Andrew Lloyd Webber on assisting refugees with Malala and how he’s willing to be jailed for his art | News about Ant-Man & Art

At first glance, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and Malala Yousafzai are not natural collaborators.

One is an EGOT Prize-winning musical playwright, while the other is a Nobel Prize-winning women’s education campaigner who was shot by the Taliban for daring to go to school in Afghanistan.

But Lord Lloyd Webber has decided to drop his weight for Yousafzai’s cause, by hosting a gala night for his latest show, Cinderella, saying the refugee crisis is a problem The topic interests him a lot.

“I’ve always been extremely impressed by the work she’s doing for refugees,” Lord Lloyd Webber told Sky News.

“And I feel like the Afghanistan issue is a really, really important moment for me, because I think all those girls… what are they going to think right now with everything taken away?

“So I contacted Malala and I said, ‘do you think this is the time? Can we do something together?'”

He also told Sky News that the country should “find a way to help” people displaced by violence like Afghanistan and Syria, although said the UK was “overcrowded” in some respects.

“What we have to think about right now is that, in the end, everyone is human.”

Cinderella is the perfect show to raise money for a women’s rights charity, with the main character in Emerald Fennell’s re-imagined story (a role played by West End stars Carrie Hope Fletcher and Georgina). Onuorah shared), is now a girl in a rebellious town who is always looking for a better life away from the fairy world.

Lord Lloyd Webber said, “Malala herself is a wonderful free spirit… and Emerald Fennell’s Cinderella is a free spirit, and I tried to write music for it, and it was a funny show. , have fun. So hopefully this won’t be a serious, heavy evening.”

The past 12 months have been hectic for Lord Lloyd Webber – opening a brand new, multimillion-pound musical during a global pandemic, along with his other shows in London, during the tour. on tour and on Broadway.

During the summer, he opened Cinderella for a test run first (where a gig is open to the public, but not the finished product), before shutting down immediately. on the scheduled release date after the so-called “pingdemic” forced his cast into quarantine – despite the easing of legal restrictions.

It sparked a global conversation about the use of masks, COVID passports, and virus testing in cinemas, and at one point, the filmmaker warned the government that he was ready. go to jail if it means he can open his show.

“I’m totally serious about it, except there’s one big caveat that I don’t realize when I say this is what we should be doing, which is every audience member could have been penalized for going to the theater,” he said. told Sky News.

“I’m about to get caught, but it’s hardly where one intends to go.

“I mean, I’m a composer – I write music and I want to go ahead and write my next piece – but I find myself in a rather strange situation where I seem to be speaking for theater community.”

But many performances continue to take the pandemic seriously, and new musicals like Moulin Rouge and Cabaret have made negative side-flow tests and masks mandatory for visitors as part of the treatment. their reservation.

“If it gets to that point, I’ll support it,” Lord Lloyd Webber said when asked why he didn’t enforce it in his cinemas.

“I think if the rates are really much higher, then of course one has to be responsible. I mean, nobody wants to see that situation where it’s back to the way it was.

“I’m confident we can carry on and there’s no reason we shouldn’t.”

What about the new Culture Minister Nadine Dorries? Lord Lloyd Webber has been in touch with her predecessor Oliver Dowden about bringing his shows to the stage, with Mr Dowden even publicly pledging government support to him.

“I’m waiting for her phone call. She’s been there for a while and I haven’t heard from her.

“Maybe she doesn’t like my stuff.”

Cinderella is currently premiering at the Gillian Lynne Theater in London.