WASHINGTON, DC.- Rarely is the president of the United States, nestled in his box, the center of attention at the Kennedy Center Honors, the annual awards ceremony that brings a carousel of celebrities, musicians and actors to the stage to pay tribute to lifetime achievements in the arts.
But such was the case Sunday night, when Robert De Niro, celebrating Billy Crystals career, marveled at all the honoree had packed into it.
Youre only 75, De Niro said. That means youre just about six years away from being the perfect age to be president.
As President Joe Biden grinned, waved and ruefully shook his finger at De Niro from the presidential box, members of the audience leaped to their feet with applause some to gawk at Bidens reaction from the front row of the balcony.
It was the only suggestion of politics in an apolitical, if quintessentially Washington event that sees throngs of dignitaries and politicians gather each year to pay tribute to the arts.
On Sunday, the Kennedy Center honored artists who not only revolutionized their genres but transcended them: Billy Crystal, an actor and comedian; Barry Gibb, a musician and songwriter who rose to fame as the eldest member of the Bee Gees; Renée Fleming, an opera singer; Queen Latifah, a rapper, singer and actress; and Dionne Warwick, a singer.
Warwick, who has performed five times at the Kennedy Center and previously appeared at the honors gala to perform tributes to two separate honorees, said her reaction to learning that she would be honored was: Finally, its here!
Its a privilege to wear this, she said, gesturing to the signature rainbow medallion given to each honoree.
One of the quirks of these honors is that the cast of musicians, actors and singers paying tribute to the honorees are kept secret from the attendees, and even the honorees themselves. On Sunday, a nonstop series of bold-lettered names descended on the stage, including Missy Elliott, Jay Leno, Meg Ryan and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The evening blazed through a Broadway-style medley toasting to Crystal by Miranda; a showstopping rendition of Alfie by Cynthia Erivo, a Tony and Grammy-award winning singer and actress; tributes to Queen Latifah by Kerry Washington and Rev. Stef and Jubilation, the choir Queen Latifahs mother had belonged to. It was capped by a stirring rendition of Youll Never Walk Alone by Tituss Burgess, Christine Baranski and Susan Graham, and a medley of Bee Gees songs by Ariana DeBose.
For Crystal, the Kennedy Center conjured the Lower East Side onstage, projecting a likeness of Katzs Delicatessen as a backdrop for Ryan, Crystals most famous co-star, in their famous scene together.
This scene really came naturally to me, Ryan said, to laughter. Ive actually never been around anyone who made faking an orgasm easier.
For Gibb, musicians including Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton and Paul McCartney on Sunday reflected on his extensive list of songs more than 1,000, with tracks in different genres, including Islands in the Stream and How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, and the Bee Gees hits that made him and his brothers famous.
He taught us how to walk, Lionel Richie said in a prerecorded video interview, as the famous guitar hook in Stayin Alive pulsed through the theater.
Kindness and understanding we seem to be losing that, Gibb said. And we need to grab it back as quickly as possible.
Fleming, a soprano known as the peoples diva, said that she was grateful for the opportunity to highlight the arts.
Artists really can change hearts and minds and were allowed to wrestle with difficult problems and life and death, Fleming said. Because Im in the opera world, we all die in opera.
But she allowed before the show that she was experiencing a strange reverse form of stage fright. Performing on the worlds biggest stages may be second nature to her, but, she said, The thing that scares me is sitting in the box!
Queen Latifah, for her part, appeared prepared to soak up the experience. At the State Department dinner Saturday night, she told attendees how she would never forget the moment. And she appeared visibly moved when Elliott regaled members of the audience on Sunday with the memory of Queen Latifah on television declaring Ladies First in her feminist anthem of the same name, at a time when we kept hearing, Its a mans world.
She was saying, You will respect me, Elliott said. I will be a leader. I will be a provider. I will be an inspiration to many.
The show will be broadcast Dec. 27 on CBS.
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times.