Andrew Lloyd Webber has hit out at the Government’s isolation rules after he was forced to make the “heart-breaking decision not to open my Cinderella” after a single cast member tested positive for Covid.
In a statement announcing the cancellation of performances at the Gillian Lynne Theatre including the planned fundraising Freedom Day and Gala shows, the composer said: “At Cinderella, from the outset, we have employed a rigorous testing system for all the cast and backstage crew before they begin work. On Saturday, as part of this process, we identified one positive case in a member of our cast who has a cameo role in the show.
“As a precautionary measure, we cancelled two shows on Saturday while we carried out further tests on everyone backstage, which were negative. Any of those who were identified as a close contact of the positive case were given additional PCR tests. These tests too were negative. This morning we carried out additional tests on those due to perform tonight. Every one of them was negative.
“Despite this, the impossible conditions created by the blunt instrument that is the Government’s isolation guidance, mean that we cannot continue. We have been forced into a devastating decision which will affect the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of people and disappoint the thousands who have booked to see the show.
“Cinderella was ready to go. My sadness for our cast and crew, our loyal audience and the industry I have been fighting for is impossible to put into words. Freedom Day has turned into closure day.”
Unlike other high-profile productions including Hairspray and The Prince of Egypt which have resumed or are about to resume performances following a similar event, Lloyd Webber told journalists he was not prepared to bring his Cinderella back into the West End until the current rules were changed.
While expressing his continued determination to open Cinderella in the West End, the composer and impresario appealed directly to the Government saying: “We cannot function with this current system. We can’t isolate every time somebody may or may not have it. It just simply doesn’t work.
“Please, please will this government for once listen to us. Listen. We do know what we’re doing, we do. Just listen and knock all these platitudes and endless, endless blunt instruments that don’t apply across the board.
“Whilst the need to self-isolate is an economy-wide issue, I recognise the particular challenges it presents to the arts and I’m strongly making the case for that in government.”
Based on an original idea by Killing Eve screenwriter and actress Emerald Fennell with a new score by Lloyd Webber and lyrics by multi-award-winning writer David Zippel, the production had widely been seen as a symbol of the eagerly awaited reopening of the West End.
Reuniting Lloyd Webber with director Laurence Connor and choreographer JoAnn Hunter – the team behind Cinderella’s predecessor at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, School of Rock, and the hit London Palladium revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – the musical stars Carrie Hope Fletcher (Les Misérables, Heathers, The Addams Family) in the title role and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (A Chorus Line, In The Heights) as the Stepmother.
Angela Thomas
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