Latest news with #JohnF.KennedyCenterforthePerformingArts
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
President Trump, first lady will attend Kennedy Center's ‘Les Misérables'
WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are set to attend the opening of the musical 'Les Misérables' at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts next week, a White House official told NewsNation. 'I love the songs, I love the play,' Mr. Trump said in an interview with Fox News. 'I think it's great – we may extend it.' 'Les Misérables' — a stage adaptation based on the French novel by Victor Hugo — is scheduled to run at the Kennedy Center from June 11 to July 13. Hugo's tale dives into the 19th-century Parisian underworld, detailing the struggles of the underclass and a journey of hit song from the 1985 musical, 'Do You Hear People Sing,' is often included in Trump's playlist at political rallies and official events. A rendition of the anthem recently played at the 2025 Governors Ball at the White House. But the president's appearance next Wednesday is not without drama. Gin Blossoms to push for patients' rights in pre-Congressional Baseball Game concert After returning to power for a second term, Trump appointed himself chairman of the Kennedy Center and quickly dismantled the institution's board. 'We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!' the president wrote on Truth Social in February, adding, 'The Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP. The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!' Ticket sales in March and April at the Kennedy Center plummeted by about $1.6 million — roughly 36% — compared with the same period in 2024, according to The Washington Post. The Kennedy Center contends those direct comparisons are unfair, citing changes to subscriber packages and marketing, and emphasizing some shows have sold out. 'Our renewal campaign is just kicking off and our hard-copy season brochures have not yet hit homes,' Kim Cooper, the Kennedy Center's senior vice president of marketing, said. 'Our patrons wait for our new season brochures and renewal campaigns to take action.' Now, nearly a dozen cast members of 'Les Misérables' are planning to opt out of performing when the Trumps are in the audience. In a statement shared with NewsNation, Richard Grenell, who Trump designated as the president of the Kennedy Center, said: 'The Kennedy Center will no longer fund intolerance. Any performer who isn't professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won't be welcomed.' 'In fact, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn't hire – and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience. The Kennedy Center wants to be a place where people of all political stripes sit next to each other and never ask who someone voted for but instead enjoys a performance together,' Grenell concluded. Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance are also expected to attend the showing. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Kennedy Center Ticket Sales Dropped 50% After Trump Takeover
Donald Trump's MAGA makeover of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts isn't working out the way he hoped, if ticket sales and attendance are anything to go by. The New York Times reported Tuesday that in March and April, single ticket sales for Kennedy Center events dropped by 50% compared to the same period in 2024. The center also endured a deep hit to one of its most important sources of money, as total membership subscriptions declined by 36% year over year, according to the Washington Post. In addition, subscriptions to the National Symphony Orchestra dropped 28% and Washington National Opera subscriptions by 25%. Subsequently, theatrical revenues were down by an astonishing 86%, and dance revenues by 57%; the center now projects subscription revenue of $2.7 million, compared to $4.4 million last year. According to the Post and NYT, these figures have been confirmed by multiple, unnamed Kennedy Center employees. For its part, the center's leadership downplayed the significance of these figures, saying in a statement provided by senior vice president of marketing Kim Cooper, 'Our renewal campaign is just kicking off and our hard-copy season brochures have not yet hit home. Our patrons wait for our new season brochures and renewal campaigns to take action.' Reports of the cratering of attendance and revenue provides the first real picture of how things have gone since Feb. 7, when Trump fired several board members, declared himself the organization's chairman and imposed a hard right wing policy agenda. In the months since, prominent board members have quit, and high profile shows have either pulled out, such as a planned run of 'Hamilton,' or been canceled on what appears to be purely ideological grounds, such as planned LGBTQ Pride events. The post Kennedy Center Ticket Sales Dropped 50% After Trump Takeover appeared first on TheWrap.
