The closure of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella is a sign of the fragility of theatre in the wake of Covid-19
Cinderella will not, after all, be going to the ball. The big new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, with its book by Emerald Fennell, has been cancelled, less than a year into its run. The cast and crew were told the news in person over the weekend, but a similar courtesy was not accorded to all the actors due to take over roles, some of whom found out that they faced sudden unemployment by social media, or via text messages from concerned friends, while notes to their agents sat unread over the bank holiday weekend. It was shabby, and it should have been done better. It is a cruel irony that they were treated thus after the pandemic cast such clear light on the fragility of the livelihoods of self-employed creative workers.
Cinderella is a clear reminder of the perils of mounting a West End show. The risks would be unacceptably high to businesses operating in most other fields; investors are wise to be lovers of the art form rather than hard-nosed lovers of the bottom line. There is a long and inglorious history of West End flops that looked viable enough on paper: Lord of the Rings, in 2007, cost £25m and closed after a year; the Spice Girls jukebox musical, Viva Forever, which had a script by Jennifer Saunders and was produced by Mamma Mia!’s Judie Craymer, lasted only six months.
