Kennedy Center is looking at $80 million loss due to Covid; spring opera, all performances cancelled through April
The Kennedy Center announced Wednesday that it has canceled all scheduled performances through April 25. In the latest sign of the long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the city’s largest venue for classical music has also rescheduled or canceled all spring productions of Washington National Opera and touring productions of theater and dance.
Also two December concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by music director Gianandrea Noseda, will be recorded and made available for purchase at a later date.
Beyond April 25, cancellations include WNO’s May and July productions of Puccini’s La Bohème and Jeannine Tesori’s Blue, as well as the Broadway national tours of Jesus Christ Superstar, Oklahoma!, and Dear Evan Hansen, among others.
The center’s marquee production, the Kennedy Center Honors, will be delayed from March to a date in late spring and take place in a hybrid virtual and live-filmed format. During the affected period, the Kennedy Center will offer 20 or fewer in-person performances, as conditions allow, and expand its online offerings with a new platform called Digital Stage+.
This cancelation of 384 ticketed events means a financial loss of $24.1 million for the institution, plus an additional $7 to $8 million of revenue from programs that had not yet been announced. Combined with the fall cancelations in excess of $50 million, the Kennedy Center’s total earned revenue loss for the fiscal year of 2021 now stands at over $80 million.
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