Copyright The New York Times
This year’s fall season at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts officially kicked off one Friday night in September with “The Sound of Music,” the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein crowd-pleaser about nuns and Nazis. In the cavernous Hall of States, where the name Donald J. Trump is now etched into the marble, a V.I.P. zone complete with a velvet rope line was set up for various Trump officials and allies. Breitbart, Newsmax, The Daily Caller, The Washington Free Beacon and other Trump-friendly publications all had spots along the red carpet. The government officials and the right-wing press and hundreds of families settled into their seats. But before the towheaded Von Trapp children got the chance to dance, a voice came over the speakers: All actors needed to immediately clear the stage. There were “technical difficulties,” the voice explained. The crowd whispered as the curtain fell. It stayed down for the next 33 minutes.
