Andrew Lloyd Webber will miss the opening of his latest Broadway show Bad Cinderella after his eldest son Nicholas Lloyd Webber became seriously ill. Nicholas, 43, has been fighting gastric cancer for more than a year, Webber said in a statement on Sunday. Like his father, Nicholas is also an accomplished composer and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella.
“I am absolutely devastated to say that my eldest son Nick is critically ill,” Webber said in a statement to Playbill. “As my friends and family know, he has been fighting gastric cancer for the last 18 months and Nick is now hospitalized.” Webber missed recent previews for Bad Cinderella and will miss the opening on March 23.
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“I, therefore, have not been able to attend the recent previews of Bad Cinderella and as things stand, I will not be able to cheer on its wonderful cast, crew, and orchestra on Opening Night this Thursday,” Webber’s statement continued. “We are all praying that Nick will turn the corner. He is bravely fighting with his indomitable humor, but at the moment my place is with him and the family.”
Bad Cinderella is a new twist on the classic fairy tale with a book by Promising Young Woman writer Emerald Fennell. David Zippel, who previously worked with Webber on The Woman in White, wrote the lyrics. Linedy Genao stars as Cinderella, with Grace McLean as The Queen and Carolee Carmello as The Stepmother. Former Blue Bloods star Sami Gayle plays Adele. Jordan Dobson, Christina Acosta Robinson, Morgan Higgins, and Cameron Loyal also star in the Broadway production.
Nicholas is the son of Webber and his first wife, Sarah Hugill. He has composed his own productions and wrote the score for the 2017 BBC One series Love, Lies and Records. When his musical adaptation of The Little Prince was performed in Belfast, Nicholas told The Telegraph he tried to distance himself from his father when he was starting out. After establishing himself, he decided to embrace the “Lloyd Webber” surname.
“For a long time, I dropped the Lloyd bit – to see what the reaction would be,” Nicholas said in 2011. “I got some stuff on the radio – so I thought ‘OK, I’m obviously not a complete idiot.’ Then I thought, ‘Hang on, if other people are prepared to work with me without the surname then maybe I should just get on with it.’”
Webber is a member of the EGOT club, with an Oscar, an Emmy, three Grammys, and six Tony Awards. Bad Cinderella is his first new Broadway production since School of Rock, which ran from 2015 to 2019. He recently wrote a piece of church music for King Charles III’s coronation, set to take place May 6 at Westminster Abbey.
