My Theatres Will Reopen Fully on June 21st “Come Hell or High Water”, Says Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber will take a stand against the Government if it does not remove all lockdown restrictions relating to his theatres later this month. With the premiere of his latest production, Cinderella, around the corner, the composer says he is willing to face arrest by opening his venues without social distancing if the lockdown roadmap is extended, insisting that “we are going to open, come hell or high water”. The Telegraph has the story.
Lloyd Webber, the world’s most successful composer of musicals, is putting the finishing touches to his first new West End show in five years. He should be preparing to celebrate – the first preview is just over two weeks away, with opening night set to follow on July 14th – instead, he’s spoiling for a fight.
The world premiere of his £6 million Cinderella depends on social distancing being lifted, in accordance with the Government’s “roadmap”, on June 21st, a promised milestone that looks increasingly in doubt. Yet, Lloyd Webber tells me, his voice bristling with defiance, “we are going to open, come hell or high water”. What if the Government demands a postponement? “We will say: come to the theatre and arrest us.”…
What should be the happy conclusion to a creative journey that began in earnest in 2018, before being diverted by the
pandemic[lockdowns] (Cinderella was originally due to open last August) is once again in question. No show of this scale, with a bank-busting ensemble of 34, is commercially viable while attendances remain capped at 50% of capacity.Despite the success of the vaccine roll-out, the mood music has suddenly changed, and official caution is once again in the ascendant. Lloyd Webber questions the justification for this. “I’ve seen the science from the tests, don’t ask me how,” he says. “They all prove that theatres are completely safe, the virus is not carried there. If the Government ignore their own science, we have the mother of all legal cases against them. If Cinderella couldn’t open, we’d go, ‘Look, either we go to law about it or you’ll have to compensate us’.”
The stakes could hardly be higher. It costs Lloyd Webber £1 million a month just to keep his six theatres dark. He has remortgaged his London home… and has reportedly borrowed more than £50 million, although he refuses to confirm that figure today. According to the Sunday Times Rich List his personal net worth has tumbled by £275 million in a year, to £525 million.
More challenges lie ahead. He has two other shows waiting in the wings: a new production of The Phantom of the Opera… is set to take over the refurbished Her Majesty’s Theatre from July 27th; while a revival of Joseph is also due at the Palladium that month. Then, as owner of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London’s oldest playhouse, he’s also poised to unveil a £60 million renovation in time for the U.K. stage premiere of Disney’s Frozen in August. All of which leaves Lloyd Webber in a position he describes as “acute financial stress. I don’t think [the Government] understand it. We’ve never taken any profit out of the theatres. I’ve always tried to put back in, which is why we’re in a muddle now because we never had a big reserve.”
Lloyd Webber expressed his annoyance at the difficulty of getting the Government to understand the importance of unlocking live entertainment. “Unfortunately… the Government regards theatre as a nice thing to have rather than a necessity.”
Worth reading in full.
The only question is, will Lloyd Webber’s theatre productions be open to all? Last month, the composer compared “selfish” people who refuse to get vaccinated against Covid to drink drivers.
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I have never been a fan of Andrew Lloyd Weber, but suddenly he has gone up hugely in my esteem!
Careful, it’s a ploy. He will only allow the vaccinated into his venues. He’s already compared those of us choosing not to have the “vaccine” to drink-drivers. I hate the guy.
Thanks for reminding me of that. I don’t know how it slipped my mind. The pendulum of respect has immediately swung to the other end of the spectrum.
My pleasure. Here, we all help each other. Pick me up next time!
I did wonder on that myself. Let’s see if more follow suit.
Disappointing that Curzon didn’t mention this in his article. Must have slipped his mind too (despite Lloyd Webber’s comments about the unvaccinated being reported on LS not too long ago).
Ok, now I see a comment by Curzon at the bottom of the article which I didn’t see before. If it was there when I posted my comment, apologies.
Fuck the bug eyed cunt
Is that what he’s said? I only gave 2 cheers for his stance after the ‘drunk drivers’ comment but would have happily gone along to a production. But if it’s vaxxed only – ah well…….
Agreed, I now view him as more than an amoeba. He’s very nearly some sort of slimy little leech.
But twice as ugly!
He’s an odious little lovey. Can’t be doing with him.
It would be encouraging if Lloyd Weber was to put up a fight. People with high profiles and some public clout have to start taking a stand. Unfortunately, LW did not do himself any favours with his appalling pro-vaccine stance.
Grabbing my popcorn, I definitely want to see how this plays out.
