Rita Moreno adds Kennedy Center Honor to list of awards

One of the few EGOTs in showbiz-award terms, Rita Moreno is now an EGOTK … or, she laughs, “How about KEGOT?” The owner of two Emmys, a Grammy, an Oscar (for “West Side Story”) and a Tony, the veteran actress-singer now has another major accolade: the Kennedy Center Honors.

Earlier this month, Moreno and her fellow recipients – singersongwriter Carole King, filmmaker George Lucas, conductor Seiji Ozawa and actress Cicely Tyson – were feted at the 38th annual event in Washington, D.C. CBS gives the performing-arts-celebrating program its traditional telecast Tuesday, with Stephen Colbert reprising his role from last year as host.

Initially scheduled to receive the latest Honors as well, music’s Eagles will be recognized in the 2016 edition, owing to Glenn Frey’s inability to participate this year. President Barack Obama joined the First Lady and the honorees late, since he gave a televised address the night of the taping, but he and his wife had hosted a related White House reception before the Honors.

In an interview for this article, Moreno discussed the significance of receiving the Kennedy Center Honors (being overseen by new producers this year) as she energetically continues her career … encompassing her recently released Spanish-language recording “Una Vez Mas,” her voice work on the animated Sprout series “Nina’s World,” and an “American Songbook” concert she’ll perform at New York’s Lincoln Center in January.

Q&A

Q: What do you think of the Kennedy Center Honors-receiving company that you’re in?

A: It’s astonishing! We’re together for several days, not just at the event that’s televised, but there also are a wonderful dinner hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry and luncheons up the wazoo. It’s just an insanely busy, wonderful time. And the honorees are so diverse, there’s someone to please everybody.

Q: How is it to be in the company of President Obama?

A: If you look us up together, with both our names, you’ll see a bunch of pictures where he’s putting a medal (the National Medal of Arts) around my neck. And I hug him! I just impulsively grabbed him – he has such a dazzling smile, that man – and then I looked at his wife in the audience and shrugged my shoulders as if to say, “Sorry.”

Q: How were you first notified that you were receiving the Honors?

A: It was my manager. He called me up and said, “Are you sitting down?” I said, “Should I?” And he said, “I think so.” Then he told me, and I just came out with such a shriek and a whoop … and I started to do a dance, with the phone in my hand. And my feet have not touched the ground since then. With something as wonderful as this, I cannot be cool or reserved.

Q: Does receiving the Kennedy Center Honors make you reflective about your career?

A: With something as astonishing as this, the first thing that happens is that my heart and my head immediately go to Puerto Rico, and I see myself as a little girl playing with these frogs in my hometown – with a big, fat bow on my head, because my mother used to make them. I think, “Who would have thought this?” and it makes me feel very humble. And it reminds me again of what an amazing country this is, that this can happen. I’m very moved by all of this.

Q: How do you feel about the endurance of “West Side Story,” which won the Oscar for best picture of 1961, and your performance in it?

A: It’s amazing! I still hear about it, from people my age and recently from younger people who have seen it; Turner Classic Movies plays it all the time, but the true experience is to see it on the big screen. I’m reminded then of the enormity of earning that Oscar, and I also got a Golden Globe for it. (Fellow “West Side Story” Oscar winner) George Chakiris is still a dear friend, and he’s my daughter’s godfather.

In fact, I’m still very close to some of the … I call them “the kids,” which is hilarious, because some of them now have paunches and bald heads. But dancers are always “the kids,” and whenever I’m in Los Angeles, we try to arrange an evening together. I guess it’s because we bonded in a way that most casts do not. We’ve all stuck together, I’m very happy to say.