Kennedy Center Honors, 2009

I love watching the Kennedy Center Honors maybe even more than the Academy Awards or Golden Globes - the tributes to each honoree are always wonderfully produced and performed, and the honorees are incredibly and indisputably deserving of their recognition. I love how this reveres every kind of performance art, rather than just one or two. So, I was especially excited to learn who will be honored this year: Mel Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro, Grace Bumbry and Dave Brubeck. I can only imagine the hilarity that will surely ensue from Brooks' tribute (Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick performing something from The Producers, please??), and one of the best parts of having a musician - Springsteen, in this case - recognized is that other incredible performers come together to cover their songs in what is almost always a tremendous rendition. I also would guess that some really cool arrangement of Brubeck's famed pieces will be created and performed, and I am also eager to see who will sing for Bumbry. An opera singer being honored reminds me of how I can almost directly attribute my love of opera with the Kennedy Center Honors performance (unfortunately can't remember offhand who the tribute was for or what year it was - late 1990's, I think) when a woman and man - each probably in their 20s - sang "O Soave Fanciulla" from La Boheme (which became one of if not my favorite opera songs and operas). At the time, I had never before seen someone under the age of probably 50 sing opera, and I had also just never really paid attention to it before - and I became quickly and completely enthralled, and remain so today. OK enough of a digression here - point is, I can't wait to see the broadcast of this year's Kennedy Center Honors in December - I'd set my DVR now if I could!