'Wicked' Composer Stephen Schwartz Withdraws from Gala at Kennedy Center

“Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz said he will no longer host the Washington National Opera Gala this May at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., citing the shift in political culture at the storied venue.

Schwartz noted in an email to Newsday that the Kennedy Center “no longer represents the apolitical place for free artistic expression it was founded to be,” adding that “there’s no way I would set foot in there now.”

“Last 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,” Schwartz said in his email to Newsday. “But I’ve heard nothing about it since February 2025, so I have assumed it’s no longer happening. I can’t imagine Francesca continuing under the current circumstances. If it is happening, of course I will not be part of it.”

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The Kennedy Center quickly fired back at Schwartz. The venue’s vice president of public relations Roma Daravi said in a statement to Rolling Stone that he was “never discussed nor confirmed and never had a contract under current Trump Kennedy Center leadership.”

“Schwartz said himself that he ‘heard nothing about it since February 2025…assumed it’s no longer happening.’ It is completely false to report otherwise,” Daravi said.

Kennedy Center president Ric Grenell also chimed in on social media, adding that these claims by Schwartz are “bogus.”

“He was never signed, and I’ve never had a single conversation about him since arriving,” Grenell wrote. “He himself said last February he hadn’t heard anything it.”

However, tickets for the Washington National Opera Gala were still listed — with Schwartz set to host the event — on the Kennedy Center website until around 3 p.m. local time on Friday. His name has since been removed from the site, though the venue has not commented on why the tickets were listed if he was never “confirmed.”

Whether or not Schwartz was actually scheduled, he’s certainly not the first performer to cancel an event at the venue following Trump’s takeover. Chuck Redd pulled the plug on his annual “Jazz Jams” Christmas Concert at the Kennedy Center last month, followed by a pair of New Year’s Eve concerts by the jazz supergroup The Cookers. Both cancellations followed the venue’s name change to The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.

| READ: Christmas, NYE Concerts Cancelled at Kennedy Center in Protest of Trump Name Change |

Alongside the holiday shows, folk singer Kristy Lee cancelled a show in January, while Doug Varone and Dancers said they would no longer perform at the venue in April.

The Kennedy Center has faced criticism and political scrutiny since Trump’s appointment. The President previously said that he plans to eliminate drag shows and “woke” art at the venue, though admitted he has never actually seen a show at the institution. Shows have been cancelled, including the production “Finn” and the award-winning “Hamilton.” “Legally Blonde” has also been postponed.

Additionally, longtime member Jeffrey Finn, who has overseen programming at the Washington, D.C. venue since 2016, announced his departure from the venue earlier last year. This was the latest departure at The Kennedy Center after Trump took-over the venue, installed himself as chairman of the board, and replaced Rutter with loyalist Grenell as president.

Since Trump’s new appointees, ticket sales at the Kennedy Center have dropped sharply this past fall, with a new Washington Post analysis showing that the venue sold only 57% of its available tickets since September — a steep decline from 93% during the same period last year.