- Good evening to all of you.
We welcome you back to the Kennedy Center
for our very first On Stage in the Opera House
in more than six months.
My name is Deborah Rutter, the proud president
of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
This tonight is proof that the show truly must go on.
(dramatic instrumental music)
We want to say thank you to Renee Fleming
and Vanessa Williams.
The light within an artist is inextinguishable.
Tonight, we're making history.
I suspect the sights and sounds of this shared experience
will be etched into our collective memories
for the rest of our lives.
(audience cheering)
- It's such a joy to sing again and be on the stage.
Thank you so much, in front of a live audience.
I don't want it to end.
- We really hope that all of you at home are safe and well
or get well soon if you've been touched by the virus.
- Absolutely.
- We're gonna end the program with an anthem of hope
that we all turn to in difficult times.
- That makes us feel like it was written right now,
and how fragile we're all feeling with the pandemic
and the division in our country,
division that JFK faced in 1963, the year I was born,
the year he was assassinated.
But like many great leaders, his words live on
still challenging us to be the best of ourselves,
and his legacy endures in our national culture center.
- After the Civil Rights Movement,
we felt so much hope for the future.
Here we are almost 50 years later with the same issues.
We wanna say that we as mothers and friends
hope that we will now address the systemic racism
in our country because we owe this to our children.
(audience clapping)
- It's time for change.
(hopeful instrumental music)
♪ What the world needs now ♪
♪ Is love, sweet love ♪
♪ It's the only thing ♪
♪ That there's just too little of ♪
♪ What the world needs now ♪
♪ Is love, sweet love ♪
♪ No, not just for some ♪
♪ But for everyone ♪
♪ Lord, we don't need another mountain ♪
♪ There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb ♪
♪ There are oceans and rivers enough to cross ♪
♪ Enough to last till the end of time ♪
♪ What the world needs now ♪
♪ Is love, sweet love ♪
♪ It's the only thing ♪
♪ That there's just too little of ♪
♪ What the world needs now ♪
♪ Is love, sweet love ♪
♪ No, not just for some ♪
♪ But for everyone ♪
♪ Lord, we don't need another meadow ♪
♪ There are cornfields and wheat fields enough to grow ♪
♪ There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine ♪
♪ Oh listen, Lord, if you wanna know ♪
♪ What the world needs now ♪
♪ Is love, sweet love ♪
♪ It's the only thing ♪
♪ That there's just too little of ♪
♪ What the world needs now ♪
♪ Is love, sweet love ♪
♪ No, not just for some ♪
♪ But for everyone ♪
♪ Everyone ♪
♪ No, not just for some ♪
♪ But for everyone ♪
(audience cheering)
- Thank you.
(audience cheering)
(hopeful instrumental music)