Andrew Lloyd Webber taking part in COVID-19 vaccine trial

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who a short while ago vowed to reopen London’s “The Phantom of the Opera” in spite of what the show’s producer named a “huge economical hit” from the coronavirus shutdown, has volunteered to get an experimental COVID-19 vaccine “to confirm that theatres can re-open safely and securely.”

“I am thrilled that tomorrow I am likely to be vaccinated for the Oxford Covid 19 trial,” Webber tweeted these days. “I’ll do something to confirm that theatres can re-open safely and securely.”

The “Cats” composer evidently was referring to the vaccine currently being produced by Oxford College and the drug company AstraZeneca. Countless numbers of people in the United kingdom, the United States, Brazil and South Africa have volunteered to acquire section in clinical trials for a drug that’s showed early promise.

The two Webber and his longtime producer Cameron Mackintosh have decried London’s theater shutdown and what they say is the government’s weak reaction to support the sector. Last month, Mackintosh reported in a column he wrote for the UK’s Night Typical, “With no endgame to this crisis in sight, past week I had to observe as a result of with the dreadful, distressing downsizing of my firm to assure my company’s survival …”

The London and United kingdom touring productions of “The Phantom of the Opera,” Mackintosh wrote, are “permanently shut down,” even though he afterwards backtracked a little bit. Webber responded to Mackintosh’s column by tweeting, “As considerably as I’m worried ‘Phantom’ will reopen as soon as is achievable.”

As with Broadway, London’s theaters have been closed considering the fact that March because of to the pandemic. Whilst Broadway is officially closed until eventually January – with shutdown extensions achievable and no demonstrates now arranging to return just before Spring 2021 – some London theaters are considering a phased reopening beginning this Drop, with lowered viewers capacities. London’s Bridge Theatre a short while ago announced a output of David Hare’s new a person-person enjoy “Beat the Devil,” starring Ralph Fiennes, with a goal opening night time in September or October.