Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Stephen Ward Musical At Aldwych Theatre, London

The world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Stephen Ward will open at the Aldwych Theatre in December. Directed by five-time Olivier Award-winner Richard Eyre, who is also due to direct his own adaptation of Ghosts at the Almeida Theatre, and with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the musical tells the story of a 1963 scandal that shocked society. Particularly relevant after recent media outrages, it looks back at the Profumo Affair – named after the illicit encounters between Secretary of State John Profumo and a call girl – and how free-living society physician Stephen Ward introduced the major players of this government-toppling sex and espionage scandal. Used as a scapegoat in a trial that was as symbolic to the twentieth century as Oscar Wilde’s was to the nineteenth, Ward was targeted and eventually became the main victim. Featuring a book and lyrics by playwright Christopher Hampton and lyricist Don Black, the musical will put Ward’s story into the spotlight.

With the Waldorf Hotel sandwiched in between them, the Aldwych and Novello (formerly the Strand) theatres were originally built to work as a pair. The Aldwych is probably most noted for being the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company (from 1960 to 1982), and for Ben Travers’ famed Aldwych Farces, which played here from 1925 to 1933. More about Aldwych Theatre

More info : londontown.com