Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella to reopen next month after premiere pulled due to Covid-19

Musical had been due to premiere this week but was forced to cancel after cast member tested positive

Carrie Hope Fletcher and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt in ‘Cinderella' (Tristram Kenton)

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical Cinderella will open next month after being forced to close due to coronavirus.

The stage show, which stars Carrie Hope Fletcher as the lead, had been due to open this week after nearly a month of previews.

However, in the wake of both shows last Saturday (17 July) being cancelled after a member of the cast tested positive for Covid-19, the show’s opening night was pulled on Monday (19 July) just hours before the performance.

This had meant to be the day that theatres could reopen at full capacity following the lifting of lockdown measures.

“Today, on this ‘Freedom Day’, I have been forced to take the heart-breaking decision not to open my Cinderella,” Lloyd Webber wrote.

“My sadness for our cast and crew, our loyal audience and the industry I have been fighting for is impossible to put into words. Freedom Day has turned into closure day.”

It has now been announced that performances of Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre will resume next month, on Wednesday 18 August.

The official opening night will now take place on Wednesday 25 August.

Lloyd Webber has vocally criticised the government’s treatment of the arts during the pandemic, initially saying that he would reopen theatres when lockdown was originally scheduled to end in June, even if it meant being arrested.