Mr Lloyd Webber, I’d respect more what you have to say if you hadn’t very publicly vilified those of us who choose not to take the untested “vaccine” to “protect” us against a virus which is – at worst – an inconvenience for over 99% of the population by saying we’re as bad as drink-drivers.
lol – forgot about that
mind you, I compare the vaccinated to heroin addicts. inject yourself with something to make you feel better short term. don’t think about long term consequences
Most people don’t have a clue about the potential long-term hazards. They take it at face value that these have been fully tested, although anyone with a couple of brain cells to rub together would have worked out that’s impossible, especially as anyone who displays any caution about getting jabbed gets shut down with the narrative that the authorities and pharma companies have thrown everything at getting them tested without cutting any corners.
Yeah, right.
Having said all that, most of the people I know, family excepted, have had one or other vaccine with only one person so far having had any serious side effect. She’s still in hospital…
Out of interest is the person in hospital very elderly, obese or has serious underlying health issues? Also how many people do you physically know that don’t have the above risks that have been hospitalised solely because of covid?
Genuinely interested.
Yes, one minute he says EVERYONE must take the jabs, the next he says “I’ve seen the science from the tests, don’t ask me how,” he says. “They all prove that theatres are completely safe, the virus is not carried there” Ummm!
Since they’ve all been closed, how can anyone tell if they’re ‘safe’ or not Mr LW? Just open your bloody theatres there’s no need to justify your actions.
Florida? Texas? South Dakota?
Probably light on the theatre productions, but they’ve had their restaurants open, mass gatherings at sports stadia,etc, etc.
After his comments regarding the stupidity and selfishness of anti covaxers, I hope his awful plays tank. You know for a fact he will only allow proof of vaccinated access. So before you get excited by his “big stand”, you may want to temper it with what his stand facilitates.
Spot on.
Vax fascist.I’m not impressed by his sudden impression of Ron De Santis or Ivor Cummins. He can go under as far as I’m concerned.
Seconded.
It’s not clear from the above whether they intend to operate some kind of health pass to control admission, and I don’t have a DT account to read the full story. Clearly if he is intending to discriminate on that basis it is reprehensible.
However, the general sentiment that enough is enough and to go ahead regardless of guidance or law is the right one, and one that, if copied by enough big powerful businesses might frighten our clown leaders into allowing more than they currently intend to. I’m under no illusions about June 21, and we know that a lot of coronamadness stuff will continue indefinitely, but if the govt can be bullied into opening up more then at least it provides work and enjoyment for people who otherwise would not have it, and also pushes them a little more into a corner.
He’s a vax zealot, so I have no doubt that it will be double-jabbed and double-masked for the cheap seats. Different rules for the twirlies and box-level patrons, of course.
Maybe, but others may copy his defiance without those restrictions – for example, Wetherspoons. It’s a small ray of hope.
But will the vaxxed go though and sit side by side with other vaxxed, they are the compliant and nervous people and if the government is saying it isn’t safe perhaps they won’t be willing to buy tickets?
Very good point. After all, being double-jabbed and double-muzzled doesn’t stop you catching or spreading it, as we’ve been assured by the New Settled Science.
One simply can’t take the risk, can one?
Maybe he’ll be offering people booster injections on the way in, just to put their minds at ease.
On Radio 4 this morning he did mention he was anti vax passport but would prefer audiences to wear masks.
For the comment about masks alone he remains my enemy.
He wants to open up to make money. It doesn’t seem to have much to do with principle, otherwise where has he been for the last 16 months?
He probably realised, too late, that his previous willingness to follow ‘certain protocols’ ie showing vax passports, was a bad move.
He must have thought he was engaging in soliloquy when expressing his poor opinions about the uninjected but it has resulted in alienating people against him and his opinions. Own goal, back of the net!
Every little helps, but really he’s just agitating for compensation. I expect some slush will flow his way, and he’ll hush up and go back to twirling.
On reflection these are my thoughts also – he’s throwing a tantrum and presenting a pose of defiance as an attempt at arm-twisting Bozo for some compo.
Fan-bloody-tastic.
I disagree with his past views regarding those who declined the vaccine but I applaud his decision to take a stand against this covid tyranny.
We cannot carry on like this – it is utter insanity.
If he was against the tyranny he should have said so months ago.
It’s not finely honed principles that activate him, but the desire to make money.
I suppose grudgingly we should welcome his stance in the hope that it encourages others to follow suit.
