Andrew Lloyd Webber’s brand new musical version of Cinderella will have its world premiere in the West End this year.
The fairytale is getting a “complete reinvention” by actor and writer Emerald Fennell and will open at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in September, replacing School of Rock which closes in March.
Alongside music by Lloyd Webber, the show will have lyrics by David Zippel, whose credits include City of Angels, The Woman in White and Disney films Mulan and Hercules. It will be directed by Laurence Connor with choreography by JoAnn Hunter, both of whom worked on School of Rock and the recent Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Cinderella is based on an original idea by Fennell, who wrote the second series of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Killing Eve and currently plays Camilla Parker-Bowles in The Crown on Netflix. Her new film, A Promising Young Woman, which she has written and directed, will be released in the spring starring Carey Mulligan.
Lloyd Webber said: “I have long wanted to write my own version of Cinderella but could never find a take on the classic story that really grabbed me. Emerald Fennell has written something truly exciting and original, and the moment I read her outline I knew I’d found my latest collaborator.”
School of Rock, which has been running at the theatre since 2016, is set to go on tour in 2021. It will have its final London performance on March 1, at which point the Gillian Lynne Theatre will undergo renovations.
