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Andrew Lloyd Webber signs up for coronavirus vaccine in bid to help save theatre

Composer and executive producer Andrew Lloyd Webber attends the world premiere of "Cats" at Alice Tully Hall on Monday, Dec. 16, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Andrew Lloyd Webber attends the world premiere of Cats in 2019. (Invision/AP)

Andrew Lloyd Webber has signed up to get an experimental coronavirus vaccine, saying he will “do anything to prove theatres can re-open safely”.

The composer, 72, will be getting the vaccine as part of the Oxford trial.

He shared the news on Twitter, revealing he was hoping to help the theatre world, which has been badly hit by the pandemic.

Read more: Andrew Lloyd Webber says the Cats movie was 'ridiculous'

“I am excited that tomorrow I am going to be vaccinated for the Oxford Covid 19 trial,” Lloyd Webber tweeted.

“I’ll do anything to prove that theatres can re-open safely – ALW.”

Theatres were forced to close and live performances were put on hold amid the pandemic, and some people in the industry have expressed fears about its future.

However, Lloyd Webber has previously said the theatre world needs to be positive.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in June, he said it had been “absolutely awful to see everything that I’ve loved in my life gone”.

A man wearing a face mask walks past Her Majesty's Theatre in Haymarket, London, which used to show The Phantom Of The Opera before it closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Covid-19 crisis has wreaked havoc in the West End, where theatres have been dark since March.
Her Majesty's Theatre in Haymarket, London, which used to show The Phantom Of The Opera before it closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. (PA)

“I really believe that we in theatre must be positive and use everything we can to demonstrate we can open,” he said. “If having done that we fail, at least we’ve tried.”

Read more: More shows will close and not reopen, UK theatre chief warns

Fans were impressed to hear the theatre impresario had signed up for the trial.

“Thank you for all you are doing for our industry, Andrew!” one appreciative person posted.

Another tweeted: “I really admire how you actually act in order to support what you believe. Most of the people only talk much but do little. Keep my fingers crossed that the vaccine works. Stay safe.”