Story of the Week: Finn and Other Canceled Kennedy Center Performances Find New Homes

On February 12, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, announced that President Donald J. Trump had been elected chairman of the board. His election came after he removed 18 board members appointed by the Biden administration and replaced them with 14 of his own appointees. We introduced you to those 14 new members, including mega-donors, wives of sports team owners, and other loyalists, last week.

The “new” mission of the Kennedy Center, as the president described in a past Oval Office press conference, is, “We’re gonna make sure it’s good and it’s not gonna be Woke.” On social media, he elaborated: “No more drag shows, or other anti-American propaganda” (in all caps).

All of this means that multiple performances have been taken off the Kennedy Center calendar, ranging from a children’s coming-of-age musical by the creator of popular animated programs on Disney Junior to performances by various choirs and symphony orchestras.

Story of the Week will look at some of these cancellations, and how the arts community at-large is coming to their rescue.

Finn

The story of a young shark who wants to live his truth while still being part of his family traditions, the family musical Finn premiered at the Kennedy Center in November 2024, before the Trump administration took over the venue. The show features a book and lyrics by Chris Nee, the Emmy-winning creator of the animated series Doc McStuffins and Vampirina, with a score by Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond, who wrote songs for those shows, as well as the musical Romantics Anonymous.

Finn received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding New Musical or Play just days before a touring run of the show was nixed by the Kennedy Center, citing financial reasons. “While not surprised given the events of last week, it is a heartbreak,” the writers said in a statement. “But we will not be silenced. And we will not abandon the kids we wrote this show for. They are already under attack from every side.” In addition to rave reviews, the show played to over 4,500 students and 6,000 members of the public during its initial run.

To celebrate the show, a starry one-night-only concert performance will be held in New York City at Town Hall on March 17 at 8pm. It will be produced by Seth Rudetsky, James Wesley Jackson, and their Stars in the House initiative, which is using the concert to mark its fifth anniversary of Covid-era fundraising.

The concert of Finn will feature members of the original Kennedy Center cast; the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, whose own Kennedy Center appearance was recently canceled; the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus; Tony winners Andrea Martin, Kelli O’Hara, Lea Salonga, Bonnie Milligan, Jessie Mueller, and Nikki M. James; and Andrew Rannells, Jose Llana, and Hennessy Winkler.

The concert will stream live that evening, and a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales and livestream donations will go to the Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people.

The International Pride Orchestra

The San Francisco-based International Pride Orchestra (IPO) brings together 80 queer and ally musicians from across the United States. This group includes professional musicians, educators, military band members, and more, who dress in everything from couture drag to full military regalia. “We aim to create a powerful and positive representation of the queer community through music,” founding artistic director Michael Roest said in a statement.

Following an invitation to be part of events presented by WorldPride and Capital Pride Alliance, the International Pride Orchestra was disinvited from performing at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, February 12. According to the organization, the curt email stated, “We are not in a position at this time to advance a contract.”

Quickly, the Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda, Maryland, came to the orchestra’s aid and offered a new home for the IPO’s 2025 Pride Celebration Concert. It will take place on Thursday, June 5.

The concert will be hosted by San Francisco-based drag performer and filmmaker Peaches Christ, with Roest sharing the podium with conductors Bonnie Alger and Robert Moody. “We are honored to bring our music to the Strathmore Music Center and to stand together against intolerance,” Roest’s statement concluded.

Rhiannon Giddens

Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner Rhiannon Giddens announced earlier this week that she has made the move to cancel her May 11 Kennedy Center performance on her own accord. Booked long before the current administration took over, she said in a statement, “I cannot in good conscience play at the Kennedy Center with the change in programming direction forced on the institution by this new board.”

Instead, she will stage the show eight minutes away at the live events venue the Anthem on the same day at the same time. “Let’s make this a huge celebration for all of us who need joy and inclusion to feel human,” she said, while also noting that she understands the internal conflict this turn of events has created for artists. “I don’t judge anyone for choosing to go on with their shows; it’s a highly difficult situation for artists right now and everyone has to do what makes the most sense for them in the moment.”

Eureka Day

Following an acclaimed Broadway run that ended on February 16, Anna D. Shapiro’s staging of Jonathan Spector’s vaccine comedy Eureka Day was scheduled to play the Kennedy Center March 7-22.

Produced on Broadway by Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC), the DC engagement was supposed to star Tony Carlin, Joe Carroll, Eboni Flowers, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz, and Teresa Avia Lim. MTC also cited “financial circumstances,” as the reasoning for the cancellation of the show, which is about a California private school whose board debates whether they should institute a mandatory vaccine policy for students following a mumps outbreak.

There’s little consolation for the actors, many of whom were understudies for the New York run (Carroll called it “heartbreaking” on social media) and are now out of a paycheck. But the play itself, which has already been seen around the country and across the world. will thankfully live on; its licensing rights are available through Dramatists Play Service.