Aretha Franklin and Condoleezza Rice were onstage together at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts here in Philadelphia on July 27. The concert description on the Mann website describes it as “an evening of classics and R-E-S-P-E-C-T.” The media have dubbed it “The Diva and the Diplomat.”
The AP provides excerpts in a youtube video.
What you don’t see in this video is that The Diva obviously couldn’t care less that she was performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Not only did she refer to this world class orchestra as the “Philadelphia Symphony”, but she performed a song accompanied by a recording of another orchestra while 100+ musicians who are among the best in the world sat and tried to appear to be listening.
