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Andrew Lloyd Webber to Receive Kennedy Center Honors
By Andrew Gans
06 Sep 2006
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Andrew Lloyd Webber
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| photo by Aubrey Reuben | Tony Award-winning composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musicals include Evita, The Phantom of the Opera and Cats, will be among the select group who will receive the Kennedy Center Honors of 2006.
Joining Lloyd Webber for the 29th Annual Kennedy Center Honors are conductor Zubin Mehta, country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton, singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson and film director Steven Spielberg. The 2006 Honorees will be saluted in a gala performance at the Kennedy Center's Opera House Dec. 3. President and Mrs. Bush will receive the Honorees at the White House prior to the performance. The evening — which will be filmed for TV broadcast — will air on CBS-TV in December.
The honorees will receive their awards Dec. 2 at a State Department dinner hosted by Condoleezza Rice.
In a statement Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen A. Schwarzman said, "This year we honor five extraordinary international artists whose abundant contributions to their fields are remarkable. They have transformed the culture of our country and of the world. Andrew Lloyd Webber has led a seismic change in our musical theater becoming the most popular theater composer in the world; conductor Zubin Mehta’s profound artistry and devotion to music make him a world treasure; Dolly Parton’s creativity and spirit make her country music’s best international ambassador; Smokey Robinson’s song and voice have created the soundtrack for the lives of a generation of Americans; and Steven Spielberg’s films make him one of the most successful and accomplished directors of all time."
Honorees are recognized for lifetime contribution to American culture in the fields of dance, music, theatre, opera, motion pictures or television. Recommendations of possible nominees were made by members of the Kennedy Center's national artists committee, past honorees as well as these artists: Dan Aykroyd, Angela Bassett, Dave Brubeck, Glenn Close, Barbara Cook, Michael Douglas, Nora Ephron, Renee Fleming, Denyce Graves, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anjelica Huston, Joseph Kalichstein, Nathan Lane, Patti LuPone, Rob Marshall, Audra McDonald, Reba McEntire, Liam Neeson, Mary-Louise Parker, Oscar Peterson, Christopher Plummer, Samuel Ramey, Natasha Richardson, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Kevin Spacey, Frederica von Stade and Damian Woetzel. Previous Kennedy Center Honorees Edward Albee, Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, Jacques d’Amboise, Julie Harris, Marilyn Horne, Elton John, Angela Lansbury, Arthur Mitchell, Paul Newman, Hal Prince and Beverly Sills also made nominations.
Last year's Kennedy Center Honorees included singer Tony Bennett, dancer and teacher Suzanne Farrell, actress Julie Harris, actor-director-producer Robert Redford and singer Tina Turner.
Andrew Lloyd Webber is the award-winning composer of Cats, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard, Jesus Christ Superstar, By Jeeves, The Woman in White, Whistle Down the Wind, The Beautiful Game and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He is currently co-producing a London revival of The Sound of Music; casting for the musical's lead role is the subject of the U.K. reality series "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?"
For more information about the Kennedy Center Honorees or the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, visit www.kennedy-center.org.
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