EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Covid lockdowns cost Andrew Lloyd Webber £10 million in just a year because of theatre being closed

Andrew Lloyd Webber declared he was willing to be arrested as he desperately tried to keep his theatres open in the face of sweeping restrictions during the pandemic.

Now, I can reveal the extent of his personal sacrifice.

The impresario’s royalties took a massive £10 million hit during the last financial year.

His musical royalties plunged from almost £13 million to less than £3 million, according to newly filed accounts for Really Useful Group Investments, the umbrella company in charge of his musical empire.

Andrew Lloyd Webber (pictured in August last year), 74, was one of the most outspoken critics of lockdown, voicing fears that theatres would be forced to close permanently as a result

Last year, he called on the Government to stop ‘penalising’ live entertainment, pleading: ‘We can open safely. Please, please let us get open’

They report ‘royalty costs to Lord Lloyd-Webber’ at £2.74 million for the 12 months to June 2021, down from £12.65 million paid the previous year. The business’s turnover plunged from £48 million in 2020 to £12.9 million.

A review of business reports: ‘During 2021 and 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has impacted all the countries where Really Useful Group licences and produces its shows.’

Lord Lloyd-Webber, 74, was one of the most outspoken critics of lockdown, voicing fears that theatres would be forced to close permanently as a result. 

Last year, he called on the Government to stop ‘penalising’ live entertainment, pleading: ‘We can open safely. Please, please let us get open.’

And when he feared the reopening of Cinderella, his reimagining of the fairy tale, might not be allowed, he declared: ‘We are going to open, come hell or high water,’ he said. ‘We will say: ‘Come to the theatre and arrest us.’ ‘

Lloyd Webber declared he was willing to be arrested as he desperately tried to keep his theatres open in the face of sweeping restrictions during the pandemic (file photo of a deserted London)

Currently in Sydney, to see Opera Australia’s new production of The Phantom Of The Opera, the composer hit out again. 

During an appearance on TV, he said: ‘The whole Covid thing has been ludicrously handled back in Britain, where it’s been fairly chaotic. It’s clear now that if you’ve got yourself vaccinated it’s pretty safe to go out, and we are all careful. That’s my mantra.’

Hotelier Sir Rocco Forte has come up with a tasty way to help Ukraine. 

He’s started serving Chicken Kyiv in Charlie’s restaurant, at his Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair. It costs £25 with all proceeds donated to the British Red Cross. 

The restaurant’s celebrated maitre d’, Jesus Adorno, says the dish is ‘very much part of Ukrainian identity’.

Wood’s still the ladies’ man!

Ronnie Wood, 74, was joined by Mel, 34, and his theatre producer wife, Sally, 44, at a charity concert at The Roundhouse in North London

Sir Mick Jagger is rarely seen out with his girlfriend, Melanie Hamrick, but the Rolling Stones singer’s band mate, Ronnie Wood, was more than happy to keep the former ballerina entertained.

The guitarist, 74, was joined by Mel, 34, and his theatre producer wife, Sally, 44, at a charity concert at The Roundhouse in North London.

It wasn’t clear why Jagger, 78, couldn’t be there. Perhaps he was left babysitting? His son with Mel, Deveraux, is aged five — 46 years younger than his first child.

Strictly Come Dancing could soon go digital, as fans may be able to purchase their favourite bits of choreography as Non-Fungible Tokens(NFTs), a form of digital data ownership. 

They could even buy rights to meet the dancers backstage using the new technology, says Strictly pro Neil Jones. ‘I’m starting a project involving dance with NFTs,’ he tells me.

Steady on, Neil! Getting to know Strictly pros isn’t always such a good idea: his then wife, Katya, was snapped kissing her dance contestant partner on the show, comedian Seann Walsh, in 2018.

