Trump attending opening night of 'Chicago' the musical at the Kennedy Center

A woman walks outside The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts on Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump is attending Tuesday night’s opening of the musical “Chicago” at the Kennedy Center for what could be one of his last visits there for a show before the performing arts institution closes for renovations in July.

Trump is set to attend the performance alongside his wife, first lady Melania Trump. It will be their first time together at the Kennedy Center since the premiere of the documentary “Melania” in January. He attended the opening night production of “Les Misérables” last summer and was booed and cheered.

Set in the 1920s, “Chicago” is a scathing satire of how show business and the media make celebrities out of criminals.

“Chicago” will run at the Kennedy Center Opera House through April 5. The centre will award the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour to comedian Bill Maher on June 28, an event Trump could also attend.

Since returning to office in January 2025, the Republican president has wielded tremendous influence over the venue, ousting its previous leadership and replacing it with a handpicked board of trustees that named him chairman.

The board added Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center and approved the two-year closure, which followed a wave of cancellations by leading performers, musicians and groups upset that Trump had taken over the storied institution. Both the name change and the planned closure have prompted legal proceedings that are ongoing.

Presidents are known for their ability to multitask, but Trump’s attendance at Tuesday’s opening night show comes after the White House suggested that the war in Iran and other major matters kept him from attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Dallas over the weekend.

Trump was a fixture at past CPAC gatherings, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said he still “loves” the event and “has a very good relationship with the great people who run it.”

“It was just simply for scheduling purposes this year, with it being in Texas, it was best for the president’s schedule and what he has on his plate right now not to go,” she said during her briefing with reporters on Monday.

Trump instead spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and went to his golf club on Saturday and Sunday.

The Associated Press