Andrew Lloyd Webber Shares Plans to Test Reopening: 'I Want to Prove Theaters Can Be Open'

Andrew Lloyd Webber is on a mission to find a way to reopen theaters in London. The legendary composer said on BBC Radio 4's Today  that he is going to run a series of reopening tests at the London Palladium in July. West End theaters are still shut down due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The new health and safety measures have been inspired by the success of The Phantom of the Opera in South Korea.

"It's really the local producers who have done the extraordinary work," Lloyd Webber said of South Korea's open productions. "The key thing that they have is incredibly good hygiene in every single possible way, both backstage for the cast and the crew and the orchestra but also for people in the front of the house. The whole point is to try and make people feel as safe and secure as they possibly can."

The safety measures in South Korea include thermal imaging cameras at both the stage door and front of house entrances. "They can absolutely identify if anybody has a temperature extremely quickly," Lloyd Webber said. "For my test, we've ordered all of that. We've ordered hygienic silver ion door handle covers. Apparently, these are completely effective against pathogens like coronavirus. Everybody going into the theater is fobbed with the antiviral chemical, and the theater itself is fobbed after every performance. There's no social distancing because it's impossible in the theater."

"What I hope to do is to be able to demonstrate to the government what happened in Korea at the London Palladium, hopefully in the first week of July. We've just had the final bits of equipment delivered into England. We're going to do a whole series of tests to see whether or not it's going to work," he explained. "The reason we've chosen the London Palladium is that it's a very big theater. It's just under 2,300 seats. We want to demonstrate there that this can work. I really do believe that we in theater must be positive and use everything we can to demonstrate that we can open."

Lloyd Webber shared he has been in communication with Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital Culture, Media and Sport. "I would love to say that I think that they understood a little more," he said of the government. "I've seen a report—I don't know what's going to be in the report on theater that is coming out on Monday—but I sincerely hope it doesn't contain some of the things I've seen in their advice—one of which: you're not allowed to sing."

Despite his concerns regarding the government's understanding of theater industry needs, Lloyd Webber remains resilient in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. "All one can do is to try and demonstrate and be positive," he said. "I've been over 50 years in the theater. It's my life. It's my blood. It's absolutely awful to see everything that I've loved in my life gone. The theaters are my way of putting something back into the business that's been so good to me. I want to prove they can be open."