in readings of two upcoming shows. The first is the new musical Bonnie & Clyde co-starring Will Swenson of Hair fame with a score by Rick Crom and a book by her very own brother, Hunter Foster. The second reading she plans to participate in is Nice Work If You Can Get It, a Gershwin review of sorts co-starring Matthew Broderick.

Well, I'm tired just writing all of that so I can only image how Miss Foster must feel! Get some Red Bull girl and keep that energy up...we would love to see some more Broadway hits in your future. And even though the Barbie Award is a huge honor, I'd love for you to win another Tony as well.

Fun Fact of the Day: Patti LuPone Releases A Memoir

This is exactly what theatre fans have been waiting for decades to hear...the innermost thoughts of our favorite diva, Patti LuPone. Not that Patti has ever been one to keep quiet, but there are certain stories that she has kept quiet over the years. She has been part of many a scandal in her rich theatrical career and when her memoir is released on September 14th, we will finally be privy to stories she has never told before. Highlights are certain to include her sordid past with Andrew Lloyd Webber, from Evita, "the score that she could never really sing," to the role of Normal Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, which Webber promised to Patti in the Broadway transfer and then gave to Glenn Close. While she has been part of her fair share of drama, nothing can put a damper on her amazing career and I know that I look forward to reading her story, which will surely range from hilarious to heartbreaking.

**In honor of Patti's memoir, don't forget to vote in my poll of the week for your favorite Patti performance!

Weekly Poll Results

Yes I know I'm a bit behind in my polling results but the outcome is as follows:

What is your favorite Rogers & Hammerstein musical?

28% Sound of Music
28% South Pacific
21% Carousel
21% Oklahoma
0% The King & I

This is quite possibly the most inconclusive set of results I've had as of yet. And at the risk of sounding cliche, I'm going to venture a guess that many people had difficulty choosing because all of the R & H musicals are wonderful and are truly American treasures.

Stay tuned for this week's poll...it will be unveiled later today!