“Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz says he will not appear at the Kennedy Center after its board voted to attach President Donald Trump’s name to the venue — becoming the latest artist to push back against the president’s takeover of Washington’s most iconic performing arts center.
The Oscar and Grammy-award winning composer said in a statement, “The Kennedy Center was founded to be an apolitical home for artists of all nationalities and all ideologies. It is no longer apolitical, and appearing there has become an ideological statement. As long as that remains the case, I will not appear there.”
The center’s website had listed Schwartz as appearing in a gala with the Washington National Opera in May, and included a link to buy tickets to the performance, but it was removed from the website Friday afternoon.
In spite of the website listing the upcoming appearance by Schwartz, Richard Grenell, the president of the center’s board, denied that he had ever been signed to appear.
“He was never signed and I’ve never had a single conversation on him since arriving,” Grenell said in a post on X, calling reports of Schwartz’s cancelation “totally bogus.”
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