Entertainment

Carrie Hope Fletcher bids farewell to Cinderella in London’s West End

The last show was staged at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on Sunday.
The last show was staged at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on Sunday. The last show was staged at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on Sunday.

Carrie Hope Fletcher has said performing in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of Cinderella in London’s West End has “been a ball.”

The cast performed the final show on Sunday, after less than a year playing at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, having been hit with Covid-19 related disruption since the start.

Fletcher, who stars in the title role, said on Instagram: “From the first workshop, to the first photoshoot, to the final show.

“The last three years on this project have had many highs and lows but overall I’m glad to have stood in Cinderella’s glass slippers (and fun fact…her Kurt Giegers…NOT Doc Martens).

“Everyone in the Gillian Lynne from cast to crew to lighting to sound to wardrobe to dressers to wigs to stage management to front of house…coming to work has been an honour and a privilege.”

The 29-year-old thanked everyone who has supported the show “from beginning to end.”

She added: “It had meant the world to each and every one of us. Bye, Cinders. It’s been a ball.”

Last July, Lloyd Webber said he was determined to open Cinderella in London and had at that stage ignored “siren voices” suggesting he move it to Broadway.

Cinderella show closing
Cinderella show closing People queue for the final performance of Cinderella (Yui Mok/PA)

The Cinderella premiere took place in August last year, having been scheduled for the previous month but delayed due to Covid isolation protocols.

The show opened with an audience capacity of 50% after the impresario rejected Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s offer for the show to be included in the coronavirus live events pilot scheme.

Then in December, Cinderella was stopped due to “Covid-related absences”, alongside London productions of hit musicals Hamilton and The Lion King.

At the time, Lloyd Webber said it is “simply heartbreaking” to see the theatre industry “decimated” by cancellations, adding “no-one in the Government listens”.

He postponed Cinderella until 2022 “to avoid more disruption” as the number of Covid-19 cases increased across the country.

Written by The Crown star Emerald Fennell, Cinderella is described as a “complete reinvention” of the classic fairytale, and is based on an original idea by Fennell.