There’s one place Andrew Lloyd Webber gravitates to after a bad day in the business — the largest of his London theaters, the Palladium. Late at night, when the West End impresario stands onstage a…
, and social distancing rules of at least one meter mean theaters can operate at only 30%-40% capacity.
“We can absolutely say that the quality of air in the Palladium will be purer than the air outside it,” says Lloyd Webber, beaming. Crucially, the measures are designed to allow audiences to fill every seat, so the theater can operate at full capacity. “As we know, theater can’t work with social distancing — it just simply can’t,” he scoffs.
The experiment received high marks from Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, who, after a July 2 visit, complimented Really Useful’s “very comprehensive safety measures in place,” promising to work with the organization and others to “get theaters open as soon as safe.” Lloyd Webber, who admits he is “surprised” the government did not shutter theaters sooner than March 16, says Really Useful has made its share of redundancies to weather the storm, despite managing to keep the refurbishment of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane ticking over throughout lockdown, as well as renovations to the Gillian Lynne Theatre, which will house “Cinderella,” now set for an April debut.
Though he’s spent the vast majority of lockdown in his countryside home, Lloyd Webber has also nurtured an impressive social media presence via his ‘Composer in Isolation’ series. Taking requests for hit songs from his musicals, which he performs on his piano, he’s also conducted musical playoffs with the likes of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gary Barlow and A. R. Rahman.
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