Profumo scandal to be turned into musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Posted on 23 May 2012
Composer Andrew Llloyd Webber is feeling inspired again to write a new original West End musical on the subject of the 1960's Profumo Scandal. He will start work on the new project after the filming of the SuperStar tv show finishes, which is the search for the role of Jesus for his revival of his musical Jesus Christ Superstar.
The new musical is about Stephen Ward, the celebrity osteopath who discovered Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies as dancers at a cabaret club in Soho and subsequently introduced them to Profumo and other celebrities. The affair between War Minister John Profumo at the height of the Cold War in the 60's with Christine Keeler the reputed mistress of an alleged Soviet spy caused a public scandal with it's potentially damaging ramfications to national security.
"I'm pleased that I've found a subject that I want to write now," Lloyd Webber told the BBC. "Stephen Ward really intrigues me and was a fantastically interesting character."
In the Court Case Ward was charged over "immoral earnings" for living off the "earnings of prostitution". He committed suicide on the last day of the trial by overdosing on sleeping pills.
Lloyd Webber described Ward as "the most popular man in London who ended up with absolutely nobody after the trial. I kind of think he was a fall guy. A very interesting guy."
It will be Lloyd Webber's first new musical since Love Never Dies.
[posted by Louise, 23/05/2012]
