Andrew Lloyd Webber (Photo: Tracey Nolan, CC BY-SA 2.0)
LONDON (AP) — The Phantom of the Opera composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has told British lawmakers that the arts are “at the point of no return,” and urged the government to set a date for theaters to be allowed to reopen. Lloyd Webber spoke about the struggles of staging socially distanced shows and making them profitable. He said very few shows “hit the jackpot” like Hamilton, Lion King, or Phantom. He told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that “There comes a point when we really can’t go on anymore.” In July, Lloyd Webber’s company staged a concert featuring soul singer Beverley Knight at the London Palladium to test coronavirus-era safety measures like separating clusters of seats.
