Current and future cast members of Cinderella must be compensated for their losses after news of the West End show’s sudden closure, the UK trade union for creative practitioners has demanded.
It emerged over the bank holiday weekend that the cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical learned they were being sacked minutes after a matinee performance. Actors who had been due to join the cast next month found out the news through social media.
In a statement released on Sunday by his Really Useful Group, Lord Lloyd-Webber said mounting a new show during the Covid pandemic had been an “unbelievable challenge”, and a new production of Cinderella would open on Broadway in 2023. The final performance of the show at London’s Gillian Lynne theatre is scheduled for 12 June, a year after it opened.
Paul Fleming, Equity’s general secretary, said on Tuesday that union members had “poured their hearts and skill into [the show] through the worst two years in living memory” and were now “jobless, effectively sacked by press release”. He added: “All unions are fighting forms of this practice right now, and Equity will get compensation for our members after the pain and distress this has caused them.”
The union said compensation should amount to the full value of the current cast members’ contracts until they end on 17 July, and adequate reimbursement for those who were due to start work in June.
At a protest outside the Gillian Lynne theatre on Tuesday afternoon, the union also demanded that it be told in advance of intended closures to ensure all cast members were informed before the news was released on social media or in the press.
The theatre director, Andrew Keates, wrote on Twitter that he would be joining the protest in solidarity with the cast in “an industry that shouldn’t tolerate discovering their jobs are over via the press and social media”.
Among the would-be cast members sharing their disappointment over the weekend was Summer Strallen, who said on Instagram Live that she had been for a wig fitting three days earlier for her role as the Queen.
Another, Luke Latchman, tweeted: “Imagine – planning in your head 100 times what you’re going to say when it’s announced. Telling your friends and family you have something coming and can’t wait to tell them about it. Knowing that career-changing West End lead was coming. Then you see a tweet and it’s all gone.”
Daisy Twells, who had been due to make her West End debut, said she got the “devastating” news of the closure through a press release.
Carrie Hope Fletcher, who plays Cinderella, tweeted: “I don’t think I have the words … Sending love to all impacted by today’s news and by how that news was delivered.”
Lloyd Webber, one of the biggest and most successful names in British theatre, has been outspoken about the government’s handling of the pandemic. In stark contrast to his previous hits, including Phantom of the Opera and Cats, which generated billions of pounds, Cinderella suffered heavy losses during its run. The show’s opening was delayed by a year because of the pandemic, and later performances were suspended for two months owing to the Omicron variant.
A spokesperson for the Really Useful Group said on Monday that “every effort” had been made to ensure cast members were notified of the closure.
