Christmas in Washington
Encyclopedia
Christmas in Washington is an annual Christmas television special that currently airs on the U.S. TNT network.

Background

One of two annual holiday specials produced by George Stevens, Jr.
George Stevens, Jr.
George Cooper Stevens, Jr. is an American award-winning film and television writer, director, producer, and founder of the American Film Institute...

 (the other being the Kennedy Center Honors
Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...

), the variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

 first aired in 1981 on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 before moving to its current home on TNT in 1998. Recorded in Washington, D.C. at the National Building Museum
National Building Museum
The National Builders Museum, in Washington, D.C., United States, is a museum of "architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning"...

, on the second Sunday of each December before being re-edited for later broadcast, Christmas in Washington is a one-hour concert featuring artists from musical genres. Each guest perform at least one solo, but the marquee performer usually has one or two more songs. The show also has at least one guest from the world of opera. Each of the musical performances are backed by a full orchestra and chorus. The show's finale consists of a medley performed by all the musical guests before the attendees-of-honor, the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 and the First Lady, make a closing statement.

Recent events have benefited the National Children's Medical Center.

The host

The show also has a host. In recent years, the show has been hosted by Dr. Phil
Phil McGraw
Phillip Calvin McGraw best known as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality, author, former psychologist, and the host of the television show Dr. Phil, which debuted in 2002...

 and his wife, Robin. However, since 2009, the show has had a single host. The 2011 edition is scheduled to have Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....

 as host and Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...

 as marquee performer, and will air live on pay-per-view internationally and in most major cities. A re-edited 42-minute (without commercials in a one-hour slot) version will air later in December via the aforementioned TNT network.

2000s

  • 2000: Host: Sarah Michelle Gellar; Stars: Mark Anthony, Chuck Berry, Jessica Simpson, The Corrs, Billy Gilman.
  • 2003: Host: Patricia Heaton
    Patricia Heaton
    Patricia Helen Heaton is an American actress, comedienne, producer and model, best known for portraying Debra Barone on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996 to 2005, for which she won two Emmy Awards....

    ; Stars: Ashanti, Kenny Chesney
    Kenny Chesney
    Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

    , Joss Stone
    Joss Stone
    Jocelyn Eve Stoker , better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist...

    , Renée Fleming
    Renée Fleming
    Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...

    .
  • 2004: Hosts: Dr. Phil and Robin McGraw.
  • 2005: Hosts: Dr. Phil and Robin McGraw; Stars: Rascal Flatts
    Rascal Flatts
    Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...

    , Carrie Underwood
    Carrie Underwood
    Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...

    , Ciara
    Ciara
    Ciara Princess Harris , known mononymously as Ciara, is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, actress and fashion model. Born in Austin, Texas, she traveled around the world during her childhood, only to land in Atlanta, Georgia where she met music producer, Jazze Pha...

    , Jane Monheit
    Jane Monheit
    Jane Monheit is a jazz and adult contemporary vocalist for Concord Records. She has collaborated with artists such as Michael Bublé, Ivan Lins, Terence Blanchard and Tom Harrell, and has received Grammy nominations for two of her recordings.-Early life:Jane Monheit was raised in Oakdale, New York...

    , The Click Five
    The Click Five
    The Click Five is an American power pop band from Boston, Massachusetts. The original members, most of them students at Berklee College of Music, started on January 1, 2003 and played in various local venues. They then quickly got the attention of talent scout Wayne Sharp...

  • 2006: Hosts: Dr. Phil and Robin McGraw; Stars: Taylor Hicks
    Taylor Hicks
    Taylor Reuben Hicks is an American singer who achieved fame in 2006, when he won the fifth season of American Idol. Hicks got his start as a professional musician in his late teens and performed around the Southeastern United States for well over the span of a decade, during which he also released...

    , Il Divo
    Il Divo
    Il Divo is a multinational operatic pop vocal group created by music manager, executive, and reality TV star Simon Cowell. Formed in the United Kingdom, they are also signed to Cowell's record label, Syco Music...

    , Gretchen Wilson
    Gretchen Wilson
    Gretchen Frances Wilson is an American country music artist. She made her debut in 2004 with the Grammy Award-winning single "Redneck Woman," a number-one hit on the Billboard country charts. The song served as the lead-off single of her debut album, Here for the Party...

