As in you think he knows there’s going to be a full lockdown so he’s just closing in advance?
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It will depend on contracts etc, but if they have low or no ticket sales in January (likely), they could take less of a hit by closing rather than having standard weekly running costs to meet at same time as not earning in ticket sales. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a cynical money saving ploy over the dead January time, using covid as the excuse.
If more popular shows don't follow suit then I'm even more knclined to believe its more to do with ticket sales rather than covid
If more popular shows don't follow suit then I'm even more knclined to believe its more to do with ticket sales rather than covid
following on from what @Mark81 said, it’s absolutely a money making exercise on ALW’s part and (as harsh as it is) an understandable one.
he, like many other theatre owners, needs to try and get at least some of the money he’s losing back. cinderella is by far his least popular show in the west end in his most modern theatre. it makes sense to let cinders take the hit and regather money from there rather than something like phantom, which is always going to get an audience but is in a very old theatre.
it’s awful for everyone but i can see the logic.
Yeah, that’s my worry. He is a Tory peer after all, it’s not outside the realms of possibility that he has advanced information on lockdown plans. I just really hope not. Not sure how I’ll cope with another lockdown.
possibly? but probably more than january is a historically quiet month for theatres, especially for a new show which isn’t doing great anyway. he’ll save more money turning the lights off than he would for trying to put performances on and having them continually cancelled.
I feel so sorry for all the cast, crew and FOH on cinderella losing their income until February. Merry Christmas from the wonderful Lord Webber! 
I don't think the government themselves know what they're going to do, never mind telling an insignificant peer.
I'm not sure I can handle another lockdown, a few more restrictions yes, but not a full on lockdown
Anyone who can work from home will do, but everyone else, no. My local, Leeds Playhouse has just cancelled performances for the rest of December due to a lot of the cast getting covid. Front of house, crew and actors will not be getting paid for cancelled performances except for ones within 24 hours of cancellation. Anyone who works in offices ie marketing can probably continue working from home and will be paid accordingly.
That's just awful for them all.
Exactly. This is why their new funding for “theatres” is quite misleading, essentially it’s for the building, people who work for the building etc will come under that but the vast majority of actors and crew members etc are self employed and freelancers so they wouldn’t be covered under that and essentially if they don’t perform they don’t get payed, which is why it’s a decent trade off that some shows are just calling it until after Christmas and new year so that actors etc can get home to their families but it still doesn’t cover the loss of their pay checks etc
I wonder if the cast knew this was coming and that's why they were posting passive aggressive posts last week
I’ve just seen Lauren’s post and it doesn’t sound like at least the ensemble were told anything, the majority of her post could obviously be referring to the unpredictability of covid but she ends it with “See you in Feb Cinders I guess” which comes across quite differently to Carrie’s “apologies if you had tickets, hopefully you’ll all be in Belleville soon!” Boomerang 24 hour story
Also saw this posted on a musical theatre Facebook group, I have a feeling this guy was included in the cast posts earlier on this thread but if anyone can confirm if he works on the show that would be great (not my screenshot)
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I highly doubt cinders will be back after this shut down, its been an absolute flop especially with carries behavior online
I mean the biggest rumour floating around at the moment is that we're going back to stage 2 measures for a month after Christmas (i.e. no indoor mixing, rule of six outdoors) which would rule theatres out. Would seem premature to close the show until February based on that though. It does make me wonder if ALW knows something us simple shitmunchers don't.
I struggle to see them justifying a full lockdown until Feb. Things just don't seem to justify that at the moment, plus the damage to the economy would be huge. Vaccine passports and a negative test could keep venues open (if they adhere to it).
Alw really isn't all that big a player in the government, they ignored him for most of covid so far so I don't see why he would suddenly be in the know.
I also thought it was interesting that cinderella isn't listed in the shows appearing at the big night of musicals in manchester
Alw really isn't all that big a player in the government, they ignored him for most of covid so far so I don't see why he would suddenly be in the know.
I also thought it was interesting that cinderella isn't listed in the shows appearing at the big night of musicals in manchester
Well, of course they couldn't appear. Carrie can only perform in her own theatre don't ya know
Theatre people aren't normal in that respect, they don't see them as employees and manager
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