Unhappy ending as Lloyd Webber sacks Cinders cast
Stars hit out after only learning show is cancelled on social media
LAST June, nobody could miss Andrew Lloyd Webber’s insistence that the ‘show must go on’ – he even volunteered to go to prison if it meant the curtain could rise on his new musical Cinderella.
However, after the matinee performance on Sunday, the show’s cast and crew were gathered for a meeting at which they were told that the show was going to close on June 12 – less than a year after it opened.
It was explained ‘with regret’ that the production at the Gillian Lynne Theatre was racking up ‘unsustainable’ losses and that the decision had been made to pull the plug.
Sources indicated yesterday that it had been losing up to £50,000 a week for the entirety of its run – that’s around £2million. A planned cast change this July would have seen those losses soar further by up to £250,000.
There were additional huge losses when performances were suspended from late December to early February while the Omicron variant spread rapidly across the UK.
The closure came as a shock to cast members not at Sunday’s meeting – including the show’s star Carrie Hope Fletcher – who said they found out by social media. Within half an hour, the news had swept theatreland.
This came as a blow to actress Summer Strallen, due to play the Queen in the musical from July. She had been for a wig-fitting on Thursday and said she had turned down another role to sign her year-long contract with Lord Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group – only to find out she had been ‘sacked’ via a text from a friend. She raged: ‘I was basically fired by social media and it is not OK.’ Her boyfriend Danny Bayne added: ‘It’s a f ****** joke… This is f ****** despicable behaviour.’
Miss Strallen did concede that her agent had been emailed with the news earlier but had failed to check his inbox over the weekend.
Her cousin Bibi, who works as front of house, said the cast were told that it was being announced after ‘rumours’ had begun to circulate over the show’s future.
John Whaite, the Bake Off and Strictly star, had been due to step into the show in the role of Prince Charming in July. He wrote on Instagram: ‘This is heartbreaking news... My heart goes out to each and every one [of the team].’
Elsewhere there was anger. Actor Robert Lindsay tweeted that it was ‘shocking and unforgivable’ while Paul Fleming, the general secretary of trade union Equity, said the way some people had learned about the closure amounted to ‘a callous attack on [their] dignity’.
A spokesman for Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Really Useful Group said: ‘Everyone involved in Cinderella was contacted by call, email or in person (some through agents) before the news went live. Every effort was made to ensure people were notified... while trying to manage how quickly it would move on social media.’
In a now deleted tweet, Miss Fletcher said that she only found out ‘via other cast members and a member of the music team’. She later said: ‘I don’t think I have the words. And if I did I would probably be advised not to say them. Sending love to all impacted by today’s news and by how that news was delivered.’ However, a spokesman for the group insisted that ‘everyone not present’ at the meeting was emailed or called.
A Really Useful Group source said: ‘We did not want to upset people at all but the reality is that we called the meeting and got everyone together to let them know at the same time. Meanwhile in the background other people were sending emails, making phone calls and telling agents.
‘Of course, the minute that the meeting finished, people were getting out there and spreading the news.’ The omens had not been good for Cinderella, which struggled to overcome the wobbles engendered by its Covid-hit opening. In June Lord Lloyd-Webber said he was willing to risk jail by opening the twice-delayed show even if it was against Government rules.
Its opening night was cancelled at the 11th hour last July because of a Covid case in the cast, opening a month later. The story for the show was written by Emerald Fennell, a friend of Lord Lloyd Webber, who previously wrote Killing Eve and the film Promising Young Woman.
A source at the Really Useful Group said: ‘It’s best to face the fact that Cinderella is financially unsustainable now in London.
‘To break even, a show needs to be 80 to 90 per cent full. When it’s a show as big as Cinderella that number is closer to 90 per cent.
‘Cinderella has had so many challenges. We never got Christmas this year because of Omicron, and Christmas really is crucial.
‘Meanwhile our costs have risen and the cost of living crisis has also hit ticket sales. Everyone in the West End is down and struggling at the moment. This will not be the only show to go under before the summer.’
In a statement released on Sunday, Lord Lloyd-Webber said a new production of Cinderella would open on Broadway next year.
He added: ‘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.’
‘Found out via a text from a friend’