{"id":2220292,"date":"2026-01-02T20:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T20:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2220292"},"modified":"2026-01-02T20:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T20:48:07","slug":"stephen-schwartz-pulls-out-of-kennedy-centers-2026-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/stephen-schwartz-pulls-out-of-kennedy-centers-2026-lineup\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Schwartz Pulls Out of Kennedy Center’s 2026 Lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tUPDATED:<\/strong> Stephen Schwartz<\/a>, the songwriter behind classic musicals from \u201cGodspell\u201d and \u201cPippin\u201d to \u201cWicked,\u201d has revealed he will not be taking part in a program spotlighting him at the Kennedy Center<\/a> on May 16.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt no longer represents the apolitical place for free artistic expression it was founded to be,\u201d Schwartz said in an email sent to Newsday<\/a> by his assistant. \u201cThere\u2019s no way I would set foot in it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe evening with Schwartz was still being advertised on the website of the D.C. institution as of Thursday morning. But Schwartz told Newsday he has not heard anything about it since last February, so assumed it had been canceled amid the changes with the Trump administration\u2019s takeover of the center. Even if the show were scheduled to go on, he said, he would decline to attend on principle.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLast year, way before the change of Board and name of the Kennedy Center, I was invited by (director) Francesca Zambello to be part of a Washington National Opera event on May 16, 2026,\u201d Schwartz said in the email sent to Newsday. \u201cBut I\u2019ve heard nothing about it since February 2025, so I have assumed it\u2019s no longer happening. I can\u2019t imagine Francesca continuing under the current circumstances. If it is happening, of course I will not be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn response to news stories about Schwartz saying he will not be there, a statement was subsequently issued Monday by Roma Daravi, the vice president of public relations at what is now being called the Trump Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cStephen Schwartz was never discussed nor confirmed and never had a contract by current Trump Kennedy Center leadership,\u201d said Daravi. \u201cSchwartz said himself that he \u2018heard nothing about it since February 2025\u2026assumed it\u2019s no longer happening.\u2019 It is completely false to report otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNonetheless, for some time after that statement went out, Schwartz\u2019s appearance was still being touted on the center\u2019s main calendar page, with a photo of the composer and a promise that he would be curating the concert in question; a link to purchase tickets was also still active, with his name prominent in the billing. However, all traces of Schwartz were finally expunged from the Trump Kennedy Center site as of mid-afternoon on Thursday. (Screenshots below picture how Schwartz\u2019s appearance was being billed as of Thursday morning.)<\/p>\n

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\n\tSchwartz joins a growing list of artists and performers who have pulled out of appearances scheduled for the venue, including a recent torrent who pulled out after the largely Trump-installed board voted to add the current president\u2019s name atop John F. Kennedy\u2019s, with no legal basis for renaming a national monument.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe pullout by Schwartz has symbolic value: He was the co-writer of the program that opened the Kennedy Center back in 1971, \u201cMass,\u201d a collaboration with Leonard Bernstein.<\/p>\n

\n\tSchwartz was one of very few big-name figures left who had a performance scheduled at the Kennedy Center in 2026. Variety<\/em> scanned the list of events on the ticketing page for the venue, and Renee Fleming and Tyrese are among the only celebrities on the docket. Otherwise, the programming at this point is mostly devoted to orchestral attractions and other institutional fare, along with children\u2019s programming, a recurring comedy show and touring musicals. A handful of jazz and Americana performances by individual artists dot the schedule, mostly by artists without a large national profile.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the most recent cancellations listed is a set of performances by the Asian comedy troupe \u201cAsian AF,\u201d listed as \u201ccanceled\u201d on the Kennedy Center site although the shows still appear on the comedy group\u2019s own website.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Schwartz featured appearance still listed on the center\u2019s website for May is a gala under the aegis of the Washington National Opera. \u201cWitness the links between musical theater and opera come alive in this thrilling concert!\u201d the promotional copy promises. \u201cAcclaimed musical theater lyricist and composer\u00a0Stephen Schwartz curates and hosts for one night only, bringing together an exciting lineup of soloists to perform beloved repertory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSchwartz is currently shortlisted in the Oscars\u2019 best original song competition for two new numbers he wrote for the blockbuster movie musical \u201cWicked: For Good,\u201d \u201cThe Girl in the Bubble\u201d and \u201cNo Place Like Home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe songwriter recently spoke in an interview with Variety<\/em><\/a> about how the two new \u201cWicked\u201d songs, \u201cNo Place Like Home\u201d in particular, speak to the current national mood.<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked whether \u201cNo Place Home\u201d can be taken as a song about the difficult times affecting modern-day America, Schwartz said, \u201cOf course, for anyone who\u2019s living in a country that they love that is changing. I think everybody across the ideological and political spectrum who lives in America would agree that we are not living in the same country we were living in 10 years ago. Maybe you like it better; maybe you think it\u2019s not a good development. But no one could feel like nothing has changed, because it\u2019s an entirely different country. And so, if you are someone who feels that it hasn\u2019t gone in the right direction, what do you do about it? What is your responsibility as an individual citizen of the country, particularly when it\u2019s increasingly dangerous to resist? How much courage do you need? Or do you just feel it\u2019s somebody else\u2019s responsibility?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think those questions are in everybody\u2019s mind,\u201d Schwartz continued. \u201cBut we\u2019re not the only country in the world that is undergoing a considerable change. You know, Hungary is certainly not the country that it was pre-Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2026 etc. So I feel it has ramifications beyond America. But I live in America, and so obviously I was writing from that point of view.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI mean, I write from the point of view of a character. But this is definitely a character who is wrestling with the fact that the country that she loves and lives in \u2014 the\u00a0land<\/em>\u00a0that she loves and lives in \u2014 has, from her point of view, devolved, and that she feels that she wants to try to help change that, and help bring it back to the country, the land, that she feels it can and should be.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source variety.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: Stephen Schwartz, the songwriter behind classic musicals from \u201cGodspell\u201d and \u201cPippin\u201d to \u201cWicked,\u201d has revealed he will not be taking part in a program spotlighting him at the Kennedy Center on May 16. \u201cIt no longer represents the apolitical place for free artistic expression it was founded to be,\u201d Schwartz said in an email […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2220293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[312609,344989],"class_list":["post-2220292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-kennedy-center","tag-stephen-schwartz"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Stephen-Schwartz-Pulls-Out-of-Kennedy-Centers-2026-Lineup.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2220292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2220294,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2220292\/revisions\/2220294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2220293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2220292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2220292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2220292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}