ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER

Dozens of stars of musical theater gathered at a London theatre for a celebration titled “Old Friends” to raise money for the Stephen Sondheim Foundation, which will benefit young composers.

"'Cats' was off-the-scale all wrong," Lloyd Webber said. "...I saw it and I just thought, 'Oh, God, no.'"

'My sadness for our cast and crew ... is impossible to put into words,' Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote, blaming shutdown on government's pandemic guidance.

The opening nights of the West End production are cancelled due to Covid-19 self-isolation measures.

The impresario had said he'd be willing to be arrested if Cinderella couldn't open to a full house.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed that the next planned relaxation of coronavirus restrictions in England will be delayed by four weeks until July 19, as a result of the spread of the delta variant.

The impresario says he will open his new production of Cinderella "come hell or high water".

Celebrities including Bruce Springsteen, Hugh Jackman, Elton John, Bette Midler, Christine Baranski, Steve Martin and Tina Fey have raided their closets to offer up personal items for a charity online auction.

FILE - Actress Cynthia Erivo poses for a portrait during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Sept. 10, 2019. Erivo portrays Aretha Franklin in the National Geographic miniseries Genius: Aretha. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP, File)NEW YORK – “The Color Purple” turned into Grammy, Tony and Emmy gold for Cynthia Erivo. The performer’s brilliant performance in the Broadway revival won her the 2016 Tony for best actress in a musical. “I guess I didn’t expect to be this close this soon,” Erivo told The Associated Press of her almost-EGOT status.

FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2006 file photo, Tony Award-winning choreographer Bob Avian poses in front of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, home of the revival of " A Chorus Line," in New York. Avian died Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021 of cardiac arrest at Holy Cross Hospital in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, He was 83. (AP Photo/Shiho Fukada, File)NEW YORK – Bob Avian, a Tony Award-winning choreographer who had a role in some of the most beloved and influential shows on Broadway, including “Dreamgirls,” “A Chorus Line,” “Follies” and “Miss Saigon,” has died. Avian earned six Tony nominations and won twice, for choreographing “Ballroom” and co-choreographing “A Chorus Line.” He won an Oliver Award for choreographing Boublil and Schonberg's musical “Martin Guerre” in London. Avian's association with “A Chorus Line” continued when he directed the 2006 revival on Broadway and the London revival at the Palladium in 2013.

(Aaron Chown/PA via AP)LONDON – When Andrew Lincoln steps onstage at London’s Old Vic Theatre as Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol,” he looks out on an empty auditorium. The Old Vic is among theaters trying to keep the flame alive. That includes London, where theaters had just begun to reopen after a four-week national lockdown ended Dec. 2. The Old Vic has mounted an “In Camera” season of plays performed on its stage and broadcast online. Playwright Jack Thorne’s adaptation has been a hit at the Old Vic for the past three Christmases.

Waiting has been frustrating and he and the cast recorded the cast album in their homes during lockdown. “The irony of 50 years later my having to do another concept album because I’m not able to get my show on stage has suddenly not been lost on me.”The new stage musical “Cinderella” features a brand new score from Lloyd Webber with lyrics by David Zippel. Lloyd Webber hopes it will open next spring in the West End at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. He owns or co-owns seven West End theaters including the Gillian Lynne Theatre, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the London Palladium. We’re going to actually do essential work and improvements to the buildings,” Lloyd Webber said.

Scott and Ian McKellen were among acting winners as Britains Laurence Olivier Awards celebrated the best of the London stage in bittersweet fashion Sunday night, Oct. 25, 2020 - most U.K. theaters remain closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)LONDON – Andrew Scott and Ian McKellen were among acting winners as Britain’s Laurence Olivier Awards celebrated the best of the London stage in bittersweet fashion Sunday night — most U.K. theaters remain closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. McKellen won a special Olivier — his seventh — for his one-man 80th birthday tour of the U.K., staged before the pandemic as a fundraiser for regional theaters. A handful of theaters have reopened to reduced, socially distanced audiences, but many are still shut and relying on emergency funding from the government to stay afloat. Olivier organizers say the next awards ceremony will likely not be until 2022, because so little work has been staged this year.

LONDON The Phantom of the Opera composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has told British lawmakers that the arts are at the point of no return, and urged the government to set a date for theaters to be allowed to reopen. Lloyd Webber spoke about the struggles of staging socially distanced shows and making them profitable, noting that very few shows hit the jackpot like Hamilton, Lion King or Phantom.We simply have to get our arts sector back open and running ... We are at the point of no return, really, he told Parliaments Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee by video. There comes a point when we really cant go on anymore. The theater boss hoped that the trial performance could show how theaters can open at full capacity safely. Asked about whether he has a message for the British government, Lloyd Webber said: Give us a date to reopen.

Over more than four decades Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber has penned some of the most memorable music ever to be performed on the Great White Way. He's showcased on the Broadway stage once again in the hit musical, "School of Rock." With a revival of his mega-hit "Cats" and the "Phantom of the Opera" still going strong, Webber now has three of his works on stage in New York City. He talks to our Mo Rocca. (Originally aired December 13, 2015.)

Over more than four decades Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber has penned some of the most memorable music ever to be performed on the Great White Way. He's showcased on the Broadway stage once again in the hit musical, "School of Rock," and he's talking with our Mo Rocca.