Last week, The Kennedy Center released a very long list of performances that have been cancelled at their venue along with the reasons the show did not go on.  I found the various reasons quite curious – flood, fire, theatre repair, and artist illness, alongside the typical low ticket sales or no reason listed.  Which begs the question – are these artists protesting the current administration, or trying to avoid some sort of curse?

The Kennedy curse continued for JD Vance and Mrs. Vance.  They were at the center to see the National Symphony Orchestra when people in the audience broke out in boos.  Watching the video of this fracas, I must admit I was completely flummoxed.  JD Vance went to the symphony?

You may have heard that the Sundance Film Festival’s contract with the City of Sundance expires in a couple of years, and the festival is entertaining bids to move.  That’s fine by me, as long as they change the name.  You surely cannot have the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City.  But what about if it were in another state entirely?  That’s what Robert Redford and other festival execs are pondering in light of a proposed bill that would ban Pride flags in schools and other state buildings in Utah.  Festival leaders claim that Sundance is a “vibrant, inviting and inclusive festival”.  So, I decided to help them out and provide a few options.  Didya know that there are cities called Sundance in New Mexico and Wyoming?  There’s also two Sundances in our 51^st state – Canada.  One in Alberta, and one in Manitoba, which is a ghost town.  I smell a winner (or whatever one smells in a ghost town).

A new production of Shakespeare’s Othello is breaking all kinds of Broadway records due to stars Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. And yet, again, I am perplexed.  The marquee shows Denzel’s name before Jake’s – as befits the actor playing the title role.  But the photo above the names shows Jake on the left with Denzel’s name directly below.  Couldn’t someone find a single photo with Denzel on the left?

You know whose name is soon to be leaving Broadway?  Nicole Scherzinger, who will fade into the Sunset Blvd on July 13^th – about a month after she loses the Tony Award (just a hunch).  But she won’t be gone for long.  She’s slated to make her Carnegie Hall debut on October 8^th, in a concert that will likely begin with “As If We Never Said Goodbye” (again, just a hunch).

Where her name will not appear is back in London’s West End, where she had aspirations of helming a new production of Evita.  Several names had been bandied about for this Jamie Lloyd production (the same chap who directed the Sunset Blvd revival).  Ariana DeBose was the main contender, but she pulled out due to previous commitments.  The lackluster Rachel Zegler will star, and Lloyd claims she will “blow the roof off the London Palladium”.  Since she was unable to blow off anything in the film remake of West Side Story, I remain skeptical.