The curtain is to return down on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new West Finish musical Cinderella, slightly below a yr after opening, with its last efficiency set for 12 June.
In a press release launched on Sunday by Lloyd Webber’s Actually Helpful Group, the composer stated “mounting a brand new present within the midst of Covid” had been an “unbelievable problem” and that a new manufacturing of Cinderella would open on Broadway in 2023.
There was astonishment on the manner during which information of the present’s closure reached present and future members of the Cinderella firm over the financial institution vacation weekend. Summer season Strallen, who had been as a consequence of be part of the forged, stated that she had discovered about it from studying a information story on-line and that her agent had acquired an e mail. Showing on Instagram Reside, Strallen stated she had been as a consequence of begin rehearsals in June and that she had been for a wig becoming three days earlier for her position because the Queen, which she was anticipating to play for one yr.
Luke Latchman, who had additionally been as a consequence of be part of the present, tweeted: “Think about – planning in your head 100 instances what you’re going to say when it’s introduced. Telling your family and friends you will have one thing coming and may’t wait to inform them about it. Understanding that career-changing West Finish lead was coming. Then you definately see a tweet and it’s all gone.”
Daisy Twells stated that she had been as a consequence of be part of rehearsals subsequent month and was set to make her West Finish debut within the ensemble of Cinderella. She had the subsequent yr “deliberate out financially and logistically” earlier than she acquired the “devastating” information. “This was a dream come true for me and yesterday it was all taken away in seconds,” she tweeted on Monday. She stated that she had “discovered by way of a press launch that the present is closing”.
Carrie Hope Fletcher, who performs Cinderella, tweeted on Sunday evening: “I don’t assume I've the phrases … Sending like to all impacted by in the present day’s information and by how that information was delivered.”
A spokesperson for the Actually Helpful Group stated on Monday: “Everybody concerned in Cinderella was contacted by name, e mail or in particular person (some by way of brokers) earlier than the information went dwell within the night. Each effort was made to make sure individuals had been notified earlier than it went dwell, whereas making an attempt to handle how shortly it will transfer on social media as soon as individuals had been knowledgeable.” Paul Fleming, the overall secretary of Fairness, the UK commerce union for inventive practitioners, tweeted that the way in which some individuals had realized concerning the closure amounted to “a callous assault on the dignity of the Cinderella firm”.
The Nice British Bake Off winner and Strictly Come Dancing finalist John Whaite revealed on social media that he had been as a consequence of be part of the forged for Cinderella in July within the position of Prince Charming. He stated that his “coronary heart went out” to these engaged on the present. Solid member Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, who performs the scheming, sharp-tongued stepmother within the present and introduced Cinderella its solely Olivier award nomination, tweeted that the position “has been a thrill and an expertise I wanted … From Monday morning June thirteenth I’m your girls in your rehearsal room.”
No particular causes for the present’s closure got by the Actually Helpful Group however Cinderella has suffered heavy losses throughout its run, significantly when performances had been suspended from late December to early February to keep away from disruption and “shield the standard of the present” whereas the Omicron variant unfold quickly throughout the UK.
The present’s arrival on the Gillian Lynne theatre within the West Finish was delayed by a yr due to the pandemic. Authorities restrictions meant that Cinderella performed at decreased capability throughout its previews, at an estimated weekly lack of £100,000. Its official opening evening was cancelled on the eleventh hour final July due to a Covid case within the forged. When the present lastly opened, in August, it acquired glowing opinions however its on-line reserving system reveals that there are numerous empty seats for the remaining performances.
In his assertion, Lloyd Webber stated: “I'm extremely pleased with Cinderella. Not solely did it get a few of the greatest opinions of my profession, however we led the cost to reopen the West Finish, making certain that theatre and dwell leisure remained related and within the information.”
The composer – who in 2017 give up as a Conservative peer, saying he was coming into the busiest ever interval of his profession – has been outspoken concerning the authorities’s dealing with of the pandemic. “We held the Authorities’s ft to the flames all through their modifications of coronary heart through the pandemic,” he stated within the assertion. Final summer season he even declared himself able to threat arrest and open for full audiences when theatre capacities had been restricted for social distancing. His complete fortune, in response to the Sunday Instances Wealthy Listing for 2021, plummeted by £275m to £525m.
Theatregoers with tickets for performances after 12 June are to be contacted by the field workplace or their ticket agent to debate their choices. Broadway previews for Cinderella, offered with the manufacturing firm No Ensures, are set to start in February 2023.
A fairytale’s ending: Cinderella’s troubled timeline
10 January 2020
Information introduced that Andrew Lloyd Webber is creating a brand new model of Cinderella with author Emerald Fennell and lyricist David Zippel.
14 February 2020
Carrie Hope Fletcher introduced in lead position for musical, set to open in August 2020.
5 March 2020
As Covid causes disruption, announcement made that the primary preview will now be delayed to 9 October owing to “present world circumstances”.
8 July 2020
Opening evening delayed to March 2021. “The present will completely go on, just a bit later than I’d hoped,” says Lloyd Webber.
4 June 2021
Far Too Late tune launched for musical, which is now as a consequence of open in July.
8 June 2021
Lloyd Webber says he's decided to open Cinderella at full capability and able to threat arrest in doing so.
18 June 2021
Composer slams “authorities delay and confusion” and says Cinderella is not going to be a part of a pilot scheme for reopening theatres, as advised by the prime minister.
25 June 2021
First preview takes place on the Gillian Lynne theatre.
19 July 2021
Press evening cancelled at brief discover owing to a Covid case within the forged; Lloyd Webber criticises “unimaginable circumstances created by the blunt instrument that's the authorities’s isolation steerage”.
18 August 2021
Cinderella lastly opens to critics, receiving 5 stars within the Guardian.
21 December 2021
Cinderella performances halted due to Omicron and can restart “as quickly as this wave is licked”, says Lloyd Webber.
3 February 2022
Cinderella reopens.
1 Might 2022
Closure introduced. “Thanks very a lot to everybody concerned, significantly our UK audiences who've liked and supported the present,” says Lloyd Webber.
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