Lloyd Webber's Stephen Ward Show To Close

After just four months in London's West End there is to be no encore for Stephen Ward The Musical which is expected to close next month.

Producer Robert Fox said he was "very sad" that the Andrew Lloyd Webber show, being staged at the Aldwych Theatre, will end on March 29.

The musical about Ward, the fixer at the centre of the Profumo sex scandal that threatened to topple the Conservative government in 1963, officially opened on December 19 to mixed reviews from critics.

The show's website still says tickets can be booked until the end of May but it looks like the curtain will now be coming down earlier.

It was billed as "1963: The scandal that shocked society" and traces the rise and fall of Ward, an osteopath and socialite who was tried for allegedly living off immoral earnings of prostitutes.

Ward is said to have introduced John Profumo, then secretary of state for war, to Christine Keeler at a party at the stately home Cliveden, in Buckinghamshire.

Profumo was forced to resign after it emerged that she was also having an affair with a Soviet attache.

Ward was put on trial, but committed suicide after the judge's summing up. Former showgirl Mandy Rice-Davies and Miss Keeler were witnesses at the hearing.

Lord Lloyd-Webber believed the musical would show how Ward was made a "scapegoat" by the establishment.

Fox said: "I am very proud of the show and our wonderful company. Andrew (Lloyd Webber) has never been afraid to embrace difficult and challenging subject matters and Ward's strong and compelling story highlights a serious miscarriage of justice.

"The piece set out to explore his fascinating life as a piece of serious theatre which has now been told to a new generation.

"The strong critical reviews commend what I think is possibly Andrew's best score in years, paired with some of the finest writing and lyrics Don and Christopher have ever delivered. I am very sad to see the show close in London but firmly believe this piece will be seen by many audiences in the future."

Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita, Starlight Express, The Phantom of the Opera and Aspects of Love are among Lord Lloyd-Webber's stage successes.

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