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A Tale of Two Musicals: The Trump Kennedy Center [1]
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Date: 2025-04-05
“Finn” is a new musical for children and the young at heart created by Chris Nee, Michael Kooman, and Christopher Dimond, who collaboratedon the book, music, and lyrics. It was a production of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts which premiered in November 2024 and quickly sold out its two-month run. Nee, one of her generation’s most prolific creators of kids’ content, was the program creator of Disney Junior’s children’s animated series Doc McStuffins (8 seasons) and Vampirina (5 seasons).
In this joyous musical, Finn is a young shark who aspires to become a member of the prestigious Shark Guard as generations of his family have done. But his secret desire is to dance in the Jubilee—a vibrant and freeing underwater celebration. Along the way, Finn meets Seasil, a royal tangfish with her own hidden passion for dancing. Their growing friendship and mutual support help each confront the pressures of family expectations and embrace their authentic selves. As the show’s creators put it, Finn just “wants to let out his inner fish.” (Source:
https://www.imdb.com/news/ni65127093/)
In late January 2025, Finn was selected by the Kennedy Center to be its national touring production—initially planned for one year and then extended to a two-year run.
On February 7, 2025, Trump announced a dramatic shake-up of the Kennedy Center’s leadership, firing several Board of Trustees members. He named 14 new trustees, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Second Lady Usha Vance, country singer Lee Greenwood, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Fox News anchors Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo.
By February 12, Trump had officially become Chair, removing long-serving chair David M. Rubenstein and firing Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, who had led the institution for a decade.
Just one day later, on February 13, 2025, the national tour of Finn was abruptly canceled. Although the decision was attributed to financial concerns, the show’s LGBTQ+ themes were widely seen as the true reason behind the cancellation. In response, the creators vowed to resist.
The first act of that resistance came on March 17, 2025 when the nonprofit Stars in the House, (See
https://www.starsinthehouse.com/), which was founded during the pandemic to help artists, hosted a virtual concert reading of Finn. (It starts at 53:30 at
https://www.youtube.com/live/2Rjtx40q1ok) with some of the cast and Broadway stars.
On March 28, 2025, members of the Finn cast joined the band Guster at the Kennedy Center to perform the song “Hard Times” written in 2019 during Trump’s first term. (Listen at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dfglDFznHo&t=264s)
Now America, Trump voters, and the rest of us are in for hard times. Trump has destroyed America’s reputation in the world, meaning good times may not follow. We will have too overthrow Trumpism and the see what is possible. We may regain some modicum of trust, but America may never lead the way it once did—Trump’s legacy. Now do we get the joke: Make America GreatAgain?
On April 1, 2025, Theater Mania, reported that Trump and the Kennedy Center plan to commission a new production called “Trump! The Musical!” “a bio-musical about the real estate mogul and reality TV star who became America’s 45th and 47th president.” (Source:
https://www.theatermania.com/news/trump-the-musical-to-debut-at-the-kennedy-center_1768805/) At the press conference Trump quipped, “It’s going to be just like Hamilton without DEI. And you know what? It’s going to be even better than Evita … and with a happier ending. We love a happy ending.” (Source: Ibid)
Of course, Trump never saw Hamilton, but Vice-President Pence and his wife did in December 2016—where they were booed by the audience. At the curtain call, Brandon Dixon, who played Aaron Burr, addressed Pence directly: “We, sir, are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents — or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir.” (Source:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/21/13699046/trump-hamilton-pence-apologize)Those words still resonate in Trump 2.0.
In protest, Lin-Manuel Miranda pulled Hamilton from theKennedy Center’s planned 250th anniversary celebration of American independence in 2026. The irony is hard to miss: Trump, the self-proclaimed guardian of America’s greatness, will preside over a celebration of independence while actively destroying it.
The article about “Trump the Musical” as reported by the Editorial Staff of Theater Mania was foolish since it was written on April 1st, but the hubris it conveys is not funny. A belated April fool’s joke.
The saga of Finn at the Kennedy Center is more than a tale of two musicals. It’s a microcosm of the cultural and political clash defining America today—between voices of inclusion and imagination, and forces bent on control and erasure. A children’s musical about self-expression was silenced, while a cult of personality gets a stage. Whether or not Trump! The Musical! was satire, Trump’s grip on the Kennedy Center is real. And like all stories, this one begs a question: What kind of country will we choose to be in the next act?
Day 75: days left to January 20, 2029: 1,386 days
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