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EXCLUSIVE: After Kennedy Center cancels LGBTQ+ musical, Guster brings cast on stage in protest
Finn's run at the storied DC venue was axed after Trump took over.
Marisa Kabas
March 28, 2025
Tonight at the Kennedy Center, legendary alternative rock band Guster took the stage to perform with the National Symphony Orchestra. But the audience got an extra surprise when the band brought on part of the cast of Finn—a children’s musical whose run at the center was recently canceled because of the new presidential administration’s vicious crackdown on the arts—to help them perform their song Hard Times.
What used to be one of the most prestigious venues in the nation has fallen from grace since Donald Trump’s inauguration and subsequent dismantling of the cultural institution’s board of directors—and the radical overhaul has led to cancelled performances and fear about what it means to perform at the center in its current iteration.
The cancellation of Finn’s run at the center was announced shortly after Trump installed a team of loyalists to the board, including Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and Andrea Wynn, the wife of billionaire Steve Wynn.
Deadline explained the circumstances surrounding the cancellation in late February:
Earlier this month, The Kennedy Center, under Trump’s newly announced leadership, canceled its planned tour of Finn, a well-reviewed Kennedy Center-produced children’s musical about a young shark who, in the words of the show’s creators, “wants to let out his inner fish.”
The Kennedy Center has said the cancellation of the tour “was a purely financial decision,” and that the cancellation had been in the works prior to the change in leadership. But the musical’s theme of tolerance and acceptance – the young gray shark named Finn ultimately decides to let out his “inner fish” by adopting a vibrantly colored and glittery new appearance – has been widely interpreted as at least a contributing factor in the tour’s axing.
The show was written by Chris Nee, an openly gay creator of the Disney animated series “Doc McStuffins.”
“It relates to anyone in the audience whether they’re an adult who remembers what it was like to hide something, or a young person who feels that way,” Nee told The Washington Blade when Finn initially premiered late last year. “I think it gives them the courage to say who they are and live unapologetically.”
(Photo by Justin P. Goodhart)
Trump has called the Kennedy Center “woke” and expressed his intentions to go “slightly more conservative” in the programming. When Guster heard the news and reflected on their upcoming performance, the band decided they needed to do something to make sure fans of their 30+ year career knew where they stood.
A copy of the remarks Guster’s Ryan Miller made on the Kennedy Center stage introducing members of the Finn cast was shared with The Handbasket:
I have a friend named Michael who wrote the songs for a musical called Finn. In the before times they were booked to play here at the Kennedy Center. But as all of you know, things happened, and the show is no longer being presented here. As the new administration has made abundantly clear, Finn’s themes of inclusivity, love, and self-acceptance aren’t going to be welcome in this building while they are in control.
So tonight our band is here to say our stage is your stage. We are your allies, we stand with the LGBTQ community, and we want you to sing with us. Please welcome the cast of Finn and composer Michael Kooman.
They belong here.
The performance of Guster’s “Hard Times” with the Finn cast members received a standing ovation from the audience.
This isn’t Guster’s first time making their important political views clear. When the Florida legislature introduced legislation banning public drag performances, the band performed a show in the state while dressed in drag.
(Photo from Florida show by Angela Hopkins)
“We’ve tried to stay focused on these shows being for our fans and the working symphony members and the excellent staff here,” the band’s drummer Brian Rosenworcel told The Handbasket of tonight’s performance in DC, “but when the new board promises to make programming ‘less inclusive’ you gotta use your platform to fight that. We just wanted to restore the voices that belong on this stage. LGBTQ voices are welcome on our stage anytime, anywhere.”
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