ALW has released a video clip of himself accompanying Carrie Hope Fletcher singing one of the songs she'll perform in his latest musical, in an empty Her Majesty's Theatre.
That theatre of course usually reverberates with the sights and sounds of a hideously deformed creature coaching a beautiful soprano in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. You can make your own jokes drawing comparisons. I shall resist the tempt ion.
Whilst Covid has delayed the premiere of Cinderella and allowed Phantom a break in performances with which to refurbish the set Andrew Lloyd Webber has been quite a presence on social media, introducing archive recordings of his greatest hits, bank rolling experiments in theatrical social distancing at the London Palladium and releasing tasters from his new show.
This one's rather lovely. Like all great songs it has a feeling of familiarity that's both soothing and rousing. But this time, unlike his previous offering from the show which bore a striking resemblance to a pre-existing Cinderella song by Rodgers and Hammerstein I don't believe we have heard this one before.
It's a beautiful melody that really gets under your skin from the moment you initially hear it swing into the oft repeated chorus. By the time you conclude your first encounter you know the tune will be in your head for the rest of your life.
It's full of plaintive longing and quivering emotion reflecting on the universal theme of lost love. As we give in to it's charms, resistance useless, Carrie could be singing about any one of us in her beautifully understated performance.
And that ability to hook us with a bold simple tune, my friends, so easy to recognise, so fiendishly difficult to execute, is why Lord Lloyd Webber is richer than God. Enjoy.
In a recent statement, Artistic Director, Rufus Norris said -