Theatre News

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella suspends performances until February

The show won’t run in January at this stage

| London |

21 December 2021

Carrie Hope Fletcher in Cinderella — Carrie Hope Fletcher in *Cinderella*
© Tristram Kenton

New musical Cinderella, by Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Zippell and Emerald Fennell, has suspended performances until 9 February.

In a statement the show said: "The spread of the Omicron variant is devastating. Like many theatres up and down the country, day after day we are forced to make decisions (often at short notice) based on the latest round of test results. This is incredibly difficult for our cast, company, and, of course, audiences, many of whom have travelled long distances and spent considerable sums on transport, hotels etc."

"To avoid more disruption, and to protect the quality of the show we give our audiences, we have no option but to suspend all performances of Cinderella until February 9, 2022. We are passionately committed to returning sooner if the circumstances improve." Affected patrons will be contacted.

Cinderella is one of dozens of shows affected by an increase in Covid cases, resulting in cast absences and cancellations. Many have been pulling a single or a handful of performances at a time, but Cinderella's suspension marks the longest closure of a show thus far.

At the same time, many shows are being kept open by tireless work by companies, production teams and more – especially swings, alternates and stand-ins. We have listed a variety of ways you can help the theatre community during the pandemic here.