That’s how you take one ‘shot’ for the team.
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber was lauded for his dedication to save the theater industry by pledging to take part in an ongoing Covid-19 vaccine trial being developed by Oxford University and drug company, AstraZeneca.
A day after, the renowned composer and musical theater impresario announced on Twitter that he had completed the mission, along with a photo attachment of himself being propped up by a medical worker for his injection. “Just completed the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial. I’ll do anything to get theaters large and small open again, and actors and musicians back to work,” the caption said.
Webber’s involvement with an experimental immunization is just a part of his attempts to revive the theater stage. He vows to reopen London’s The Phantom of the Opera as soon as possible on behalf of the ensemble and producers, including Cameron Mackintosh, who admitted the show is currently facing a huge financial hit that could snowball into a permanent shutdown.
Webber has also created a video series on Youtube called “Composer in Isolation,” where he takes suggestions from his fans and proceeds to play the most requested song off his vast catalog. He also squeezes in a few “Stories Behind the Scores” videos to share a detailed account of his compositions.
Since March, he has been very vocal about his ambition to keep the theater industry running and to bring back the confidence of the audience during the crisis, in spite of “cultural catastrophe” and the widely criticized U.K. government’s weak response for the arts.
Webber has composed scores for several famous musicals, including Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and Sunset Boulevard. He was recognized as “the most commercially successful composer in history” by the New York Times.