Gotta do this quick as I'm due at the KC at 10:00 this morning. Will report on all that tonight!
Yesterday was our first run-through at the Kennedy Center for our Honors appearance. Singing Honors is an interesting event in that we spend an inordinate amount of time waiting around for our 2 minutes of glory. Many colleagues choose not to participate for just this reason. But the hanging around is what is interesting in a place teeming with celebrities going in and out all day. I'm not a groupy of anyone, but it is fun seeing them come and go. And you don't know who is going to be on the program until you get down there and see who shows up.
Yesterday they were doing run-throughs of each segment of the show. Barbara Cook's segment will be #3 of 5 on the show. This year they let us sit in the back of the opera house and watch while the previous segment was being rehearsed. . . . this was the one for Yo-Yo Ma. Wow! On the program, if you watch it on December 27, you will notice the booming male voice who announces all the celebs as they come on stage. . . ala the Academy Awards. So we're sitting down in our seats and I look up and who should be behind the podium waiting to speak but. . . . . wait for it. . . . . . ELMO!!! They have built a special podium to roll out with Elmo in it so that his handler can be screened. And he spoke. Pretty excited to see the real Elmo! The the announcer booms: Ladies and gentlemen: John Williams. And the famous composer/conductor strolls out on stage. We actually sang with him conducting when we did the Stephen Spielberg tribute a few years ago. Then: Ladies and gentlemen. . . . James Taylor! And out he strode. . . sang a kick-ass version of Here Comes the Sun with the three strings groups representing the different phases of Yo-Yo Ma's career. That tribute is going to be fantastic!
Then it was time for Barbara Cook's tribute. As we were leaving the Opera House to line up in the hall, the announcer boomed: Ladies and Gentlemen. . . . .Glenn Close! And there she was. She is singing in OUR segment! Or maybe we're singing in HER segment. Or maybe we're all singing in BARBARA COOK'S segment. There. . . that's it.
Audra McDonald sings just before we do. We are situated in the very back of the stage behind the orchestra and up on high risers. We are behind a curtain until the very moment we start singing at the end of the segment. The curtain goes up, and there we are. From our perspective here's how it works. The curtain goes up and all those big stars: Glenn and Audra included are turned with their backs to the audience and facing us. . . watching us! YIKES! I forgot my words! Glad I knew that was going to happen ahead of time.
We should have plenty of time to gaze into the Honorees box to see them all and also POTUS and FLOTUS who will be there!
Today we run it through once more, then hang out in DC for the rest of the day and come back in time to tape the real thing. I expect we should get a camera sweep of the choir when we sing, but we won't know until we watch the show on the 27th.
Off I go. Tomorrow I head back to the country. . . .all this big-city stuff just a warm memory in my head. What a life!
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