EXCLUSIVE: Finn, the children’s musical that opened to great reviews at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. last year only to have its national tour canceled by the venue’s new Trump-led regime, will be performed by a cast of Broadway stars for a one-night-only show to be livestreamed from New York’s Town Hall next month.
Scheduled to perform – with more to be announced – on March 17 are Andrew Rannells, Andrea Martin, Kelli O’Hara, Bonnie Milligan, Jessie Mueller, Nikki M. James, Jose Llana, Lea Salonga and Hennessy Winkler, as well as members of the original Kennedy Center cast. The evening will also feature a performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C., whose Kennedy Center appearance was recently canceled by the venue. Members of New York City Gay Men’s Chorus will join in solidarity.
The evening – with portions of the proceeds going to benefit The Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people – is being presented by Stars in the House creators Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley Jackson along with Finn creators Chris Nee, Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond. The 8 p.m./ET performance marks the fifth anniversary of Stars in the House, the livestreamed series created by Rudetsky and Jackson to aid entertainment workers impacted by the Covid shutdowns of 2020, a series that has raised more than $1.3 million for the Entertainment Community Fund and over $700,000 for other charities.
Lea Salonga
Getty
“Stars in the House was born out of a desperate need to not only raise funds for those in the arts whose livelihoods were shut down by the pandemic, but to also raise the spirits of those struggling at home in the midst of so much uncertainty,” said Rudetsky and Jackson in a statement. “Five years later, Stars in the House continues to serve as a platform to raise funds and highlight non-profits that are working to support marginalized communities.
“We are devastated by what has been happening at The Kennedy Center, an epicenter of the artistic community, and when we heard about Finn’s cancellation, we knew we wanted to find a way to help,” they continued. “We are thrilled to be working with this amazing team and grateful to the performers who are giving this joyful musical the voice it rightly deserves. Art deserves to be seen, not canceled. ”
Nikki M. James, Jose Llana, and Hennessy Winkler
Getty
Finn creators Dimond, Kooman and Nee said in a statement, “We are overwhelmed by the support we have received since the Kennedy Center tour of Finn was canceled just a couple of weeks ago. We are doing everything we can to keep the spirit of the show alive, and to make sure that young audiences still have a way to see themselves in Finn’s world and know that they are perfect and loved just the way they are. Stars in the House is the perfect platform for this little musical that could, and we cannot wait for audiences around the country to see it live, and livestreamed, next month.”
Tickets for the in-person performance are on sale now at StarsInTheHouse.com. A limited number of $500 tickets are available, which includes VIP seating and a backstage meet and greet. The show will also livestream on StarsInTheHouse.com.
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 cancelation of the tour “was a purely financial decision,” 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 – was widely interpreted as at least a contributing factor in the tour’s axing.
“We didn’t ask for this joy bomb of a show to be a part of the resistance,” Kooman, Dimond and Doc McStuffins creator Nee wrote on Instagram, “but here we are. At its heart it has a universal message of love and acceptance. The fact that that extends to sparkly boys seems to be controversial.”
Nominated for a prestigious Helen Hayes Award, Finn received rave reviews and audience popularity during its month-long run, leading to the center’s decision for a tour. Actors’ Equity condemned the cancelation as “beyond appalling” and “disturbing.”
Commissioned by the Kennedy Center, Finn premiered in November 2024 and in its month-long engagement played to more than 4,500 students and 6,000 members of the public.
At the time of Trump’s ousting of Joe Biden-appointed Kennedy Center board members and naming himself the Center’s new chairman, the president said on social media, “We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP! Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP. The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
In a joint interview last week with Deadline, Nee, Kooman and Dimond spoke about Trump’s “Drag Shows” comment. While the president did not specify which shows he meant, the Kennedy Center has in the past hosted family-friendly Drag Story Hour brunches, and while Finn doesn’t explicitly reference drag, the male shark Finn does don a sparkly ensemble after letting out his “inner fish.”
“I think we’re probably in that world of things that he doesn’t like,” Nee told Deadline. “But he doesn’t know what he’s referencing because he hasn’t seen anything.”
Nee continued, “Within the three hours of Trump taking over the chairmanship, we got a call from the Kennedy Center. It was a very last minute thing, quite obviously, like, Hey, can you guys hop on the phone in the next 20 minutes? We all ran and got on phones, and we were told that the tour was being canceled for financial reasons. So I think you just have to look at that and make your own decision as to where that was coming from.”
