‘Hamilton’ Producers Cancel Upcoming Kennedy Center Engagement Following Trump Takeover: “Some Institutions Are Sacred And Should Be Protected From Politics”

deadline.com:

Producers of Hamilton, the massively popular Lin-Manuel Miranda musical, have canceled a planned 2026 engagement at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., decrying the “recent purge by the Trump Administration” of the venue’s professional staff and center-produced events. “Given these recent actions, our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center,” said producer Jeffrey Seller in a statement. “Therefore, we have cancelled the third engagement of Hamilton at the Kennedy Center, originally scheduled for March 3-April 26, 2026.” The engagement would have been the third run of Hamilton at the Kennedy Center. “Hamilton was proudly performed at the Kennedy Center in 2018 during the first Trump administration,” Seller said. “We are not acting against his administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.” The surprising move comes just weeks after the Kennedy Center announced that its planned tour of its children’s musical Finn had been canceled, as well as an upcoming performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C. “Political disagreement and debate are vital expressions of democracy,” Seller said. “These basic concepts of freedom are at the very heart of Hamilton.

However, some institutions are sacred and should be protected from politics. The Kennedy Center is one such institution.” See Seller’s entire statement below.

According to Seller, the actions taken by the Kennedy Center in recent weeks have “seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed.” “The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally