Andrew Lloyd Webber says government suggested musicals return ‘without any singing’

Industry experts warned this week that the UK is on the brink of ‘cultural collapse’

Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber has revealed that a government report advised that musicals return “without any singing” to stop the spread of coronavirus.

In a week that saw industry figures warn that the UK is on the brink of “cultural catastrophe”, the composer told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about his plans to keep theatre going.

With the government being widely criticised for failing to support the arts during the crisis, Lloyd Webber explained that he’d had “a couple of phone calls” with Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden about the future of theatre.

“I would love to say that I think that they understood a little more,” Lloyd Webber said.

“I have seen a report, I don’t know what’s going to be in the report on theatre that’s coming out on Monday (22 June), but I sincerely hope it doesn’t contain some of the things that I’ve seen in some of their advice, one of which was a brilliant one for musicals – that you’re not allowed to sing.”

Lloyd Webber shared his plans to “prove” to the world that theatres can stay open.

The composer hopes that a one-off performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will go ahead at the London Palladium in July, explaining: “We’ve just had the final bits of equipment delivered into England, we hope to have them in the theatres next month.

“All one can do is try and be positive. I really believe that we in theatre must be positive and use everything we can to demonstrate that we can open. If having done that we fail, at least we’ve tried.”

The coronavirus has had a devastating impact on the British theatre industry, with producer Cameron Mackintosh announcing this week that Phantom, Hamilton, Les Misérables and Mary Poppins would not be opening their doors again until 2021, with redundancies expected for employees on all four shows.

A report from industry leaders also published this week warned that the UK is facing a “cultural catastrophe” and the loss of £74bn and more than 400,000 jobs this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.