Reba is singing for Dolly, Noah Kahan is doing Simon & Garfunkel, and Megan Stalter dressed as an Emmy statuette, tonight's show is already a lot
The 78th Emmys air live on NBC tonight from the Peacock Theater, and before a single major award has been handed out, the ceremony's emotional freight is already clear.
In brief
Reba is singing for Dolly, Noah Kahan is doing Simon & Garfunkel, and Megan Stalter dressed as an Emmy statuette, tonight's show is already a lot
The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards are live tonight from the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, and the ceremony is carrying more emotional weight than most. Dolly Parton died August 25. Reba McEntire is there to make it count.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that McEntire has been tapped to perform a special tribute to the late Dolly Parton during the 2026 Emmy Awards on Monday night. The Grammy winner is expected to sing a song by the Queen of Country Music, who died last month at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer. Which song, exactly? Information about which Dolly Parton track McEntire will perform has not been revealed. The suspense is part of the point.
The friendship between these two women ran deep. McEntire is perhaps one of the best-suited figures for the role, having been a close friend of Parton for more than 40 years, a connection forged in tragedy when, in 1991, eight members of McEntire's band were killed in a plane crash and Parton offered her own band. Emmy executive producer Jesse Collins confirmed on Thursday that the show will honor Parton, who died recently at the age of 80.
McEntire is not the only musical act tonight. Noah Kahan is set to perform Simon & Garfunkel's classic power ballad "Bridge Over Troubled Water" during the In Memoriam segment. The show is held at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. As for the Kahan performance, producer Collins said the artist chose to sing the song because "it's a song that is very meaningful to him" and that Paul Simon is one of his favorite artists. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks in 1970 and went on to win Grammys for record and song of the year. It was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Kahan is expected to be a major factor in the Grammy nominations, which will be announced on November 16. Tonight is warm-up, essentially.
What else is happening on the carpet and stage
Then there is Megan Stalter. The first-time Emmy nominee arrived on the red carpet dressed as the Emmy statuette, complete with wings and an atom to hold high. It is exactly the kind of move Stalter would make, and it landed.
The 2026 Emmys air live on NBC on September 14, hosted by Mariska Hargitay, with presenters including Sofia Vergara, Matthew McConaughey, Zendaya, and Alan Cumming, plus cast reunions for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charlie's Angels. First-time host Hargitay walked the red carpet with her husband, Peter Hermann, and their three children, August, Andrew and Amaya.
New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson is also expected to make a guest appearance during a pre-taped segment at the beginning of the telecast. Host Hargitay is a longtime Knicks fan, regularly spotted sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden, though when THR caught up with her ahead of the ceremony, she wouldn't confirm whether Brunson would make a special appearance. Coy.
The show also plans to honor Michael J. Fox. The ceremony will honor Fox with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his work supporting Parkinson's research and advocacy. And according to Deadline, the show will also honor Catherine O'Hara, with Macaulay Culkin planned as part of the segment honoring the actress.
The competitive picture going in
This is a genuinely crowded race. HBO Max's The Pitt came in with a leading 25 nominations, followed by Hacks with 24, a record for a comedy series. Apple TV's Widow's Bay landed 19 nominations and Pluribus 18, while Netflix's Beef topped the limited series field with 16.
Despite Hacks and Beef leading the nominations for comedy and limited series respectively, it was Widow's Bay and HBO's DTF St. Louis that came in as newly minted front-runners after dominating the Creative Arts ceremony last weekend. Apple TV's Widow's Bay led Night 2 of the 78th Emmys with eight Emmy wins, putting it firmly in the frontrunner position among comedy contenders heading into the Primetime ceremony.
As part of the three-night event structure, Bad Bunny and Sabrina Carpenter won their first Emmy Awards last week. The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny won seven Emmys, becoming the most-awarded Super Bowl Halftime Show in Emmy history.
NBC airs the ceremony live coast-to-coast starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The show also streams on Peacock. Reba goes on whenever the producers decide the room is ready for it. That moment, whenever it comes, is probably the one people will be talking about Tuesday morning.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
