Holiday Concerts Are a Capitol Affair
Roll Call Staff
One story that got Colbert laughing, however, was when Jason Alexander was hosting the show and wanted to rig the stage so that he could fly off one of the light towers. Colbert joked back to Alexander that they should shoot him out of a cannon instead, referring to the live cannons that are fired each year during the finale of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.” Alexander said he was crazy, and Colbert replied, “That’s what you are, too!”
With all of these stars, there’s bound to be some antics.
Chuck Berry was performing one year and “showed up last minute with his girlfriend, a cellist,” Colbert recalled. “She wanted to play with the orchestra and, of course, there was no way that was going to happen.” So he placated her by putting her in the back, near the drums, and shutting off her microphone. “She was just soaring away! Resolved that crisis!” he said.
Another favorite story of Colbert’s comes from 2001, when more than an inch of rain fell, but the show had to go on. “Everyone was soaked ... but they all stuck,” he said, recalling that the Pointer Sisters opened the show and by the time they finished their act (“They put on a heck of a show!”) their makeup was running down their faces from the downpour and their dresses had shrunk. (Without going into too much detail, there’s a similar story about the Redskins cheerleaders who were there that same year.) Then the Irish Tenors were up and Colbert asked them if they could keep the show’s momentum going. They replied, “Yeah, it rains in Ireland all the time!”
“Rain has been our nemesis,” Colbert cautioned, worried about this wetter-than-usual spring. And if it rains? The show will go on.
In 1983, it poured and then-conductor of the NSO Mstislav Rostropovich decided to have some fun. “He took off his shirt and shoes and went into the audience and started a conga line,” Colbert said. “The great cellist is out in the audience. It was hilarious, and the great raucous was getting him back up on the stage.”
Known for his charisma, Rostropovich also had a little fun for himself when he informed the producers that he wanted to play Russian music for America’s greatest celebration. There was protest and everyone thought they had worked it out, but he ended up doing it anyway, to everyone’s surprise.
The shirtless conductor and the Pointer Sisters’ shrinking dresses haven’t been the only costume crises.
In 1997, the often-controversial Broadway actress Maria Conchita Alonso — she admitted in a Chicago Sun-Times preview of the show that “it could be dangerous, because I am very outspoken about my political beliefs” — surprised producers by showing up in a see-through costume. Quick thinking and having on hand “a Broadway costume guy that can quickly sew on a piece here and there” set everything right before she took the stage, Colbert said.
Though not nearly as controversial, Colbert’s big costume question this year is what kind of hat Aretha Franklin, who is performing the national anthem, is going to wear.
The concert planners book a mix of performers to please everyone in the crowd as well as the millions of PBS viewers and National Public Radio and American Forces Network listeners.
“Barry [Manilow]’s got a great repertoire, doing a medley for the first 12 minutes of the show,” Colbert revealed. Then Big Bird is going to conduct the orchestra, followed by Natasha Bedingfield coming on and singing with them. And there will be a dual piano version of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” by Michael Feinstein and Andrew von Oeyen.
“The Jersey Boys are the real sleeper,” Colbert predicted.
Schumer Advocates for Many on Panel
Nov. 16, 12 a.m.
As Senate Majority Leader, Lyndon Johnson once said of the Joint Economic Committee, “It’s as useless as tits on a bull.” But as that panel’s chairman during the 110th Congress, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) seized the opportunity to elevate the traditionally low-profile post to the forefront of shaping policy. Read Full Article
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