UPDATED: Stephen Schwartz, the songwriter behind classic musicals from “Godspell” and “Pippin” to “Wicked,” has revealed he will not be taking part in a program spotlighting him at the Kennedy Center on May 16.
“It no longer represents the apolitical place for free artistic expression it was founded to be,” Schwartz said in an email sent to Newsday by his assistant. “There’s no way I would set foot in it now.”
The 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’s takeover of the center. Even if the show were scheduled to go on, he said, he would decline to attend on principle.
“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 the email sent 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.”
In 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.
“Stephen Schwartz was never discussed nor confirmed and never had a contract by current Trump Kennedy Center leadership,” said Daravi. “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.”
Nonetheless, for some time after that statement went out, Schwartz’s appearance was still being touted on the center’s 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’s appearance was being billed as of Thursday morning.)
Schwartz 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’s name atop John F. Kennedy’s, with no legal basis for renaming a national monument.
The pullout by Schwartz has symbolic value: He was the co-writer of the program that opened the Kennedy Center back in 1971, “Mass,” a collaboration with Leonard Bernstein.
Schwartz was one of very few big-name figures left who had a performance scheduled at the Kennedy Center in 2026. Variety 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’s 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.
Among the most recent cancellations listed is a set of performances by the Asian comedy troupe “Asian AF,” listed as “canceled” on the Kennedy Center site although the shows still appear on the comedy group’s own website.
The Schwartz featured appearance still listed on the center’s website for May is a gala under the aegis of the Washington National Opera. “Witness the links between musical theater and opera come alive in this thrilling concert!” the promotional copy promises. “Acclaimed musical theater lyricist and composer Stephen Schwartz curates and hosts for one night only, bringing together an exciting lineup of soloists to perform beloved repertory.”
Schwartz is currently shortlisted in the Oscars’ best original song competition for two new numbers he wrote for the blockbuster movie musical “Wicked: For Good,” “The Girl in the Bubble” and “No Place Like Home.”
The songwriter recently spoke in an interview with Variety about how the two new “Wicked” songs, “No Place Like Home” in particular, speak to the current national mood.
Asked whether “No Place Home” can be taken as a song about the difficult times affecting modern-day America, Schwartz said, “Of course, for anyone who’s 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’s not a good development. But no one could feel like nothing has changed, because it’s an entirely different country. And so, if you are someone who feels that it hasn’t 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’s increasingly dangerous to resist? How much courage do you need? Or do you just feel it’s somebody else’s responsibility?
“I think those questions are in everybody’s mind,” Schwartz continued. “But we’re 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 Orbán… 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.
“I 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 — the land that she loves and lives in — 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.”