New York Post
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
‘Trumpified' Kennedy Center is for ALL Americans — and the elites are raging
The elitist artsy set is up in arms about President Donald Trump's brash takeover of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The 'Trumpified' Washington, DC institution 'should get blown up,' Broadway legend Patti LuPone declared this week. Performers claim to fear 'Trump's politics and his meddling with the arts,' The Washington Post reported — but what they really hate is that the new attitude at the capital's premiere performance center opens it up to regular Americans. Advertisement It's about time the Kennedy Center was politically neutralized, welcoming audiences across the ideological spectrum. Certainly, the insiders should know that the arts have been failing to capture the imagination of the American public — and shows have been failing to recoup their costs — in part because their leftist partisanship has been a turn-off to at least half their potential audience. But the artists who've monopolized the Kennedy Center's stages for years are howling. Advertisement Robert DeNiro, at the Cannes Film Festival, complained about the center's 'philistine' coup in progress. Lin-Manuel Miranda yanked his musical 'Hamilton' from a scheduled run on its stages. Eleven of the 12 principal cast members in 'Les Misérables' say they'll go on strike rather than perform for Trump during their June 11 performance. LuPone, DeNiro, Miranda and the boycotting 'Les Mis' actors are clearly not up on their Hamlet. Advertisement 'The play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,' the prince of Denmark famously said — and these luminaries should know their Shakespeare. Refusing to engage now that the Kennedy Center's leadership opposes their leftist politics only exposes their own ignorance, elitism and superiority complexes. If they really wanted to effect change in the man they so despise, the best thing they could do is perform for him — as Hamlet wisely advised. Advertisement No, the truth is they simply think their hearts and their arts are too pure for the likes of Trump and his supporters. They're mad that the Kennedy Center's hallowed halls aren't just for them and their ethos anymore — that Americans who like a bit of circus with their bread no longer have to feel excluded. Trump's leadership change, while heavy-handed, shunts liberal activism back into the wings where it belongs. Sure, anyone could walk up and buy a ticket, but when it came to the arts in America, we all know full well who has been on the VIP list and who was meant to crouch among the groundlings. Despite the hand-wringing, Trump's first Kennedy Center season will see the same number of Broadway touring shows as in years past — including big New York hits like 'Spamalot,' 'Chicago,' 'Back to the Future,' 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' 'The Outsiders,' and 'Moulin Rouge!'. But two of them are non-union shows — a cost-cutting move that also opens the door for actors and stage techs who haven't had the chance to gain a coveted spot in the Actors Equity Union (it's not easy to get one). 'We want more options, not fewer,' said Kennedy Center president Ric Grenell, who notes the change in leadership also means no more drag story hours for kids. The Kennedy Center will play a major role next year in the celebration of America's 250th birthday, too, and the NEA granting requirements for that momentous occasion have already changed: They now ask artists to submit projects celebrating America, not tearing her down. Advertisement Anti-Trump artists liked having all of American theater for themselves. They enjoyed shutting out colleagues who didn't agree with them politically, and reveled in making traditionalist audience members feel uncomfortable. Get opinions and commentary from our columnists Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Those performers, writers and producers thought it was their job to 'educate' audiences with leftist politics — but it isn't, and it never was. Advertisement It's their job to entertain and tell honest stories in beautiful forms. When regional theater began in the 1950s with funding from the Ford Foundation, the goal was to take professional shows out to the rest of the country, to bring them the Broadway experience — not to force-feed them political diatribes. That's what Trump intends to do: Bring a return to fun to the American stage, with transportive, transformative works that allow audiences to let go of day-to-day troubles and experience the wonder of theater. Advertisement And what none of these complainers seem to realize is this: If their stages hadn't been occupied by leftist activism that shut out regular Americans, there'd be no cause for the correction they're seeing now. Libby Emmons is the editor-in-chief at the Post Millennial.
