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Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella: Not So Happy Ever After

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cinderella will close next month less than a year after its West End premiere.

Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre

And so to how the day unfolded. The Stage ran a Sunday ‘Exclusive’ – on a Bank Holiday weekend – that the doomed musical was closing in June, as the creative team prepare to launch the musical on Broadway, where it will supposedly preview from February 2023. 
To recap, the current cast were told at 5.45pm — a statement was released at 6.30pm on Sunday.

LW Management wrote to the cast and crew

Dear Cinderella Family,

It is with regret that we’re writing to let you know that the Really Useful Group’s production of Cinderella will perform its final show at the Gillian Lynne theatre on Sunday June 12th…. Thank you for your immeasurable contribution to the show. We should all be very proud of Cinderella and all that we have achieved together, and we look forward to our paths crossing again before too long.

Having made his peace with losing out on Employer of the Year 2022, Lloyd Webber said: “I am incredibly proud of Cinderella. Not only did it get some of the best reviews of my career, but we led the charge to reopen the West End, ensuring that theatre and live entertainment remained relevant and in the news.”

He added: “mounting a new show in the midst of Covid has been an unbelievable challenge”.  

I can tell you that a mere four months ago, I attempted to discuss the beleaguered Cinderella with Lloyd Webber at the Palladium and he literally ran off down a corridor.

Anyway, In a 164-minute video on Instagram, actress Summer Strallen (who was due to join the cast as the Queen in July) discussed the situation in detail, saying that, while her agent received an email, she “basically got fired by social media, which is just not OK”.

Needless to say, we’ve been here before with School of Rock closing and a broken-hearted cast finding out on Twitter. The way present and future creative teams, crew and casual front of house staff continue to be discarded is completely unacceptable. 

The cast and crew of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (Andrew Lloyd Webber/PA)

Lloyd Webber is believed to have been making escalating losses, LW Theatres suffered pre-tax losses of £28.1 million in the 12 months to June 2021, with box office revenues down 97% on the same period the year before. 

Furthermore, company’s annual accounts show the company’s staffing reduction as a result of the pandemic, with LW Theatres employing a monthly average of 418 people in the year ending June 2020 and 217 in 2021, a reduction of almost half. If Cinderella, backed with Lloyd Webber’s millions, can fail, so can many others.

A spokesperson for the Really Useful Group said on Monday: “Everyone involved in Cinderella was contacted by call, email or in person (some through agents) before the news went live in the evening. Every effort was made to ensure people were notified before it went live, while trying to manage how quickly it would move on social media once people were informed.”

Which seems a little on the nose, even by the debased standards of the age. Like they weren’t in control of the timing of this announcement? Despicable.

The cast and crew of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (Andrew Lloyd Webber/PA)

In the meantime, what we really need now is systemic change so this can never happen again. In theatre, few creative freelancers and performers speak out for fear of losing work or being labelled ‘difficult to work with’. Change is overdue and every employer has the legal duty to ensure that their staff are treated with dignity. Until then there can be no happy ever after – for anyone. 

I admired Lloyd Webber for keeping theatre in the news during the darkest moments of the Covid lockdowns; The 74-year-old even said that he was prepared to be arrested if authorities tried to intervene in his reopening plans.

He also volunteered to personally take part in an early Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine trial.

About 60 people attended an EQUITY protest against the handling of Cinderella closure

In the end, though, bungling the closure of Cinderella after a global pandemic is the ultimate measure of failure from Lord Lloyd Webber. 

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cinderella” releases full album

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’S “CINDERELLA”

Polydor Records today released the full album of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella. The album, written and produced during lockdown in the UK, features voices from the cast of the new musical, as well as high-profile guest vocalists including Todrick Hall and Adam Lambert.  Todrick Hall contributes his unique version of ‘’Only You, Lonely You’’ – originally sung by cast member Ivano Turco – as a bonus track.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella will host its world premiere at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on July 20, 2021. Cinderella is a new romantic musical comedy based on an original story by 2021 Oscar® winner Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) and lyrics by Tony & Olivier award winner David Zippel (City of Angels).  Laurence Connor (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatSchool of Rock) directs, with choreography by Joann M. Hunter. 

Recording for the album began in March 2020 and continued through lockdown with Andrew Lloyd Webber recording artists remotely and producing the majority of the score from his home. The recording process continued with socially distanced studio sessions at Abbey Road in London. 

The debut single from the album, “Bad Cinderella”, was released in October last year.  This single, the first new material released by Andrew Lloyd Webber in five years, was performed by Carrie Hope Fletcher, who stars as Cinderella. She has starred in Heathers (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Addams Family (UK Tour), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK Tour), Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre), and most recently played Fantine in Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre. She is also a bestselling author and social media personality.    

The release of this album mirrors Andrew Lloyd Webber’s creation of a concept album for Jesus Christ Superstar before the show even debuted exactly 50 years ago this year. A string of further acclaimed releases including “I Know I Have A Heart”, “Far Too Late” and “Marry For Love” have already amassed over 5 million streams and 1 million video views.

The full track list for Cinderella is revealed below:

ACT I

  1. Buns ‘N’ Roses
  2. It Has To Be Her
  3. Bad Cinderella
  4. So Long
  5. Unfair
  6. Unbreakable
  7. Hunks’ Song
  8. Man’s Man
  9. So Long (Reprise) / Introduction To Only You Lonely You
  10. Only You, Lonely You
  11. The Queen’s Boudoir In The Palace
  12. I Know You
  13. I Know You (Reprise)
  14. The Village Square
  15. Unfair (Reprise)
  16. The Godmother’s Shop
  17. Beauty Has A Price

ACT II

  1. Fanfare
  2. The Cinderella Waltz
  3. The Ball
  4. I Know I Have A Heart
  5. Act 2 Scene 2
  6. I Am No Longer Me
  7. Moment of Triumph
  8. What Were You Thinking? /Introduction To Far Too Late
  9. Far Too Late
  10. Ego Has A Price (Reprise)
  11. The Wedding Fanfare
  12. The Wedding March
  13. The Ceremony
  14. The Vanquishing of the Three-Headed Sea Witch
  15. Man’s Man (Reprise)
  16. Marry For Love
  17. Cinderella’s Soliloquy
  18. The Wedding Party
  19. Finale

BONUS TRACKS

  1. Marry for Love (Full Version / Bonus Track)
  2. Only You, Lonely You (US Single Version / Bonus Track)

Ahead of Cinderella’s arrival at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, the building has been extensively refurbished and renovated, including upgrade works to the auditorium and Front of House.