ALW's Cinderella - Gillian Lynne / U.K. Tour (rumour)

So basically ALW blaming everyone else including the government for the show's failure

How incredibly self indulgent. This was NOT the moment to complain about the government, the lack of funding (the man is a multi millionaire and everyone on that stage is now out of a job) and everything else. A "costly failure" maybe, but save that for the internal meetings, not in front of your company and a full house who have just paid full whack to watch it.

The fact that ALW wrote that, didn't turn up to say it himself and expected it to be read out says everything you need to know. The fact that the director laughingly read it out is another matter.

The cast looked like they wanted to push him off the stage.

I think watching the video he means an expensive mistake to open or try to open when they did, rather than waiting for all restrictions to be fully over before opening. At least I hope that is what he meant but it was very badly worded.

My personal theory is that wouldn't actually have helped as I think that one of the the ways COVID impacted it is they had too long working on it without audiences and so became too wedded to how it was. I liked it but I think there is a better show in there they didn't quite manage to tease out.

Yeah, I assumed the same from the 'This isn't the end of Cinderella, at least I hope it isn't' bit...

Appalling.
If Only - someone had said 'no, I won't rig up a sound system for you to discipline the cast remotely'
If Only - Laurence Connor had 'accidentally on purpose' skipped the line about an "expensive mistake" - other than that the letter was salvageable.

The thing about surrounding yourself with 'Yes' people is they may say yes to what they know are your mistakes.

Whereas a real supporter (a super-Yes person) will try to clean up what they know are your worst failings or impulses, for your own good, and because they genuinely care about you.

They definitely made the right call not having ALW there. It was nice for that moment to be more focused on the cast (even if one or two of them have said some stupid things, the majority seem like decent people now out of a job). I think the feeling from the audience definitely suggested they would happily have booed ALW in person and I really don't know how that would've gone down. Better to avoid that. Sending the letter wasn't a smart move either, though.

A new low for ALW. But there regularly seems to be a new low for him lately. Is he on a self destruction course?

I've now listened to the letter four times for clarity. I don't understand what he said that was actually incorrect.

The timing, however, was appalling. What he said sounded in line with my experiences, except for praising the cast. He should've singled out the professionals from the cast for praise, and pointedly ignored the ones who helped make this fail.

Poor content, poorly produced, poor cast - only those with the lowest bar of taste will miss this mess.

ALW ****ed up, as I've been saying since previews, but some very deeply unpleasant elements within have hurt this show too.

S**tshow from day one. I know a lot more than I am able to share about the behaviour of key individuals within the company.

Connor seemed to suggest something is going on with the Lord, after the letter he said:

"It's easy to find a villain in these things but Andrew is going through some well well I'll say to you all . . . "

But he stopped himself from revealing whatever the Lord is going through.

At 8:50 mark.

I am not getting sued and risking employment over this mess and the drama. Key people within the production have made themselves unemployable.

I wonder what Oliver makes of all this...

Saw this last year and, contrary to popular opinion on here, I quite liked it, so when I saw it was closing at the same time that I was in London to see The Car Man I booked for the final performance. It’s only the second time I’ve seen the show, but it was a pretty great audience to be a part of. Much like last week when I saw The Play That Goes Wrong with the original cast, the audience was full of fans who were really appreciative of the show, and it was an incredible atmosphere.

Then the director read ALW’s letter out. His Lordship really knows how to kill a mood. Jesus. Even if it was just badly worded, it was like a final dig from someone who didn’t even bother to show up.

FWIW that cast board is still wrong as William Bozier would have been at the Albert Hall performing in The Car Man. I’m not sure about the others but Dominic Adam Griffin was one of the swings who came at the end in their normal clothes, so he wasn’t on either.