Celebrities to join Memorial Day concert
For actor Joe Mantegna, co-hosting the annual National Memorial Day Concert on the West Lawn of the Capitol “has changed my perspective of this whole holiday.”
“It’s a part of the process of what the day should be about, a coming together in remembrance and healing,” said Mantegna, who has been involved with the concert since 2002. It airs on PBS at 8 p.m.
He and co-host Gary Sinise will be on stage Sunday to introduce singers Natalie Cole and CeCe Winans, actors Charles Durning, Bonnie Hunt and Dianne Wiest and others.
Singer Josh Turner will perform the national anthem, and Erich Kunzel will conduct the National Symphony Orchestra. Also participating will be former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an armed forces color guard.
This year’s 90-minute program will emphasize Iraq, spotlighting soldiers who are serving or have served in the war, executive producer Jerry Colbert said.
“Now the war is contemporary, so we’re filling in the pieces of what you see every night on TV,” Colbert said. “We’ll have a sequence on those who have been wounded. A lot of guys are coming [to see the show] from Walter Reed.”
Actor Jimmy Smits will narrate a segment on Arlington National Cemetery in remembrance of those who have died in current and past wars.
The Armed Forces Radio and Television Service will broadcast the program for those serving overseas.
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