Just needs a few more people of his standing (Wetherspoons etc) to come out and say the same and it’s all over. It’s that simple.
Careful, it’s a ploy. He will only allow the vaccinated into his venues. He’s already compared those of us choosing not to have the “vaccine” to drink-drivers. I hate the guy.
Andrew Lloyd Webber says Covid vaccine refusers are ‘selfish’
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has compared people who refuse Covid vaccines to drink drivers.
Lloyd Webber – full on panicker collaborator and vaccine fascist. And I mean “fascist” advisedly – he has joined in the evil scapegoating of dissenters.
Why should anyone have any sympathy for him when, as one of the few individuals with the kind of wealth and platform to have possibly made a difference, he instead went along with the mass panic, and then descended to the level of scapegoating his betters?
If the world were just, he would go bust as a result of the panic he collaborated with, and his wealth would go to those who have lost out as a result of it.
But I’ll settle for him finally making a stand and getting some of the treatment previously dished out to dissenters, no doubt with his approval. Though it’s quite possible the regime will coward out of letting the police give him a beating and then charging him with “resisting arrest”, because he has a high profile and the capacity to embarrass them.
I don’t agree with his vaccine views, but the fact is he’s speaking for an industry that is the lifeblood of so many businesses in central London. Yes Chinatown is now busy, along with pockets around the West End, but for most businesses to be sustainable, they need the crowds. That means reopening fully for tourism, theatres and entertainment and allowing pubs, clubs and bars to be packed to the gills.
His vaccine views and the fact he went along with the panic when he had easily the resources (unlike the vast majority of panickers) to educate himself and potentially to make a difference, if he had spoken out, means I regard him as personally culpable (in a small degree) in this whole, avoidable disaster, and his vaccine fascism makes him beneath contempt.
Granted, his new conversion (out of naked self-interest) to the cause of mitigating some of the ongoing costs of the panic he helped sustain complicates things. As I suggested, the best result would be that he takes his stand, and gets some of the treatment he no doubt supported when it was dished out to people running cafes and gyms when they tried to take a stand.
Won’t happen, because he’s rich and famous, but it would be poetic justice.
Yeah, he followed along with the whole charade, like so many others in entertainment. They all bought into the groupthink and effectively by doing that, tipped their own businesses into crises. The fear of cancel culture, even for giants in the media industry, is off the charts huge.
You’re not wrong, obviously. In my weak moments, I am tempted to sympathise with them.
But then I remember the harm they’ve allowed to be done, the hatred and violence they have fostered, and continue to promote with their scapegoating of vaccine dissenters, the permanent damage to our culture and society they’ve supported.
Never forget. Never forgive.
Over to Mr. Grumpypants, Roger Waters:
We cower in our shelters
With our hands over our ears
Lloyd-Webber’s awful stuff
Runs for years and years and years
An earthquake hits the theatre
But the operetta lingers
Then the piano lid comes down
And breaks his fucking fingers
It’s a miracle
And don’t forget these:
https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Webber-Coverings-Triple-Layers/dp/B08LCS51MW
“Andrew Lloyd Webber Masks” – sounds like a Halloween accessory.
Anybody remember Rishi’s horrible ballet dancer posters?
Lloyd Webber expressed his annoyance at the difficulty of getting the Government to understand the importance of unlocking live entertainment. “Unfortunately… the Government regards theatre as a nice thing to have rather than a necessity.”
For those of us who don’t follow the media, there’s an example here: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/12/ballet-dancer-could-reskill-with-job-in-cyber-security-suggests-uk-government-ad Basically telling performers to “learn to code”.
Thanks. It really showed how much respect they have for artists and creatives.
I wondered if one of the ways to (perhaps) ensure the 21st re-opening would be to send free tickets to all SAGE members for desirable events e.g. theatres, Wimbledon etc which would otherwise not occur.
Hmm. Not sure. A crucial element of virtue signalling is that you are seen to be spending large amounts of your OWN money on “the cause”…
we need a cheerleader to lead us out of lockdown. There again nothing happens without permission. If he is allowed to rebel-others will follow.
Somehow I doubt that this man is going to take an altruistic stance. I hope that he will prove me wrong, but unless his theatres are freely open to ALL, and MASKLESS, then he is one of them.
Take that look off your face…
Don’t cry for me Marge and Tina
Unless it is legal for him to do so , he won’t -it’s just posturing.
Of course, ALW’s stance on covax is scientifically and ethically wrong. The non-compliance in opening his theatres is right. So he is half-way there.
