'THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS' Star-studded awards show pays tribute to 5 entertainment legends

Meryl Streep, Sissy Spacek and LL Cool J are some of the stars honoring the five.
By HAL BOEDEKER
ORLANDO SENTINEL
From former President George Bush and Garth Brooks to Meryl Streep and Julie Andrews, the latest installment of "The Kennedy Center Honors" lacks nothing in star power. The Academy Awards and the Grammys will be lucky if they can attract this many notables next year.
CBS presents the 26th edition of the lifetime-achievement awards Friday. The network's end-of-year gift to the country might not score tiptop ratings, but the telecast usually emerges as the classiest show in the awards season.
The celebrities converged on the Washington landmark for this year's festivities, taped Dec. 7, because the five honorees command such respect: TV legend Carol Burnett, country singer Loretta Lynn, R & amp;B pioneer James Brown, director Mike Nichols and violinist Itzhak Perlman.
As is the custom, the president and first lady attended.
The tape wasn't ready by press time, but the highlights suggest this year's show lives up to the celebration's lofty standards. The ceremony was long, so everything described here might not be broadcast.
Tribute to Burnett
Fans of "The Carol Burnett Show" -- nearly 30 million watched a CBS retrospective two years ago -- will not want to miss the elaborate tribute to her. Actresses in Bob Mackie-designed costumes play Burnett's memorable characters as Scott Bakula and John Schneider serenade them.
And what a lineup: Broadway favorite Elaine Stritch as Eunice, "Sex and the City" star Kim Cattrall as wide-hipped Zelda, Florence Henderson as Shirley Temple, Chita Rivera as sleepy Stella, Reba McEntire as faded star Nora Desmond and "Mary Poppins" star Andrews as curtain-rod-wearing Scarlett O'Hara.
Burnett's co-stars Harvey Korman and Tim Conway also take part before Bernadette Peters appears as the Charwoman to sing Burnett's theme, "I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together."
The Kennedy Center medal acknowledges a performer's stellar and enduring style. This year's telecast follows the familiar pattern: short biographical film on the honoree, then tributes in word, song or dance.
Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg takes the host's role, filling in for an ailing Walter Cronkite. "I am here tonight because the most trusted man in America has laryngitis," she says. "Walter Cronkite is sorry he couldn't be with us as always, but ... that's the way it is."
The tributes come in this order: Lynn, Nichols, Brown, Perlman, Burnett.
Stars' praises
Sissy Spacek, who won an Oscar for playing Lynn in "Coal Miner's Daughter," says, "I loved being you, Loretta! I could have gone on being you for the rest of my life, but everyone knows there's just one Loretta Lynn."
A medley to Lynn features McEntire on "You're Lookin' at Country," Brooks and Trisha Yearwood on "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," Lyle Lovett on "Rated X" and Patty Loveless on "Coal Miner's Daughter."
The tribute to Nichols, the Oscar-winning director of "The Graduate," features salutes from his former comedy partner, Elaine May; playwright Tom Stoppard; and actresses Candice Bergen of "Carnal Knowledge" and Streep of "Silkwood." A musical number, set to "That's Entertainment," features Streep, Bergen, Christine Baranski, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Patrick Wilson, a star of Nichols' "Angels in America."
Godfather of Soul Brown receives kind words from LL Cool J and a performance of "I Go Crazy" from Dan Aykroyd. A medley follows: 16-year-old Joss Stone on "It's a Man's Man's Man's World," Brian McKnight on "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and Yolanda Adams on "Georgia on My Mind," a Brown favorite.
Beautiful music
Alan Alda draws attention to violinist Perlman's joyous style. "Itzhak plays life like an instrument, and he plays his violin as though it could become alive," Alda says. "And it does. Because first he makes music in his soul, and then he lets it into the violin."
Violinist Pinchas Zukerman says Perlman never considers himself disabled despite suffering the crippling effects of polio as a child. Zukerman also conducts a performance of the last movement of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" by children from a summer camp founded by Perlman and his wife.
The Burnett tribute follows, with "Sound of Music" star Andrews honoring her old friend.
The evening concludes with a rousing production number of Brown's "Living in America" presided over by Wayne Brady.