Lloyd Webber Suffers from Tropical Bug

Millionaire composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been battling with a tropical abdominal illness for the past decade, he revealed in an interview with the Radio Times published this week. Lloyd Webber missed the tenth anniversary celebrations for the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera in January when he checked himself in to a London hospital for two nights and a series of tests. As What's On Stage reported at the time, a spokesman for Lloyd Webber said that his condition was not serious and that he was merely resting up for a number of upcoming events, including his 50th birthday this weekend (22 March) and the official celebration on 7 April. However, Lloyd Webber admits in the Radio Times interview that his condition, which includes 'inexplicable flu-like symptoms' and leaves him weak and tired, is in fact much more serious. The composer first became unwell ten years ago when his show Aspects of Love opened and symptoms returned again last September. Lloyd Webber says that he will curtail his business involvement with his Really Useful Group but will continue to compose. 'My doctor says I've got to cancel everything,' he says. 'But I can't do that.' His newest musical, Whistle Down the Wind, opens at the Aldwych Theatre in July.

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