The director of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Cinderella” is “angry” at the treatment of the cast and crew on show

Exclusive: Lawrence Connor, British director of the troubled West End musical Cinderella, He told his friends about his “anger” at the way Andrew Lloyd Webber and his executives shut down his show.

Connor wasn’t told his show would be over. I was in Sydney on a professional assignment and on Sunday morning I was traveling to London Sydney local time. At a bus stop in Dubai, Connor heard Lloyd Weber’s voice message telling him. Cinderella It would be closure.

When Connor arrived in the UK on Sunday evening, his friends had informed him that the news had already arrived. “He reacted angry,” a source told Deadline today. “I was in all those companies and I was with them after rehearsals and after taking the stage. We all understand that shows have to open and then close at some point, that’s the nature of business. However, he didn’t want the company he hired to suffer more. “

Connor was said to be particularly irritated that he recently underwent a new audition of actors and stage managers who were due to start working soon.

Ironically, before arriving in Australia, Connor was in New York City to begin casting for the Broadway productions. Cinderella It will be in New York in February.

Across the West End, from all walks of life in the theater industry, there was concern about how Lloyd Webber’s genuinely helpful group was handling a closing statement for all staff involved. Cinderella.

“It’s even crazy to try and tell people over the holidays that your show will be closed. “It’s impossible to reach everyone, even beginners,” said a competing industry executive.

“The decision was made on Wednesday last week. CinderellaThe future. The plan was to announce closure after the holidays. “Something must have bothered them to make them do what they did,” another source told Deadline.

Over the weekend, Lloyd Webber analyzed future expenses in relation to future income. Cinderella. There was a lot of red ink. He didn’t want to take on the burden of reimbursing the arriving actor. He concluded that the production would no longer be able to run the show after June 12.

Lloyd Weber’s production executives were notified of the show’s closing on Sunday.

The reputation of the songwriter and the RUG was damaged in terms of how the situation was handled. Watch members of the Equity of the Actors Guild protest outside the Gillian Lynn Theater, where CinderellaJogging was not a welcome sight for the management.