Selfless Jodie’s aid for Ukraine

The model-turned-pub landlady tells me: ‘We haven’t set a date yet because everything is so up in the air with what’s happening in Ukraine’

Twice-married Jodie Kidd has had a somewhat turbulent love life, so friends were delighted when she got engaged to former Royal Marine Joseph Bates before Christmas.

However, the model-turned-pub landlady tells me: ‘We haven’t set a date yet because everything is so up in the air with what’s happening in Ukraine.’

At the opening of the NFT (digital art) Quantus Gallery, in Spitalfields, East London, Kidd, 43, explains she’s busy sorting out aid: ‘I have a lot of friends who have small businesses that are sending and organising things.’

Jane Seymour’s boyfriend might have reason to feel insecure. The four-times married Hollywood star, 71, has been going out with producer David Green since 2014. 

But asked if he’s ‘the one’, she replies: ‘This is definitely the right one for now. I don’t think David deserves to have the number five written next to his name,’ she says, before adding: ‘He’s a wonderful man. 

Beeny’s band of brothers

She’s the host of property programmes such as Help! My House Is Falling Down. But behind the scenes Sarah Beeny, who has four sons, is busy keeping her own house together.

And to show their gratitude, her boys, aged 12 to 17, have written a song called Unconditional, expressing their love for their mother.

‘Hearing it for the first time was quite cool,’ she tells me. ‘All mothers and fathers just want to be appreciated.’

She’s the host of property programmes such as Help! My House Is Falling Down. But behind the scenes Sarah Beeny (seen in 2016), who has four sons, is busy keeping her own house together

Her children have formed a band called The Entitled Sons, an ironic nod to the people who call them that, and are releasing their song today in anticipation of Mothering Sunday this weekend.

But Beeny, 50, is still suspicious of the gesture from her doe-eyed sons. ‘I’m pretty certain the kids got together and went: ‘OK, what can we do that means that we’ll get away with not doing all the chores that Mum asks us to do?’

‘They thought it would get them off the hook for not emptying the dishwasher.’

Corsets are meant to make you look slimmer, but Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh says they’ve left her needing to exercise. 

‘Corsets do the opposite of what your body wants to do,’ explains the actress, who plays Lady Danbury in the Netflix hit. She says a corset makes muscles lazy, adding: ‘You have to do exercises so that you don’t take your corset off and fold like a jelly.’

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who has died aged 84, was a brooch fanatic, keeping a huge collection and writing a book about them. 

She sometimes used the jewellery to send political messages. Suspecting the Russians were bugging her department, she wore a huge bug pin to give a visual signal that she was on to their tricks.

A son, Frankie, for Ferry’s ex

Amanda Sheppard and her fund manager husband, Duncan Westbrook, 43, have named their boy Frankie (above)

Ferry, 76, has four sons from his previous marriage to the late Lucy Helmore, and Amanda (pictured in London in 2015) is 38 years his junior

When Bryan Ferry divorced glamorous party planner Amanda Sheppard, the Roxy Music star admitted it was because he didn’t want to have any more children.

Ferry, 76, has four sons from his previous marriage to the late Lucy Helmore, and Amanda is 38 years his junior. ‘She wanted a baby and I didn’t,’ he explained.

Happily, I can reveal that Amanda now has a son of her own. She and her fund manager husband, Duncan Westbrook, 43, have named their boy Frankie. They already have a daughter, Ivy.

Meghan’s biographer faces loss of his firm

Meghan’s cheerleader Omid Scobie appears so obsessed with portraying the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Caribbean tour as a failure he’s forgotten to keep his own affairs in order.

I can reveal the author of Finding Freedom (about Prince Harry and his wife) is facing action to close his publishing business, Meyou Ltd, after he failed to provide legally required financial information. It faces ‘compulsory strike-off’ as it hasn’t filed any accounts since 2019.

Failure to provide financial details would result in a fine of £1,500 for accounts that are more than six months overdue, according to Companies House. If a firm is struck off compulsorily, all its assets can be seized by the Government.

Source: Read Full Article