Ever since Tom Cruise leaped onto Oprah Winfrey’s couch two years ago, we’ve all known that Cruise likes to jump up. And it was Cruise who was first to jump to his feet Sunday night to applaud conductor John Williams at the Kennedy Center’s Spring Gala.
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The diminutive actor loomed tall over the audience from his third-row seat whenever he shot up to applaud his Hollywood colleagues on stage, which included not only Williams, but event co-hosts Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg as well.
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“It was like watching a father cheer on his kid at a soccer game,” said one attendee seated only a few rows away. (Speaking of kids: Suri remained at their hotel during the ceremony, while Cruise and Katie Holmes attended the show.)
The event — “The Art of Film Music” — had Williams leading the National Symphony Orchestra in renditions of film scores by the late, great director-producer David Lean, as well as Williams’ own hits from “Jaws,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Schindler’s List” and “E.T.” In his remarks, Spielberg said that “there is no better marriage than music and movies. … Movies are like lightning, but the music score is the thunderstorm.”
But Cruise wasn’t the only person applauding others. NSO Music Director Leonard Slatkin called Williams “simply the best.” Spielberg on Williams’ work on “Jaws”: “Williams’ music saved my film.” And on Williams’ work on “Schindler’s List”: “The Schindler score is the greatest gift John has ever given me.”
It wasn’t all back-patting, however. Williams poked fun of his 76 years, telling this anecdote: “I always tell Steven: ‘You really need a better composer than I am.’ And he replies: ‘I know, but they’re all dead.’ ”
