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Opening night of “Les Misérables” was meant to celebrate the president’s takeover of the Kennedy Center. But he also was forced to encounter his critics.
June 12, 2025Updated 3:16 p.m. ET
Moments before President Trump arrived inside the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts for Wednesday’s opening night performance of “Les Misérables,” a couple of drag queens (and at least one drag king) entered the theater and took their seats near the stage.
Back in February, after the president purged the traditionally bipartisan board of Washington’s premier cultural center, he declared in a social media post that under his artistic stewardship there would be “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST.”
“You can’t erase us,” said one of the people dressed in drag, who goes by “Vagenesis” (actual name: Anderson Wells). Mx. Wells, a 34-year-old theater managing director in Washington, identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.
They were draped in what they described as a “lovely creamsicle flowy comfortable gown” and said their message to the president was an admittedly “cliché” one: “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.”
In some sense, Wednesday night’s performance marked the culmination of the Trump takeover of the Kennedy Center. Soon after taking office, the president appointed himself chairman of the center and restocked the board with loyalists. Some artists balked and some shows were canceled, but not this production of “Les Misérables,” which had been booked before Mr. Trump was elected. The president’s allies turned out in force for the occasion. Cabinet members packed the balcony, and supporters from around the country came out for the show.
But there were cracks in the sheen of this elite MAGA black-tie affair. After parading down the red carpet, Mr. Trump was confronted with signs of sharp opposition to his administration as some boos and heckles bubbled up from an otherwise adoring crowd. The drag queens, for their part, drew scattered applause when they entered the theater.
