Madonna, Beyonce, Groban Perform on Oprah Finale
For the finale of ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’, almost every big name in Hollywood and in music showed up to bid the Queen of All Media adieu, not for good though, only in daytime network TV. From the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, to the currently controversial Maria Shriver, to the likes of Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Madonna, the star-studded guest list for the two-episode finale of the 25-year talk show is a testament to Oprah’s power and influence, and how much she will be missed from daytime TV.
Several performances filled the celebration which is why the two-part episode had to be held not in the show’s usual home at Harpo Studios, but at the United Center nonetheless, home of the Chicago Bulls! Never mind that Derrick Rose and the rest of the Bulls are battling LeBron James and the Miami Heat for the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, what Oprah wants, she gets!
The song ‘I Gotta Feeling’, as performed by Will.I.Am, started things off, followed by ‘Isn’t She Lovely’, a duet shared by Jamie Foxx and Stevie Wonder. Aretha Franklin performed the well-fitting track ‘Amazing Grace’, while Beyonce, whose new single ‘Run the World (Girls)’ has been performing poorly in the charts, used the opportunity to turn Oprah and the 20,000 members of the audience into a fan of the song, in the hopes of boosting the single’s airplay and chart performance. Another duet, ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, performed by Josh Groban and Patti LaBelle caused an overflow of emotions on stage but not until Madonna, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Simon Cowell and best of all, Maria Shriver appeared on stage, all of them stepping out to the tune of ‘Oh Happy Day’, which Usher performed along with his 2010 summer hit ‘OMG’ for the vast crowd. If Oprah had the power to resurrect Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor, they probably would have been there too, just saying.
