Andrew Lloyd Webber rejects Boris Johnson’s live event offer for his musical

Composer accuses UK government of putting sport over theatre

Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber rejects Boris Johnson's offer to use his show as a pilot for live events coming out of the pandemic. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has rejected Prime Minister Boris Johnson's offer for his Cinderella musical to be used as a live event pilot scheme.

He claims the industry, unlike sport, has been treated as “an afterthought and undervalued” during the pandemic.

Lloyd Webber, who resigned as a Conservative peer in 2017, is due to open his production at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on June 25 with 50 per cent capacity.

"I have made it crystal clear that I would only be able to participate if others were involved and the rest of the industry - theatre and music - were treated equally. This has not been confirmed to me," he said on Friday.

"It has become clear that, while sporting events like Wimbledon had obviously been working with the government for some time on this pilot, and were even able to start selling tickets yesterday, the theatre industry and its audiences are, once again, an afterthought and undervalued."

Earlier this week Mr Johnson revealed he was in talks with Lloyd Webber about his show and said he would “do whatever we can to be helpful”.

Lloyd Webber has previously said he would be willing to risk arrest to fully reopen his theatres.

He said if he went ahead and opened it “would be very likely that every member of my cast, crew and orchestra, the front and backstage staff, plus our loyal audience members, could be individually fined hundreds of pounds, which I couldn’t possibly risk”.

“If it were just me, I would happily risk arrest and fines to make a stand and lead the live music and theatre industry back to the full capacities we so desperately need," he said.

Greg Parmley, chief executive of the music industry trade body LIVE, said the government had just "hand-picked" certain high-profile events.

“The live music industry has spent months participating and paying for pilot events so we could reopen at full capacity safely," he said.

“These events were a huge success and show, alongside every other international pilot, that with the right mitigations full capacity live events are safe.

“Despite this the government has refused to publish this data, forced us to remain closed and then tried to hand-pick a number of high profile events to go ahead whilst the rest of our industries are devastated.”

It is now hoped that coronavirus restrictions will be fully lifted in England on July 19.