WASHINGTON — Hollywood A-listers and Washington politicos celebrated the best in performing arts Sunday at the Kennedy Center Honors gala, which opened with a standing ovation for late president George H.W. Bush.

The posh annual awards program — a rare night of red-carpet glamor in the US capital, now in its 41st year — honored an eclectic class of artists: actress and pop superstar Cher, radical composer Philip Glass, country singer Reba McEntire and jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

In a first, the Kennedy Center also paid tribute to a work of art, the musical sensation "Hamilton." Show host Gloria Estefan, a member of last year's class of honorees, opened the festivities with a somber tribute to Bush, who died over the weekend at age 94.

Pop queen and fashion icon Cher, a vociferous critic of the Republican president, welcomed Trump's second consecutive no-show. Asked what she would have said to the president, the 72-year-old laughed and said simply: "Go away."

For Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter, the decision to honor "Hamilton" -- the story of Alexander Hamilton and America's other founding fathers, set to show tunes and rap anthems — was a no-brainer.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer and lyricist behind the groundbreaking musical, performed several numbers himself along with members of the show's original cast. Speaking on the red carpet prior to the ceremony, the 38-year-old praised the Kennedy Center for the "celebration of our collaboration." — AFP