After Dick Van Dyke received the call stating that he had been chosen as a Kennedy Center honoree, he did exactly what he was told not to do: he called his family to tell him the good news.
And why not? He is an older 95-year-old statesman in show business, whose eponymous television show is considered to have helped shape American sitcoms for decades.
“My wife took the call and the instructions were, ‘Congratulations, but don’t tell anyone,'” Van Dyke said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “You can not do that! I called all my relatives right away. I couldn’t handle it. “
Van Dyke now adds to his resume one of the country’s greatest artistic honors. The other recipients, announced by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, include singer, songwriter and activist Joan Baez; country music star Garth Brooks; actress, choreographer and producer Debbie Allen; and the violinist Midori.
Last year, the pandemic messed up the Kennedy Center Honors schedule. Normally held in December, the presentations and ceremonies associated with the show were postponed to May, with the broadcast scheduled for June 6 on CBS.
Another important change lies in the shift in political winds: although President Trump did not attend the tributes during his term or held the traditional White House reception for those honored, President-elect Biden is expected to rekindle the relationship.
In a typical year, the program features an opera house full of celebrities, dignitaries and donors decked out to celebrate the honorees. This year, the performances will be filmed on the Kennedy Center campus – some, perhaps, with a small live audience – or the film crew will travel to the artists if they cannot make it to Washington.
The center hopes to have its typical White House reception and ceremony at the State Department, where the tapes are distributed.
But some traditions are out of the question.
“A dinner with 2,000 people in the lobby is not going to happen,” said Deborah Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center. “We will only do this in the safest and most respectful way.”
The honorees – selected based on the recommendation of an advisory committee that includes Kennedy Center employees and previous award winners – represent folk, country and classical music, as well as theater and television.
Baez’s career as a singer and songwriter has long been linked to his political activism, which started with the Civil Rights movement and then with protests against the war. Baez, 80, says he now considers painting to be his main artistic form. When it comes to her legacy, she prefers to be remembered for “good problems,” she said, citing Congressman John Lewis, rather than awards.
“I don’t want to be too respectable,” she said in an interview, and laughed. “But I certainly accept and assume that ‘good problems’ I have spent my life with is part of the reason I am receiving this award.
Although these honorees have long since passed the “fighting artist” stage of their careers, they do not miss the fact that they are receiving this award at a time of crisis in their sectors, due to pandemic stoppages.
Brooks – who is the best-selling solo artist in the history of the United States, according to the Recording Industry Association of America – said he fears for musicians who have been in the position he was in 30 years ago, playing in bars and clubs with the hope of that this leads to a recording contract.
“The rug has been pulled out of them,” said Brooks, 58. “How it affects the music industry in the future is a big question.”
In the past 10 months, all five artists have looked for safe ways to share their art and interact with their audiences. Baez exhibited his paintings virtually, for example; Allen taught live dance classes to a virtual audience of over 35,000; and Van Dyke said he was delighted to hear, through fan mail, that some children, at home from school, discovered “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. (“I have a brand new fan club!” He said.)
For Midori, 49, the Japanese-born violinist who gained fame in the United States after performing with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 11, the pandemic brought a greater appreciation for performing in front of an audience, personally. She gave virtual workshops and master classes during the pandemic.
“It made me realize how precious the moments of being able to do things live are precious,” she said.
At a time when the country is a kind of desert for the performing arts, there is a desire for this spring honors program to usher in a kind of rebirth.
Allen, 70, has long been in the business of promoting the arts as a critical national interest. After establishing himself as a Broadway artist, gaining recognition for his roles in “West Side Story” and “Sweet Charity”, then for his choreography “Fame”, Allen served as a kind of cultural diplomat under President George W. Bush , on trips abroad to teach and talk about dance.
Allen said that in a time of national crisis, she sees the arts as a balm – as well as a space to discuss urgent issues at the time. (In “Grey’s Anatomy,” which Allen produces, directs and performs, Covid-19 is the central storyline.)
“As a country, we are all looking for the light because a storm is breaking out,” said Allen. “And the arts are always an answer.”