Lin-Manuel Miranda Cancels ‘Hamilton’ Shows at Kennedy Center Due to Trump Affiliation
The beloved musical will not be shown at the arts institution due to Trump's leadership shakeup
FILE - Lin-Manuel Miranda appears at the curtain call following the opening night performance of "Hamilton" at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York, Aug. 6, 2015. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the music, lyrics, and book for the massively successful musical Hamilton, is taking a stand against the Kennedy Center following Donald Trump’s new role as chairman by canceling all future Hamilton appearances at the center. Hamilton: An American Musical, which centers on the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton through the American Revolution, is one of the most successful Broadway productions and is considered groundbreaking for its intentional casting of people of color as white historical figures. The beloved musical was set to be performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in 2026, but following Donald Trump’s shakeup of the institution’s leadership, Hamilton cancelled its plans to perform there next year.
In a joint statement with lead producer Jeffrey Seller, Miranda, who was also the play’s original Alexander Hamilton, spoke with the New York Times about his decision:
“The Kennedy Center was not created in this spirit, and we’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center. We’re just not going to be part of it. This latest action by Trump means it’s not the Kennedy Center as we knew it.”
The show played the Kennedy Center in 2018 for 14 weeks during Trump’s first administration, in 2022 during Joe Biden’s administration, and was scheduled to appear at the center again in 2026 from March 3 to April 26. Additionally, Miranda and other Hamilton members were Kennedy Center honorees in 2018 during the first Trump admin. Hamilton previously won the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, the Tony Award for Best Musical, the Pulitzer Prize in the Drama category, and the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album in 2016.
Since Trump’s return to the White House, he has ousted the Kennedy Center’s leadership and filled the board of trustees with his own supporters. Additionally, he has announced that he has unanimously been elected as the board’s chair, contradicting the center’s legacy of bipartisanship since its conception in the late 1950s.
“The Kennedy Center has long been an artistic center historically devoid of a political point of view, with programming agnostic to the policy shifts of the times. At its heart, ‘Hamilton’ celebrates American diversity. The recent shift in the Kennedy Center’s ideology and board leadership has made it untenable for a production like Hamilton to celebrate and be celebrated there today,” Miranda said.
