Tuesday, January 06, 2026
Wicked Composer Stephen Schwartz Vows Not to Appear at Kennedy Center
hollywoodreporter.com: In a statement, Schwartz, who notes he was part of the opening event at the Kennedy Center, said the institution is “no longer apolitical” and that he will not appear there, “as long as that remains the case.” The composer told The New York Times that he had been asked to host a gala event for the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center in May.
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The Kennedy Center has fallen into a really unfortunate position over the last year. The Trump administration has relentlessly attacked the institution, in a similar fashion to its attacks on the Smithsonian and Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in an effort to push its agenda into all of the once apolitical institutions. When Hamilton withdrew from the Kennedy Center in the middle of last year, I speculated that more exodus would follow. Stephen Schwartz stating that he will never appear at the Kennedy Center in its current state is not surprising at all. I also read recently that the Washington National Opera has withdrawn from the Kennedy Center, which also isn’t shocking. It seems that Trump’s attempts to remake the Kennedy Center in his own image, including putting his name alongside Kennedy’s on the building, has caused the rate of departures to increase. Hopefully someday the Kennedy Center will be restored, but for now, the decline seems to be accelerating.
I admire Schwartz for making a public statement about this, and am glad he spoke specifically about the Kennedy Center’s opening. He emphasized how it was intended to be “apolitical,” and how, after the renaming, it implies connection to Trump and the Republican party. I appreciated that this article brought up some of the background on how the Kennedy Center was renamed. I found it interesting that Trump named himself as chair of the center, fired some board members, and only then, the board voted to change the name. I also looked into the renaming through a different article, where I read that Trump was “honored” and “surprised” by the vote.
The last part of the article- where the present of the Kennedy Center disputed Schwartz’s claims to the intended role of host- confused me. It seems very “he-said-she-said.”
In another article that I read, it was brought up that living relatives of the former president JFK (who the Center was named after following his assassination) condemned the renaming. They felt it was extremely disrespectful, and I agree. I don't think a memorial should be renamed to include another, especially only to “honor Trump’s work at the center.”
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