Cats & Fashion Shows to Make KenCen 'Great Again'

In February Donald Trump named himself board chair of the Kennedy Center, declaring it his goal to make it “great again, a very special and exciting place.” What that means is anybody’s guess, including his own.

His initial ideas are pretty much DOA. At a meeting of the now completely MAGA-ified KenCen board on March 24, with Trump presiding, members enthusiastically discussed the possibility of booking Camelot, Cats, Fiddler on the Roof, Hello, Dolly! and The Phantom of the Opera—“some very good shows,” the chairman pronounced.

But problems abound. First, none of those musicals are touring in North America, although a Phantom tour launches next November. Second, financial realities and stiff resistance from labor unions such as the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees would torpedo any attempt to mount such productions in-house. And third, past experience suggests that such anodyne Broadway fare holds no particular appeal for the Center’s traditional audiences.

While Trump plays would-be impresario, the business of the Center is in tumult. The number of artist cancellations is growing, with the loss of Hamilton, a sure-fire cash cow, particularly damaging. And the deadlines for announcing next year’s schedule of events, which is usually released by mid-March, have come and gone. Elsewhere in the city, presenting organizations are busy fielding calls from artists and organizations looking for venues alternative to the Kennedy Center.

As if to divert attention from the lack of progress on programming, the Center’s interim president & CEO, Ric Grenell, is trying to gin up a mini-scandal, alleging past financial mismanagement. The most recent tax filings for the Kennedy Center, however, show a $6 million surplus on a total budget of $268 million, 16 percent of which are federal funds earmarked for physical upkeep.

Trump and Grenell are deeply invested in the notion that the building itself is “in tremendous disrepair,” and the chairman looks to a redo that includes “the seats, the décor, everything,” all to be paid for by Congress. One of his appointees to the board, New York real estate magnate Paolo Zampolli, has even grander plans. “I see the center like La Scala of Milano,” he told Politico. “So luxurious. So prestigious,” with fashion shows, a Cipriani restaurant, and a boat ramp on the Potomac.

Such visions are what now passes for making the Kennedy Center “great again.” Unnoticed by these fantasists are the people who patronize the venue.  Their interests and financial means fall somewhere between those of the tourists who flock to the Washington Mall and the one percenters who would tie their yachts up to a boat ramp on the Potomac.

Many of them are federal workers who enjoy classical music, theater, or dance and may now be considering boycotting Kennedy Center performances, because they are laid off, protesting Trump’s takeover, or both. Trump’s garbled vision for the Kennedy Center holds little appeal to them, and they (and we) can only hope the chairman grows bored and moves on to something else about which he knows little.

MSNBC.com