WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — The Kennedy Center released a current list of performance cancellations from the past few months, in light of President Donald Trump’s controversial overhaul of the board.
The list was posted just after producers of the Broadway musical Hamilton announced they would be canceling plans to perform at the center next year. Lead producer Jeffrey Seller directly pointed to Trump’s “purge” as a reason behind the decision.
“[In] recent weeks we have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed,” Seller wrote in a post. “The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events … flies in the face of everything this national cultural center represents.”
Seller condemned the recent firings of Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter and Chairman David Rubenstein.
Late at night on March 6, Kennedy Center Vice President of Public Relations Roma Daravi released a statement addressing recent cancellations, including Hamilton’s.
“In the spirit of transparency and due to the litany of misinformation being spread in the press, it is important to give the public a complete account of program cancellations over the last 6 months. In fact, the only shows under the Kennedy Center programming umbrella that we have cancelled since February 12th were due to a lack of sales or artist availability,” Daravi stated.
The center listed the following program cancellations:
- 11/10/24: VOICES: Nadine Sierra – Cancelled due to artist illness
- 11/23/24: Macbeth – One show cancelled due to fire/flood
- 1/28/25-2/29/25: Shear Madness – Cancelled due to Theater repairs
- 2/7/25: NEMR – Cancelled by artist
- 2/8/25: Megan Gailey – Cancelled due to low sales
- 2/13/25: R&B Love Songs Edition – Cancelled by producer
- 2/24/25, 2/26/25, 3/6/25, 3/12/25, 3/13/25: Shear Madness – Cancelled for low sales
- 2/27/25: Balun – Cancelled by artist
- 3/4/25-3/22/25: Eureka Day – Cancelled by producer due to financial reasons
- 3/6/25: RIOT! – Cancelled due to artist availability
- 3/16/25: An Evening with Issa Rae – Cancelled by artist
- 3/15/25: Blacks in Wax – Cancelled by artist
- 3/19/25: Lowcut Connie – Cancelled by artist
- 3/21/25: Peter Wolf (Book Launch) – Cancelled by artist
- 3/21/25: Samhot – One show cancelled due to low ticket sales
- 3/22/25: Skipper the Seal Book Launch – Cancelled by artist
- 3/26/25: Arts & Wellbeing Panel – Cancelled by artist
- 4/5/25: Amanda Rheaume – Cancelled by artist
- 4/18/25: Bard and the Beat II – Cancelled by artist
- 4/19/25: Saigon Nights – Cancelled by artist
- 4/20/25: Bring them Home (Film) – Cancelled by artist
- 4/26/25: National Youth Poet Laureate Commemoration – Cancelled by artist
- 5/20/25-5/21/25: NSO: A Peacock Among Pigeons – Cancelled for financial reasons
- 5/27/25: Maria Joao Pires – Postoponed to following season
- 7/8/25-7/20/25: Bluey – Postponed to following season
- March/April 2026: Hamilton – Cancelled by producer
