President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance are planning to attend opening night of Les Misérables at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on June 11.

The musical, about characters navigating social injustice and revolution in France, is based on the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo, with a book by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, music by Schönberg and lyrics by Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel. Its first United States staging was at the Kennedy Center in 1986.

Trump is a fan. At campaign rallies he would make his entrance to the anthemic “Do You Hear the People Sing?” blaring from loudspeakers. The U.S. Army Chorus performed the song at a ball for the country’s governors at the White House, hosted by the President and First Lady.

Les Misérables is at odds with Trump’s ‘ethos’

Many have commented on Trump’s affection for a story that, in part, depicts a rebellion by students and the poor against the ruling class. As the lyrics to that song say, the people “singing a song of angry men” are making “the music of a people who will not be slaves again.”

Mattia Ferraresi, writing for the website Air Mail, calls Les Mis “a show that could not be further from the ethos” of Trump’s administration. “The heroes of the play resemble the villains of today’s reality, and vice versa. The highest virtue of Hugo’s characters is mercy, while Trump’s role models thrive on retribution.”

Trump leadership has led to canceled shows

In February, Trump took over the Kennedy Center. He fired president Deborah Rutter and purged members of the board who’d been appointed by President Biden. Trump’s newly-appointed board voted him chair and Trump named Richard “Ric” Grenell president.

Trump has derided past programming at the Kennedy Center in speeches and on social media. “The programming was out of control with rampant political propaganda, [diversity, equity and inclusion] and inappropriate shows,” he said at a recent dinner for the Kennedy Center board.

On Truth Social, he wrote that Grenell “shares my Vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American Arts and Culture, and will be overseeing the daily operations of the Center. NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST.”

Trump’s actions and comments since January have infuriated artists, some of whom cancelled their shows.

The creators of Hamilton cancelled a performance that was intended to be part of the Kennedy Center’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Lin-Manuel Miranda told the New York Times that “it’s not the Kennedy Center as we knew it.”

According to CNN, at least 10 members of the cast of Les Misérables have chosen not to perform during the show’s run at the Kennedy Center. Bond Theatrical, which produces the touring production, would not confirm CNN’s report. In an email to NPR, a Bond representative wrote, “The national tour of Les Misérables will be performing its first-class production for DC audiences throughout their engagement at the Kennedy Center, where the US first saw the original production in 1986.”

The Kennedy Center recently announced the lineup for its 2025-2026 season, which includes Broadway touring productions of Moulin Rouge, Chicago and Mrs. Doubtfire. But, according to The Washington Post, subscription ticket sales are down by 36% from this time last year.

The Kennedy Center has denied this, saying on social media that it “isn’t accurate” because “our renewal campaign is just kicking off and our hard-copy season brochures have not yet hit homes.”

Trump’s attendance at events may be a boost to its bottom line. On the Kennedy Center’s website, tickets to Les Mis on June 11 are sold out.

Jennifer Vanasco edited this story.

Greg Hardy
Arrested For Assaulting Family Member

Published June 4, 2025 8:14 PM PDT

Six white roses sit in a glass vase on Kellie Gerardi’s kitchen counter. On camera, for millions of followers across her social media platforms, Gerardi slowly picks out stems until only three remain. Each of the final three faded white roses represents a viable embryo, a bundle of hope in her battle against secondary infertility.

Gerardi was the 90th woman in history to fly to space. She’s also a children’s author, a researcher, a Swiftie and a mother. Her latest mission is one she’s been working on for years: to give birth to a second child.

“To date, I’ve been pregnant five times with only Delta as my child,” she said. “It’s been a rough journey and it’s this mix in secondary infertility of both knowing that it’s possible for me to conceive and carry a pregnancy to term, obviously, but having long periods of time not being able to get pregnant [or] when I do, having a loss that is just devastating each time.”

From astronaut life to motherhood, Gerardi shares her life online. Her videos document everything from her space research on biomedical and thermodynamic fluids to trips with her mom and daughter — usually rocking her chunky star necklace and some sort of space-themed sweater with multicolored stars, moons or aliens.

With over 2 million followers on her Instagram and TikTok accounts, Gerardi’s social media presence has been a space to celebrate women, science and girlhood. These days, with Gerardi openly sharing her fertility journey and experiences with in vitro fertilization — a treatment that extracts eggs and fertilizes them with sperm outside of the body — her socials have become a communal space for others going through similar struggles.

“There were so many highs and lows just within the process [of IVF],” she said. “The egg retrieval, that was my first time going through it. And I think I was just a little bit emotionally unprepared.”

Gerardi began IVF in the fall of 2024. Only one viable embryo came out of that first round. It transferred successfully, and she shared the joys of being pregnant proudly and widely online. In February, the day before her 36th birthday, Gerardi attended one final ultrasound.

Gerardi recalled, “I went into my graduation appointment, or what was supposed to be my graduation appointment from my IVF clinic at that nine-week check up … and in that appointment was just shattered to hear my doctor and the nurses in the room tell me that there was no heartbeat.”

She left the clinic through a discreet exit she hadn’t seen before and shared the news in a real-time update to her social media community. Gerardi is committed to being transparent with her community, and that means sharing both the good and the bad.

After taking time to heal, Gerardi and her family decided to try again. And she was just as committed to sharing every step of the IVF process this time around — especially her joy and hope.

“Nothing is ever guaranteed in IVF,” Gerardi said. “I’m not unaware that it is a distinct possibility that either the same thing happens again, which would be equally devastating, or you know transfers don’t work … whatever it may be. I know the risks, and I know that nothing is a given. And yet, I’m still allowing myself [to] exist in this level of hope and enthusiasm and optimism.”

Gerardi has a second space mission scheduled for 2026. While she’s still figuring out the best timeline for herself and her family, those three embryos are set to be frozen and she has high hopes for a transfer in the future.