'Wicked' composer Stephen Schwartz backs out of Kennedy Center event

Stephen Schwartz, composer of the hit musical “Wicked,” is no longer hosting a gala at the Kennedy Center this year following the Trump administration’s takeover of the performing arts venue

Stephen Schwartz, composer of the hit musical “Wicked,” is no longer hosting a gala at the Kennedy Center this year following the Trump administration’s takeover of the performing arts venue.

Schwartz said in a statement Saturday that the Kennedy Center was "founded to be an apolitical home for free artistic expression for artists of all nationalities and ideologies." He said that was no longer the case and that "appearing there has now become an ideological statement."

"As long as that remains the case, I will not appear there," he added.

Schwartz, a three-time Oscar- and Grammy-winning artist who also composed the musicals “Pippin” and “Godspell,” said in an email that he was invited in December 2024 to host a May 2026 gala in honor of the Washington National Opera by its artistic director, Francesca Zambello.

Schwartz was part of the event that opened the Kennedy Center in 1971, writing lyrics for the musical theater piece "Mass," which Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy commissioned Leonard Bernstein to compose in honor of President John F. Kennedy for the center's inauguration.