This Sunday, June 6, CBS and Paramount+ will air and stream the 43rd Annual Kennedy Center Honors, an awards show with zero element of surprise, because honorees are announced months in advance. In lieu of suspense, the main draws of the ceremony are the performances and speeches. And on June 3, the Kennedy Center teased some of the performances we can look forward to with little YouTube clips. The highlight? Vanessa “people are going to die, which is terrible but inevitable†Hudgens in her full ’80s leg-warmer jush, singing and dancing to Debbie Allen’s iconic Fame choreography. It looks absolutely cuckoo, and it’s a glimmer of hope that televised musicals are back, baby. Which unfortunately means Derek Hough dusted off his ol’ chimney-sweep routine to pay tribute to honoree Dick Van Dyke. Other tidbits include Kelly Clarkson singing Garth Brooks, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Emmylou Harris singing Joan Baez, and Yo-Yo Ma doing a tribute to Midori. We’ll be watching at 8 p.m., mostly for the V-Hudge of it all.
You Had Us at ‘Vanessa Hudgens Tribute to Debbie Allen,’ Kennedy Center
