Left to right: Kennedy Center Honorees Debbie Allen, Dick Van Dyke, Midori, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks
“This spring, the Kennedy Center Honors will salute five performing artists—singer Joan Baez, country musician Garth Brooks, dancer-choreographer Debbie Allen, violinist Midori, and actor Dick Van Dyke—and break with tradition by staging six days of intimate performances instead of a one-night blockbuster event,” writes Peggy McGlone in Wednesday’s (1/13) Washington Post. “The 43rd Kennedy Center Honors will be held May 17-22 and broadcast in prime time on CBS on June 6. Because of coronavirus-related restrictions on large gatherings … tributes to honorees will be performed in multiple, smaller settings … including outdoors on the front plaza and inside the Grand Foyer and the Reach—and the producers will stitch them together for television…. Midori, 49, has performed with dozens of major orchestras and classical musicians in her 35-year career [and] works with youth in her Midori & Friends program in New York City, and Music Sharing, a foundation that focuses on classical and Japanese music traditions…. Van Dyke answered his phone Tuesday morning singing the opening bars of ‘Put on a Happy Face.’ … ‘I’m so pleased,’ he said…. ‘I’m 95…. I want to stay alive. I’m not leaving without it.’ ”
