Stephen Schwartz, the Oscar-winning composer of “Wicked,” “Godspell” and “Pippin,” is the most recent artist to boycott the newly renamed Trump Kennedy Heart for the Performing Arts, apparently in protest of the present president’s takeover of the D.C. venue.
Controversy has been swirling across the Kennedy Heart ever since President Trump changed its board along with his supporters and named himself its chairman in February 2025. The transfer, designed to purge the establishment of what Trump known as “woke” programming, prompted a wave of cancellations from performers together with the producers of “Hamilton” and actor Issa Rae.
Much more artists have joined their ranks since Trump revealed he’d be including his personal identify to the cultural middle in December. Shortly after, the identify was modified on its web site and signage outdoors the live performance corridor was altered to learn: “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
Schwartz defined he was invited by director Francesca Zambello to host the opera occasion “way before the change of Board and name of the Kennedy Center,” however added that he hadn’t heard something about it since February.
He stated he had assumed it was now not taking place as he “can’t imagine Francesca continuing under the current circumstances,” however emphasised he would “not be a part” of any programming as long as Trump stays in management. A spokesperson later instructed CNN that Schwartz had solely realized on Thursday evening that the occasion was nonetheless scheduled.
In response, Richard Grenell, the president of the Kennedy Heart’s board, denied that Schwartz had ever been scheduled to host the gala — regardless of the web site prominently attaching his identify to the occasion with a hyperlink to buy tickets.
“He was never signed and I’ve never had a single conversation on him since arriving,” Grenell wrote in a put up on X, calling stories of Schwartz’s cancellation “totally bogus.”
The night with Schwartz was being promoted on the web site as lately as Thursday, although all references to the Broadway composer appeared to have been scrubbed by Friday afternoon.
The Kennedy Heart opened in 1971, designated by an Act of Congress as a “living memorial” to assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Schwartz, in a collaboration with Leonard Bernstein, served as a co-writer for “Mass,” the primary efficiency to be held following its opening.
New signage, The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Heart For The Performing Arts, is unveiled on the Kennedy Heart, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Picture/Jacquelyn Martin)
Up till Friday, Schwartz was one of many few large names who nonetheless had an look listed on the Kennedy Heart’s calendar for 2026. Within the days earlier than, a slew of artists introduced cancellations, together with New York Metropolis-based acts just like the Asian AF comedy troupe, jazz musician Wayne Tucker and his band, The Unhealthy Mothas, and dance firm Doug Varone and Dancers.
Varone, showing Friday on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront,” stated that regardless of taking a monetary loss, everybody within the group supported the choice to cancel.
“I can’t imagine any artist wanting to step through those doors right now with [Trump’s] name on that building,” he stated.
As of Saturday, the Martha Graham Dance Firm and the New York Metropolis Ballet have been nonetheless listed as scheduled Kennedy Heart performers within the upcoming months.
