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It’s been a good few years for Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, with excellent, radical revivals of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘Evita’ very nearly making him cool, ‘School of Rock’ being by far his biggest hit in probably the last two decades, and him having emerged largely blameless from the debacle of the ‘Cats’ film.
The bad 2020 news for him is that ‘School of Rock’ will soon play its last solo – its final date at the Gillian Lynne Theatre is confirmed as March 1.
The good 2020 news is that – after a summer of refurbishment – the Gillian Lynne will reopen in late summer as the home of Lloyd Webber’s latest, a musical version of much-loved fairytale ‘Cinderella’, with story by Emerald Fennell, lead writer on the second series of ‘Killing Eve’, and lyrics by David Zippel.
According to the bumf, Lloyd Webber had been wanting to do a version for years, but hadn’t found a writer with an interesting take, but he tells us that Fennell has ‘written something truly exciting and original, and the moment I read her outline I knew I’d found my latest collaborator’. It’ll be directed by Laurence Connor, who did the honours for ‘School of Rock’ and the recent revival of ‘Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat’.
Further creatives and casting are TBA and there are no dates yet beyond ‘September 2020’, but you can sign up at andrewlloydwebberscinderella.com for updates.
‘School of Rock’ is at the Gillian Lynne Theatre until Mar 1.
Can’t wait? Here are the best musicals to see in London right now.