THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 5, 1995 TAG: 9512050044
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, D.C. LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
IF ANYTHING could bring them together it would be the arts. Film, dance, opera, comedy and a healthy dose of jazz combined to bring political wrangling to a halt Sunday night.
President Bill Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich sat ALMOST side by side in the balcony of the Kennedy Center's Opera House as the nation's capitol took a much-needed time out from politics to celebrate the arts with the Kennedy Center Honors.
Honored before a black-tie and jewel-encrusted audience were five new inductees: playwright Neil Simon, actor Sidney Poitier, opera diva Marilyn Horne, blues guitarist B.B. King and dancer Jacques d'Amboise. It was a comprehensive mixture of the entertainment forces that have wooed Americans in the past five decades.
CBS will air an edited version of the festivities on Dec. 27 from 9 to 11 p.m.
Walter Cronkite, the traditional master of ceremonies for the event, hailed the five as ``a playwright who has made us laugh and mirrored our times, a musician who rose from being a hand for a tenant farmer in Tennessee, a diva in the heart of the people, a dancer of mischief, and a holder of a unique place in film history.''
The sold-out audience (some of whom paid up to $1,500 for the show and dinner-party which followed) were adither about the guest list, and its political implications. The president was expected to be a no-show because of his whirlwind tour of Europe to seek support for his peace-keeping plans for Bosnia. He arrived back in Washington, en route from Madrid, at 4 a.m. Sunday. No matter. He and Mrs. Clinton were dressed and ready to welcome the honorees to the White House in late afternoon.
Insiders said that the presidential schedule was specially planned so that he would be back for the Kennedy Center event, which was taped for nationwide telecast. Rarely have sitting presidents missed the chance to honor the arts and to look presidential on national TV.
Hillary Rodham Clinton wore a full-length scarlet gown and was seated next to her husband on one side and Sidney Poitier on the other.
Gingrich, the House majority leader, was seated just two seats away, also in the balcony. One onlooker laughed to point out that ``Newt can't complain about his seat tonight. He's got a great seat.''
Next to Gingrich was Mr. and Mrs. Colin Powell. Next to Powell was a surprise guest, the Duchess of York, dressed in a stunning black-and-white, off-the-shoulder gown. (She's better known as Fergie). To applaud the honorees, she removed one of her long, black gloves. Fergie obviously enjoyed herself - staying to almost 1 a.m. as a jazz band moved into the foyer to entertain after the awards.
Gingrich and Clinton, though, weren't seen smiling at each other - or even talking.
Steve Martin, who appeared on stage to honor Neil Simon, got only scattered chuckles when he said that ``Mr. Gingrich was seen, in the spirit of togetherness, helping light the White House Christmas tree the other day. Someone pointed out that perhaps he shouldn't light it with a match.''
Political jokes don't play well with this audience. Perhaps they're afraid to be seen laughing at the wrong joke.
Standing ovations do, however. The evening included at least a dozen standing ovations as the audience jumped to its feet time after time to hail the five honorees who acknowledged the cheers by waving from the balcony.
The longest ovation, at least five minutes in duration, was for Poitier, who put his hands to his face to brush away tears. He was hailed as the first black star in movies. From the stage, Louis Gossett said, ``Anything the rest of us do, we owe to Sidney.''
James Earl Jones, speaking in the basso voice of Darth Vader, said: ``Sidney brought extreme dignity to his career and to his place in society. He established the height. He left it to the rest of us to establish the breadth.''
Paul Newman, doing a side-step dance for his entrance, introduced the Poitier tribute.
Security was heavy. Each person had to pass through metal detectors to enter the theater, and the checks were noticeably more detailed this year. Secret Service men were anything but secret as they wandered the aisles, even asking one audience member to pass a suspicious-looking pen to them.
One usher was urged to let a bejeweled woman into the dinner even though she didn't have a ticket. Someone whispered to the usher, ``That's the wife of the French ambassador.'' The usher still asked that a ticket be produced.
Then there's the matter of the rest room. When the president goes to Kennedy Center, apparently the opera box rest rooms have to be closed. At intermission, the president waved at a throng of people who were kept behind ropes outside the rest room. ``I bet he lost a few votes here,'' one person gasped as he ran to find another rest room.
Ballerina Suzanne Farrell hailed d'Amboise's 27-year-career with New York City Ballet as well as his founding of the National Dance Institute for training young dancers. On stage, his children, Charlotte and Christopher d'Amboise, performed a lively dance routine before waving to Dad in the balcony.
Neil Simon was feted with readings from his plays. The hit was Sid Caesar, doing his tribute in a variety of bizarre French, German and Italian. Martin, with tongue in cheek, added that ``I think he's macho. I think he's Shakespeare.''
Clearly the most popular entertainment segment was the tribute to B.B. King, performed by Bonnie Raitt, Joe Louis Walker, Dr. John and a group of jazz musicians.
Soprano Horne was paid tribute by mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, who called her ``a big sister and one who always helped others along the way.''
After the show, the audience filed out to the theater's long lobby where, beneath dimly lit Swedish chandeliers, dinner tables and a bandstand had been set up. The entree was chicken pot pie, followed by cranberry cobbler.
``We have nothing comparable to this in England,'' Fergie said, ``not even the Olivier Awards.''
The cast and the audience gathered on the steps of the opera house for an informal jam session late in the evening. Of course, the greatest fun is to spot celebrities. Among those seen were David Brinkley, Dina Merrill, Gerald Arpino, Kathleen Battle, Jack Jones, Lynn Redgrave, Virginia Beach businesswoman Lillian Vernon and Etta James.
It's a more cultural crowd than the Oscars could have mustered, but this is Washington, not Hollywood. by CNB