Cher, ‘Hamilton,’ Philip Glass to Receive Kennedy Center Honors
Cher, Reba McEntire, composer Philip Glass and jazz great Wayne Shorter will receive the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors, with this year’s ceremony also bestowing a special award to the musical Hamilton.
“The Cabinet is headed to DC. Honored honored honored,” Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted of the award, the first time in the Kennedy Center’s 41-year history that a work of art and not an individual has been honored.
Miranda added in a statement, “The Kennedy Center Honors is the highest achievement an artist can receive. For the Board to break with its custom of honoring an individual and choosing instead to bestow this recognition on a single piece of work is humbling beyond our wildest expectations for our show.”
“I believe that this is a work that has transformed how we think about using art to talk about who we are as a society,” Deborah F. Rutter, the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, said of the Hamilton honor (via New York Times).
Cher said in a statement released through the Kennedy Center, “When I was very young, I saw Dumbo and Cinderella and knew then what I wanted to be and the path my life would take and here I am! I am very grateful to the Kennedy Center.”
Given that Donald Trump did not attend the Kennedy Center Honors in 2017, it is unlikely the president will be present for the 2018 ceremony, considering how critical Cher and Miranda have been of his administration. Trump also previously called Hamilton “overrated.”
“When you have people of all backgrounds and races, age, socioeconomic differences and they all are moved by this work — this is a work of power and importance,” Rutter added. “And I’m disappointed that Mr. Trump may not like it. But in fact, this is not a rebuke. This is about celebrating a powerful work of art and I will always stand by the power of the arts.”
The Kennedy Center Honors will be held at the Washington, D.C. venue on December 2nd, with a CBS broadcast to follow on December 26th.