Oprah (and her show) come to Washington

Courtney Hazlett The Scoop

WASHINGTON - Oprah Winfrey finally made a public appearance Sunday night. While crews were putting the finishing touches on her set for Monday’s “Oprah Winfrey Show” at the Kennedy Center, Oprah made a brief appearance at a party thrown by the Washington Post.

Scoring a ticket for Monday’s show remains the talk of D.C.

Initially only 2,000 seats were up for grabs: half went to VIPs and the other to a lottery. Bad news for some of those who scored lottery seats — the build-out at the Kennedy Center didn’t yield as many spots as was originally planned, and now some ticket holders are said to be on standby.

A-list forced to wait list
Standby was the theme Sunday night. Not even Tom Hanks could get into a party thrown by Maureen Dowd at her home in Georgetown, and at a party for the Impact Film Fund, the line at 1 a.m. snaked all the way down the sidewalk.

Inside, though, I spoke to Lisa Edelstein of “House.” Edelstein’s journey to Washington from L.A. involved one emergency landing and 17 hours of travel; saying she was happy to be here is an understatement. Had to pump her for some info for the rest of the season of “House” (one of my favorite shows) and she said, “Cuddy’s got a baby now and House gets really, really, jealous.” Can’t wait.

Slideshow   Inaugural festivities begin President-elect Barack Obama began his day with a solemn moment at Arlington cemetery before attending the festive concert at the Lincoln Memorial. more photos

Sarah Silverman was also there (sans Jimmy Kimmel), Jessica Alba was seated near her, and Nelly performed.

Later Monday, I’ve got lunch with Amy Brenneman and Ed Harris, then on to the party and ball circuit. Per usual keep checking back for updates.

Celebs get in ‘We Are One’ spirit
Sunday's “We Are One” concert at the Lincoln Memorial drew both members of the Hollywood elite and some of the country’s best musicians, from Stevie Wonder to Josh Groban.

Typically, when you get that many personalities in one production, there’s a clashing of the egos, but by all accounts, everyone just got along.

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Part of this might be due to the fact that the musical acts were traveling light. Bruce Springsteen opened the show with “The Rising,” and he was backed by only a choir — no sets or anything fancy.

Ditto Jon Bon Jovi, who sang a fantastic duet of “Change is Gonna Come” with Bettye LaVette. In fact, the only musical act to have its own set was U2, which did leave some musical management scratching their collective heads.

“No one else brought their entire band like Bono did,” said one publicist working with other acts involved in the inaugural celebrations.

One of the more light-hearted moments of the concert was when Jamie Foxx took to the podium opposite Steve Carell and did a spot-on impersonation of Barack Obama delivering a quote from his election night speech.

The monitor facing the mall showed Malia Obama giggling with her dad, proving that the First Family-to-be both approved of Foxx’s impression, and didn’t mind him stealing the spotlight for a few moments.

More on Oprah Winfrey  |  U2

Courtney Hazlett will deliver the Scoop throughout Inauguration weekend.

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