Guster Perform With Cast of ‘Finn’ After LGBTQ+ Musical Canceled Following Trump Kennedy Center Takeover

Unlike some other artists, Guster did not cancel their booked gig at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center in the wake of the prestigious venue’s MAGA makeover in which Donald Trump had himself appointed as chairman and filled the organization’s board with loyalists while vowing to fill the stage with “non-woke” musicals such as his favorite, Cats.

In fact, Guster did just the opposite. During their gig on Friday night (March 28), the band staged a subtle protest against the administration’s planned make-over — which has quickly resulted in more than two dozens shows and performers canceling scheduled gigs — by bringing out the cast of Finn, an LGBTQ+ musical whose performances were called off after the Trump revamp.

Finn is a children’s musical that opened to good reviews at the Kennedy Center last year, telling the story of a young shark who “wants to let his inner fish out.” According to a video of the performance , Guster invited out the cast of the musical with trans themes, with singer Ryan Miller explaining, “I have a friend named Michael who wrote the songs for a musical called Finn” in the midst of the band’s show with the National Symphony Orchestra.

“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,” Miller continued. “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.”

The six singers from the cast received a prolonged, raucous standing ovation before the performance of Guster’s “Hard Times” and then again after.

Following Finn‘s cancellation at the Kennedy Center — which the venue said at the time was a “purely financial decision” — the show was performed by a cast of Broadway stars for a one-night-only livestream at New York’s Town Hall earlier this month, with a portion of the proceeds earmarked for The Trevor Project. Among the stars who participated in the special event were: Andrew Rannells, Bonnie Milligan, Nikki M James, Kelli o’Hara, Lea Salonga, Michael Urie, Peppermint, Brenda Braxton and more.

To date, more than two dozen events have been canceled by the artists or postponed at the Kennedy Center following the Trump revamp, including shows by Issa Rae, a production of Hamilton, the National Youth Poet Laureate event, Blacks in Wax, as well as shows by Low Cut Connie and Amanda Rheaume, a book event with J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf and many more.