Andrew Lloyd Webber has announced that he will be absent from the opening night of his new Broadway musical Bad Cinderella because his eldest son is “critically ill” with gastric cancer.
The Phantom of the Opera composer shared a statement with The Hollywood Reporter on Saturday (March 18), revealing that his 43-year-old son, Grammy-nominated composer and record producer Nicholas Lloyd Webber, has been fighting cancer for the last 18 months and is currently hospitalized.
“We are all praying that Nick will turn the corner,” Andrew Lloyd Webber said in the statement. “He is bravely fighting with his indomitable humour, but at the moment my place is with him and the family.”
Andrew Lloyd Webber was scheduled to attend the opening night of Bad Cinderella, which he composed, on Thursday (March 23) at New York City’s Imperial Theatre. The new musical is a reimagining of Cinderella, which ran in London from 2021 to 2022.
“I will not be able to cheer on its wonderful cast, crew and orchestra on Opening Night,” the Oscar-winning composer said.
Andrew Lloyd Webber also noted that he has “not been able to attend the recent previews” of Bad Cinderella because of his son’s illness.
Nicholas Lloyd Webber is known scoring the 2017 BBC One drama Love, Lies and Records, along with the 2021 movie The Last Bus. He was also the co-producer of the original cast album for his father’s Cinderella in 2021, which earned him a Grammy nomination for best musical theater album.