    , Chris Brown, Corinne Bailey Rae
    Corinne Bailey Rae
    Corinne Bailey Rae is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leeds, who released her debut album Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006....

    , Bianca Ryan
    Bianca Ryan
    Bianca Taylor Ryan is an American singer and guitarist, who won the debut season of NBC's America's Got Talent at age 11....

    .
  • 2007: Hosts: Dr. Phil and Robin McGraw; Stars: Ne-Yo
    Ne-Yo
    Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr. , better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. Beginning his career as a songwriter, Ne-Yo penned the hit "Let Me Love You" for singer Mario...

    , Vanessa Hudgens, Alan Jackson
    Alan Jackson
    Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...

    , Colbie Caillat
    Colbie Caillat
    Colbie Marie Caillat is an American pop singer-songwriter and guitarist from Malibu, California. She debuted in 2007 with Coco, which included hit singles "Bubbly", "Realize", and "The Little Things". In 2008, she recorded a duet with Jason Mraz, "Lucky", which won a Grammy. Caillat released her...

    , Heather Headley
    Heather Headley
    Heather Headley is a Trinidadian-American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She has won one Tony Award and one Grammy Award.-Personal life:...

    , Katharine McPhee
    Katharine McPhee
    Katharine Hope McPhee is an American pop singer, songwriter, actress, model, and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol in 2006, eventually finishing as the runner-up.Her self-titled debut album was released on RCA Records...

    , Andrea Bocelli
    Andrea Bocelli
    Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....

    .
  • 2008: Hosts: Dr. Phil and Robin McGraw; Stars: Casting Crowns
    Casting Crowns
    Casting Crowns is a Grammy Award and Dove Award winning Contemporary Christian/Christian Rock band. Casting Crowns was started in 1999 by youth pastor Mark Hall at First Baptist Church in Downtown Daytona Beach, Florida as part of a youth group. He now serves as a lead vocalist...

    , Kristin Chenoweth
    Kristin Chenoweth
    Kristin Chenoweth is an American singer and actress, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. She is best known on Broadway for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown , for which she won a Tony Award, and for originating the role of Glinda in the musical...

    , Julianne Hough
    Julianne Hough
    Julianne Alexandra Hough is an American professional ballroom dancer, country music singer and actress. She is most widely known for being a two-time champion of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. She earned a Creative Arts Primetime Emmy nomination in 2007 for choreography...

    , Darius Rucker
    Darius Rucker
    Darius Rucker is an American musician. He first gained fame as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Carolina along with Mark Bryan, Jim "Soni" Sonefeld and Dean Felber...

    , Straight No Chaser
    Straight No Chaser
    Straight No Chaser may refer to:*Straight, no chaser, a way of requesting and/or serving a drink, similar to Straight upIn music:* Straight No Chaser , US a cappella group...

    .
  • 2009: Host: George Lopez; Stars: Mary J. Blige
    Mary J. Blige
    Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...

    , Neil Diamond
    Neil Diamond
    Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....

    , Sugarland, Rob Thomas
    Rob Thomas (musician)
    Robert Kelly "Rob" Thomas is an American rock recording artist and songwriter. He is the primary songwriter and lead singer of the band Matchbox Twenty. Thomas also records and performs as a solo artist...

    , Usher, Justin Bieber
    Justin Bieber
    Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...


2010s

  • 2010: Host: Ellen DeGeneres
    Ellen DeGeneres
    Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American stand-up comedienne, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season....

    ; Stars: Mariah Carey
    Mariah Carey
    Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...

    , Andrea Bocelli
    Andrea Bocelli
    Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....

    , Miranda Cosgrove
    Miranda Cosgrove
    Miranda Taylor Cosgrove is an American actress and singer-songwriter. Her career began at the age of three, where she participated in television commercials. Cosgrove's film debut was in 2003, as Summer Hathaway in School of Rock...

    , Maxwell
    Maxwell (musician)
    Maxwell , is an American R&B, funk and neo soul musician. He played an important role in the development of the soul sub-genre, neo-soul.-Early life:...

    , Matthew Morrison
    Matthew Morrison
    Matthew James "Matt" Morrison is an American actor, director, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and most notably for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated...

    , Annie Lennox
    Annie Lennox
    Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...

    .


External links


Source: for Christmas in Washington 2000: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271434/
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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