Saturday
night many of us watched the
two-hour special One World: Together At Home, a benefit
for Trump’s bête noir the World
Health Organization (WHO)
organized by Lady Gaga and Global Citizen. If we were watching TV, on a computer, or other gizmo we hardly had a choice—it
was aired on the heritage broadcast networks ABC, CBS
and NBC; several cable channels, social media platforms like Facebook,
and on YouTube. Fox New was conspicuous by its absence. Go figure.
The
show came on the heels of other celebrity
heavy programs to benefit
various Coronavirus causes like Country
Music Association (CMA) show in lieu of their cancelled awards ceremony and several streaming projects put
together by music stars from every genre.
It went just about as you would suspect only more so.
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| Late night hosts Stephen Colbert and the two Jimmies, Fallon and Kimmel. |
Co-Hosted by the three
network late night stars Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy
Kimmel, the program had several highlights. Organizer Lady Gaga, sans glam costume and in restrained make up, her hair pulled back
under headphones in a severe bun with dark roots encroaching deeply into her bleached blonde hair eschewed her own power pop to give a powerful and emotional versions of Charlie Chaplin’s bittersweet ballad Smile. Other musical highlights included the
Rolling Stones performing You
Can’t Always Get What You Want in a Zoom style slit screen from their homes with Charlie Watts caught without his drum kit and having to mime his part to a recorded track; Jennifer Lopez channeling Barbra Streisand on People;
Sir Elton John, veteran of so many celebrity
benefit collaborations; Stevie Wonder with Bill Withers Lean on Me;
and Taylor Swift confounding her
detractors with an emotional version of Soon You’ll Get Better originally
written for her cancer stricken mother.
 |
Lady Gaga singing Charlie Chaplain's Smile.
|
Several
global leaders made un-musical appetences including WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom
and United Nations Secretary General
Secretary António Guterres. But the joint appearance of former First Ladies Laura Bush and Michelle Obama must have driven the TV and ratings obsessed Cheeto-in-charge
completely around the bend with jealousy
and rage.
The
climax of the show was a powerful
rendition of The Prayer performed from the homes of Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli,
Lady Gaga, classical pianist Lang Lang,
and John Legend. The song was written by David Foster,
Carole Bayer Sager, Alberto Testa, and Tony Renis for the 1998 animated
feature The Quest for Camelot. It was recorded by Dion in English
and Bocelli in Italian and then as a
duet by both singers. The song won a
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best
Original Song in 1999 and a Grammy
for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
in 2000.
Stunning!!
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