What we need to consider is that restrictions have been imposed on us by stealth to get where we are now. Applying stealth to return back to normal may be a strategy to consider, Personally, I would not favour this approach because irreversible damage will be caused in the process, particularly with the evil jab.
I’m going to one of the summer opera festivals at the weekend, but each email I receive “welcoming” me just increases my anxiety. If it wasn’t for the expense, and that I’m going with family members, I don’t think I’d be bothering. It’s ruining the experience before we’ve even got to the venue.
Maybe not the same audience, but I went to the cinema last night. Every single person that I saw who walked in, removed their mask as soon as they got into the theatre or as they sat down.
It’s when there’s a mass rebellion before entering that we will start winning.
I received the literature about the Three Choirs Festival – as usual. As soon as I saw the ‘Covid safe’ crap, I just binned it.
I know that they can’t do much about it – but it’s a real turn off for anyone who has remained sane.
Well – of course all of us will be in agreement with this view, as opposed to continued sociopathic measures.
But note that Lloyd-Webber hasn’t come out against the total mess that his party’s government has made of the country – he’s quite happy to support an unethical vaccination program.
Whatever your views of him personslly, his stance represents a stand for the entire industry, and the hundreds of thousands who are employed in the arts. This includes performers in the West End to those who made a living singing in the pubs in the evenings, stage hands and production crews. Many of these people are self employed and received absolutely no help from the government over the past 15 months. One of my best friends made her living as a photographer, running a studio as well as modelling. She is also an actress, regularly appearing on a well known soap, and sang in the pubs and clubs on the weekends. Between March 2020 and Jan 2021, she was able to do virtually no work at all. She lost her business, unable to pay the rents while unable to open, all filming was shut down and when if did reopen, extras were replaced by CGI, and of course the pubs and clubs remained shut. She ended up taking cleaning jobs just to put food on the table for her children, because it was her only source of income. Even now, with pubs reopening, the regulations are so strict, not many… Read more »
This is a very interesting paragraph, not mentioned in the article above:
“For months, he has been a proactive but pliable collaborator with officialdom, on the inside track before news spilled out. Last year, he says, he “knew on February 2 from a source in Government that it was very likely there would be a lockdown. I got a coded message sent to me – ‘Happy birthday!’ – from someone at a meeting.” So Lloyd Webber gathered his staff and said: “‘OK, folks, we are going to have to close down, we have to get a doomsday scenario in place.’ And people said, ‘You’re off your trolley!’” Six weeks later, the Prime Minister advised the nation to “avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues”, effectively bringing down the curtain on live entertainment.”
The government were already planning a lockdown by at least the very beginning of February. All that guff about herd immunity and everything suddenly changing in mid-March was b.s. then. It was all for show.
Which means to me that the government had to have been planning lockdown in January, if ALW knew about it on February 2nd.
most govt depts were working from home March 2020. In the case of the Cabinet offiice for a minimum of 6 months
I asked the other day on one of the lab escape threads, who knew what and when?
The lab leak theory ( whether it’s real or not ), explains why all governments, news media, tech and big corps all panicked. They believed it was the big one. Shit their pants and completey fucked everything.
I’m racking my brains where I read it but I saw an article about someone sharing a taxi with a government bod and being told about the pending lockdowns, in January or February 2020.
I’ll look for the piece.
Johnson’s village idiot, he’s started the smokescreen to allow BJ to introduce entertainment enclaves for the vaccinated. I never thought he wanted to start violent riots, but now I think he’s ((BJ) lost the plot. They’ve lost it with most people now, even the strictest believer I know is dropping masks etc on the 21st.
His new show is just a cover version of somebody else”s work
fuck him
he looks like hes ready to take on the army in that picture
“I’ve seen the science from the tests … They all prove that theatres are completely safe; the virus is not carried there.”
That’s an interesting bit.
Is this a consequence of the high ceilings in theatres, or does it indicate that CoViD-19 is not, in fact, spread by aerosols, in indoor spaces? If it’s the latter, I believe this is the last of the suggested transmission mechanisms eliminated. Perhaps it’s 5G, after all!
So sad, ALW shafted by the people he was sucking up to
Tee hee
Thank God in the US we have the right to bear arms and protect ourselves from government overreach. Its why in Michigan there was no reimposition of lockdowns or any other dumb crap. I think you Brits ought to rewatch V for Vendetta and start arming yourselves, so that Lockdown 4.0 isn’t pulled off again.
He finally got his chance to become a paid actor.