Director of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Doomed West End Musical ‘Cinderella’ Is “Angered” Over Treatment Of Cast and Crew On Show.
deadline.comExclusive.Laurence Connor the British director of troubled West End musical Cinderella has told friends of his “anger” at how the closure announcement of his show was handled by Andrew Lloyd Webber and his executives.Connor had not been told his show would be closing.
He’d been on a professional assignment in Sydney, and was en route to London early Sunday,local Sydney time. At the stopover in Dubai ,Connor listened to a voicemail from Lloyd Webber telling him that Cinderella would be closing.By the time Connor reached the UK on Sunday night, he was informed by friends that the news was already out there. “He reacted furiously,” a source told Deadline today . “He cast all of that company and has been with them through rehearsals and through getting the show up on the stage.
We all understand that shows have to open and then at some point they have to close ,that’s the nature of the business. However, he would not have wanted the company that he hired to go through any additional anguish,” the source added.Connor was said to be particularly irked that he had recently auditioned a new in-take of actors and stage managers who had been due to start work soon.Ironically, before arriving in Australia ,Connor had been in New York to begin casting for the Broadway production of Cinderella that’s due to preview in NYC next February.Across the West End there was dismay ,from all areas of the theatre industry, over how Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group handled Sunday’s closure announcement to all staff connected with Cinderella.”It’s madness to even attempt to tell people over a Bank Holiday weekend that their show is to close.
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