New York Post
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Broadway's Patti LuPone says Trump-led Kennedy Center ‘should get blown up'
Broadway veteran Patti LuPone lashed out at President Donald Trump for his overhaul of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and called for the building to 'get blown up,' in an interview published Monday. In February, Trump fired several Kennedy Center board members, including the president and chairman, and replaced them with pro-Trump figures, who then named the president as chairman. In a post to Truth Social announcing the changes, Trump vowed to make the performing arts center 'great again,' by removing board members who did not share his administration's 'vision for a Golden Age in arts and culture.' Trump said that drag shows 'targeting' children were one example of programming at the Kennedy Center that would end under his leadership. 4 Broadway star Patti LuPone called for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to 'get blown up,' after President Donald Trump's overhaul of it in an interview. Variety via Getty Images His actions stirred backlash in the theater and film world, with multiple artists resigning from their roles or canceling upcoming performances at the Kennedy Center in protest. LuPone, 76, slammed the Trump takeover in new comments to New Yorker writer Michael Schulman. 'She's even angrier at the rest of the country,' Schulman wrote. 'She told me, more than once, that the Trumpified Kennedy Center 'should get blown up.'' LuPone also told the outlet that she wished that the Trump administration would 'Leave New York alone.' She has been an outspoken critic of Trump over the years. 4 Trump fired several Kennedy Center board members and replaced them with pro-Trump figures, who then named the president as chairman. REUTERS 4 Trump walks down the stairs at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on March 17. REUTERS Ahead of the 2020 election, LuPone said she was considering moving to Ireland if Trump won. On the Tony Awards red carpet in 2017, she said that she would not perform for Trump if he came to one of her shows, 'because I hate the mother—.' Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, slammed LuPone's comments in a statement to Fox News Digital. 4 LuPone in 'Hollywood.' Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection 'The far left has morphed into violent extremists. This is completely unacceptable – from the same people who claim to be for tolerance and diversity. Everyone should condemn these radicals,' Grenell said. LuPone did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital, 'President Trump cares deeply about American arts and culture, which is why he is revitalizing historic institutions like the Kennedy Center to their former greatness.'
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Broadway star Patti LuPone says Trump-led Kennedy Center 'should get blown up'
Broadway veteran Patti LuPone lashed out at President Donald Trump for his overhaul of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and called for the building to "get blown up," in an interview published Monday. In February, Trump fired several Kennedy Center board members, including the president and chairman, and replaced them with pro-Trump figures, who then named the president as chairman. In a post to Truth Social announcing the changes, Trump vowed to make the performing arts center "great again," by removing board members who did not share his administration's "vision for a Golden Age in arts and culture." Trump said that drag shows "targeting" children were one example of programming at the Kennedy Center that would end under his leadership. His actions stirred backlash in the theater and film world, with multiple artists resigning from their roles or canceling upcoming performances at the Kennedy Center in protest. Kennedy Center Cancels Lgbtq+ Pride Events To Align With New Priorities After Trump Fired Center's Leadership LuPone, 76, slammed the Trump takeover in new comments to New Yorker writer Michael Schulman. Read On The Fox News App "She's even angrier at the rest of the country," Schulman wrote. "She told me, more than once, that the Trumpified Kennedy Center 'should get blown up.'" LuPone also told the outlet that she wished that the Trump administration would "Leave New York alone." She has been an outspoken critic of Trump over the years. John Lithgow Says Trump's Return Is Biggest 'Disaster' For The Arts Since Covid-19 Ahead of the 2020 election, LuPone said she was considering moving to Ireland if Trump won. On the Tony Awards red carpet in 2017, she said that she would not perform for Trump if he came to one of her shows, "because I hate the mother—." Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, slammed LuPone's comments in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The far left has morphed into violent extremists. This is completely unacceptable – from the same people who claim to be for tolerance and diversity. Everyone should condemn these radicals," Grenell said. LuPone did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital, "President Trump cares deeply about American arts and culture, which is why he is revitalizing historic institutions like the Kennedy Center to their former greatness."Original article source: Broadway star Patti LuPone says Trump-led Kennedy Center 'should get blown up'
