Opening date for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella moved to 2021

Premiere of Cinderella musical starring Carrie Hope Fletcher postponed to spring 2021

Producers The Really Useful Group announced today (8 July 2020) that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s highly anticipated new musical Cinderella will now have its world premiere at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London on Wednesday, 7 April 2021, with previews beginning Friday, 19 March 2021. Despite news of ALW trying to woo the Government into opening theatres with safe performances by following the South Korean model and after Oliver Dowden himself visited ALW at the London Palladium to test safe performances, it still became necessary to postpone the show.

Andrew Lloyd Webber has stated: "Whilst I continue to impress on the government that theatres can reopen safely based on the London Palladium model, it has become clear that we need to move the opening of Cinderella to next Spring.  My teams have been working throughout lockdown to prepare the show and are raring to go, but there are key elements, not least casting and the building of sets and costumes, that take months of forward planning and can only start as we get further down the road to normal.  So the show will absolutely go on, just a little later than I’d hoped.”

Carrie Hope Fletcher confirmed for the newly rescheduled run of Cinderella

It has been confirmed that West End star Carrie Hope Fletcher will still portray Cinderella in the new Gillian Lynne Theatre production. The actress is perhaps best known for starring in Heathers (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Addams Family (UK Tour), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK Tour), and Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre). 

Hope Fletcher most recently starred in the iconic role of Fantine in Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre for both the concert-style production and newly reopened classic production. She is also an established bestselling author and social media personality with a new children's book entitled Into The Spotlight set to be released by Puffin Books on 17 September 2020.

Carrie Hope Fletcher will also still be joined on stage by Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, who will play the Evil Stepmother. Further casting has yet to be announced.

Cinderella Gillian Lynne Theatre creative team

Cinderella The Musical reunites Andrew Lloyd Webber with director Laurence Connor and choreographer JoAnn M Hunter, who previously worked on the Olivier Award-winning international hit School of Rock and the recent, sold-out production of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium, which is scheduled to return to the West End venue in Summer 2021.

The musical also features lyrics by multi-award-winning lyricist David Zippel, whose most notable work includes Liza at the Palace, The Woman in White, City of Angels, and The Goodbye Girl, as well as the hit films from Disney's Renaissance era, Hercules and Mulan, both of which scored Oscar Award nominations.

The lady behind the reinvention of the classic fairytale Cinderella

The production is a complete reinvention and based on an original idea by Emmy Award-nominated lead scriptwriter of Killing Eve, Emerald Fennell. Her latest film, A Promising Young Woman, which she wrote and directed, stars Carey Mulligan and is set to open this autumn. As an actress, Fennell is best known for portraying Patsy Mount on BBC’s Call The Midwife and currently stars in Netflix's The Crown as Camilla Parker Bowles.

Gillian Lynne Theatre to get an upgrade

LW Theatres will be working to update the Gillian Lynne Theatre ahead of Cinderella's arrival. More toilets will be added and the Front of House and auditorium will be refurbished. The theatre will also be adopting new safety measures to become COVID-compliant so that it can welcome audiences back as soon as safely possible when restrictions allow. These measures have been trialled at the London Palladium and will be rolled out across all LW Theatres in the coming months.

Cinderella 2021 musical tickets on sale now

Tickets to see Cinderella next year at the Gillian Lynne Theatre are on sale now from £24. Current ticketholders for the now-cancelled autumn run are encouraged to exchange their tickets to a later date to secure their spot in this now long-awaited production.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is a master of musical theatre, having been behind such West End favourites as Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. The premiere of Cinderella is going to be one of the biggest London theatre events of the year and you won't want to miss it. So be sure to book your tickets to this unmissable new show now for the highly anticipated 2021 run.