Puttin’ on the Glitz

“The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts,” airing Wednesday night on CBS, is among network television’s classier events with high-profile honorees, a star-studded audience and an eclectic parade of performances.

It also happens to be one of the lowest-rated specials of the year. But in the cutthroat world of TV, where the fate of shows rests on the whims of ratings and demographics, the Emmy Award-winning “Kennedy Center Honors” has had a home on CBS for 21 years.

“CBS has been a rock with this show,” says executive producer George Stevens Jr., who created the honors to pay tribute to the lifetime achievement of American artists. “They support it and we are really indebted to Leslie Moonves [president of CBS Television].”

Moonves, who was once an actor and a theatrical producer, concedes he has a soft spot for the show, even though last year’s telecast ranked a dismal No. 71 in the Nielsens for the week--attracting slightly more than 7 million viewers,

“You do a show like this for different reasons than just ratings and making dollars,” Moonves says. “We do have public interests and obligations.” Besides, he says, “I love the event . . . it’s a combination of theater and TV coming together.”

Taped Dec. 6 at the Opera House of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., the two-hour special pays tribute to Bill Cosby, the Broadway composing team of John Kander and Fred Ebb, Willie Nelson, composer and conductor Andre Previn and former child actress-turned-ambassador Shirley Temple Black.

Hosted by Walter Cronkite, the evening opens with a tour through some of Kander and Ebb’s most-loved work, from Alan Cumming and Joel Grey performing “Wilkommen” from “Cabaret,” to Liza Minnelli belting out “New York, New York,” and Chita Rivera and Bebe Neuwirth teaming up on “All That Jazz” from “Chicago.”

Despite the designer gowns and Harry Winston diamonds, the event manages to feel more like an intimate affair as long-time friends and colleagues talk about the honorees.

Actress Phylicia Rashad says of her TV co-star Cosby, “It takes Bill Cosby’s kind of intelligence and grace to light the world up with laughter.” Of Nelson, fellow Texan Tommy Lee Jones offers: “Our heroes have always been cowboys.” Even Mia Farrow tells ex-husband Previn: “Thanks for the music, toots-and for the memories.”

Other participants include the Buzz Aldrin Society Elementary Choir, the Chevy Chase Elementary Choir, Children of the Gospel Choir, Curtis Institute Orchestra, Tappers With Attitude, the United Nations International School Choir and the United States Air Force Band.

For Stevens and Don Mischer, who directed the first telecast and has served as executive producer with Stevens for eight years, the “Kennedy Center Honors” is a demanding endeavor.

“There is no other show that I do where we have a cast of over 600,” said Mischer two days before the event. “It’s on a scale that is not typical for a television special. We get to do things that range from classical music to ballet to comedy to Broadway.”

For the folks who ante up $2,000 a ticket to be in the audience, it is a seamless production without commercial breaks. “It goes without stops or announcements or ever hearing a director,” Stevens says.

Stevens had just toured one of the rehearsal halls that morning where Rob Marshall, the co-director and choreographer of the current revival of “Cabaret” was putting Joel Grey & Co. through their paces.

“In another part of the building, there are 65 tap dancers between the ages of 5 and 7 with 130 parents,” Stevens said. “Then tomorrow afternoon 100 kids from fifth grade from the United Nations school arrive with their native clothing to pay tribute to Shirley Temple, who is a delegate to the United Nations. We’ve got on the train coming from Philadelphia the 100 -person Curtis Institute Symphony Orchestra, the finest young Symphony Orchestra in the world, to pay tribute to Andre Previn.”

As a special treat for Nelson, said Mischer, they even figured out a way to get his 42,000-pound tour bus, the Honeysuckle Rose, on stage.

Mischer acknowledges that expectations are now so high for the gala that it’s “really hard to try to come up with things that top it every year.”

It definitely helps that the honorees and the talent are eager to participate.

“It’s not the same as an award,” Mischer said. Cosby, who rarely attends awards shows whether he’s being honored or not, spent the evening watching the festivities alongside President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“The wonderful thing about the show is that it’s very infectious,” said Mischner, “and once people have come here and participated, they want to come back.”

Politics, Mischer and Stevens both agree, is always left outside the Opera House--even in this politically heated year.

“Life goes on,” said Stevens. “It doesn’t touch this event. I think if Kenneth Starr were here, we would have more trouble booking it.”

“The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts” airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. on CBS.