Andrew Lloyd Webber Comments on STEPHEN WARD Closing: 'Fools Give You Reasons, Wise Men Never Try'

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, Andrew Lloyd Webber refuted the idea that his latest West End musical, STEPHEN WARD, is closing early because "he was too much of a 'lone ego' on the project". The West End production of STEPHEN WARD will complete its run at the Aldwych Theatre on 29 March 2014.

Responding to Telegraph theatre critic Tim Walker's assertions that Lloyd Webber was "the only big name attached to the show" with no one of "equal stature" balancing its creation, Lloyd Webber cited STEPHEN WARD's creative team: director Richard Eyre, former head of the National Theatre, long-time producer Robert Fox and Oscar-winning lyricists Don Black and Christopher Hampton.

He also addressed Walker's criticism that the Profumo scandal "was too obscure a subject to draw in young or foreign theatergoers".

"If you choose a subject purely because it is commercial, catastrophe looms," Lloyd Webber said. "If money was the only goal, would I have embarked on a musical [Cats] that was inspired by an anthology of poems by a dead poet, was directed by a commercially untried director... was to open with most of its investment missing and... featured human beings dressed as cats?"

He continued: "We are all immensely proud of Stephen Ward. But what makes a hit musical? Fools give you reasons, wise men never try."

STEPHEN WARD received its world premiere in December last year with a cast led by Alexander Hanson in the title role,Charlotte Spencer as Christine Keeler and Charlotte Blackledge as Mandy Rice Davies. With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Ward has book and lyrics by playwright Christopher Hampton and lyricist Don Black. The production is directed by Richard Eyre with set and costume designs by Rob Howell, lighting design by Peter Mumford, sound design by Paul Groothuis, projection design by Jon Driscoll, and choreography by Stephen Mear.

1963. The scandal that shocked society. Stephen Ward charts the rise and fall from grace of the man at the centre of the Profumo affair. Friend to film stars, spies, models, government ministers, and aristocrats, his rise and ultimate disgrace coincided with the increasingly permissive lifestyle of London's elite in the early 1960s. The musical centres on Ward's involvement with the young and beautiful Christine Keeler and their chance meeting in a West End night club which led to one of the biggest political scandals and trials of the 20th century.

The West End cast for Stephen Ward comprises Alexander Hanson (Stephen Ward), Charlotte Spencer (Christine Keeler), Charlotte Blackledge (Mandy Rice Davies), Anthony Calf (Lord Astor), Daniel Flynn (John Profumo), Joanna Riding (Valerie Hobson), Ian Conningham (Ivanov), Chris Howell (Murray), Ricardo Coke Thomas (Lucky Gordon) andWayne Robinson (Johnny Edgecombe). Other cast members are Martin Callaghan, Kate Coyston, Jason Denton,Julian Forsyth, Amy Griffiths, Paul Kemble, Emma Kate Nelson, Carl Sanderson, Emily Squibb, John Stacey, Helen Ternent and Tim Walton.

Pictured: Charlotte Blackledge (Mandy Rice-Davies), Andrew Lloyd Webber and Mandy Rice-Davies