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Andrew Lloyd Webber is ‘hot again’ –with help from new kids on musicals block

2 days ago
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When Andrew Lloyd Webber walked on stage to collect the Tony award for best musical revival for Sunset Boulevard, it was the first time in 30 years he had been recognised by the American Theatre Wing.The Jamie Lloyd-directed revival was the star of the show at American theatre’s big night last Sunday with its three wins signifying a return to prominence for the veteran composer.But this wasn’t just about one hit show starring a former Pussycat Doll.Look around theatreland on either side of the Atlantic and Lord Lloyd-Webber’s fingerprints are everywhere: a successful revival of Starlight Express (in the unlikely environs of Wembley); a forthcoming outing for Jesus Christ Superstar; Jamie Lloyd is directing Evita (starring Rachel Zegler) in London, there is a new musical called The Illusionist in the works, and cryptic messages announcing the return of Phantom of the Opera have sprung up around New York.Arguably, we have reached peak Lloyd Webber five decades after his work was first performed on stage.

Critics have been lining up to declare that British theatre’s biggest name is “hot again”.But those close to him aren’t calling it a comeback.“I don’t think he ever went away,” said the West End producer Michael Harrison, who joined forces with Lloyd Webber in late 2022.“The big hits like Phantom continue in London; you can go and see Cats in Australia or Germany, and his work extends to Asia.“I think all that’s happened recently is that he has been very open to let new creatives look at his work,” Harrison added.

“So when Jamie Lloyd comes along and says: ‘I’ve got this idea to do Sunset Boulevard with Nicole Scherzinger’, he embraces it rather than puts up barriers and says: ‘The shows must always be as they were 20 years ago’.He’s very open to let people give new interpretations.”At the Tonys, Lloyd Webber spoke of how impressed he was with Lloyd’s “radical” reinterpretation of Sunset Boulevard “With all those older shows, it’s great when somebody comes to you with a new idea of how to do it,” he said.Luke Sheppard is a millennial director who grew up listening to Lloyd Webber and is the creative force behind the revival of Starlight Express.He said the composer was open to adding new elements to the show and was willing to write new songs.

Certain songs (deemed “old fashioned”) were dropped from Sunset altogether,Sheppard said: “Andrew let us explore some quite big ideas, like having a child on stage so that we really saw it through a young person’s imagination,We created new characters, Andrew wrote us some new songs, and we did a lot of gender flipping with different characters as well to really kind of expand those storylines,“The generosity and the openness that Andrew showed as a very successful composer producer, allowing us to explore, that was really quite amazing,”Harrison said if you looked at Lloyd Webber’s early career there was already a mould-breaking tendency at work.

“People talk about immersive theatre being a new thing.Well, Cats was in an old TV studio: your seats revolved as the show began, or there was the complete transformation of the Apollo Victoria into a railway track for Starlight Express,” he said.Sign up to The GuideGet our weekly pop culture email, free in your inbox every Fridayafter newsletter promotion“Even before that there were the Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar concept albums; he was launching shows through music,” Harrison added.“He’s always been a forward thinker and a little bit ahead of his time.”Lloyd is another director who grew up on the musicals of his new creative partner.

Face tattoos and slick, sexy stagings aren’t historically part of the Lloyd Webber package but Lloyd has added them all to the mix, and in so doing added a quality not usually associated with Lloyd Webber: coolness.Sheppard said: “I’m a musical theatre kid, so for me, he’s always been cool.There’s something quite rock’n’roll about Andrew, his songs capture the sound of the music at the time.You think about some of the stuff in Starlight Express, particularly the song AC/DC, which Electra sings.It was really revolutionary, that sound, when it first came out.

”Lloyd Webber’s revival isn’t just based on his classic work.The Illusionist is loosely based on the 2006 film of the same name that starred Edward Norton as a persecuted magician.Lloyd Webber’s previous Tony came for his original adaptation of Sunset Boulevard in 1995.Despite the long wait between wins, the current crop of revivals and new work suggest it’s a good bet it won’t take quite as long next time.This article was amended on 14 June 2025.

An earlier version incorrectly said Andrew Lloyd Webber was directing a London production of Evita,The director is actually Jamie Lloyd,
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Senior health figure accuses NHS of racism over care given to dying mother

A senior figure in the health service has criticised it for deep-seated racism after his mother “got a black service, not an NHS service” before she died.Victor Adebowale, the chair of the NHS Confederation, claimed his mother Grace’s lung cancer went undiagnosed because black people get “disproportionately poor” health service care.The NHS’s failure to detect her cancer while she was alive shows that patients experience “two different services”, based on the colour of their skin, Adebowale said.His mother, Grace Amoke Owuren Adebowale, a former NHS nurse, died in January aged 92. He highlighted her care and death during his speech this week at the NHS Confederation’s annual conference as an example of “persistent racial inequalities in NHS services”

3 days ago
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People in Australia: tell us your experiences with IVF

After a second embryo implant bungle at Monash IVF, the entire industry is under new scrutiny amid concerns the for-profit model doesn’t always putting families first.Experts worry that clinics might be pushing extra IVF cycles that have little chance of working, and add-on treatments that lack evidence of their efficacy. There are also concerns that people don’t always understand how quickly their chances of a successful pregnancy drop with age.We would like to hear your experiences of IVF. Were you given an accurate idea of your chances of conceiving? Do you feel you were “oversold” extra cycles or non-essential add-ons? How much did you pay and could you afford it? Did Medicare cover part or all of your fee?You can share your experiences with IVF using this form

3 days ago
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MPs back bill changes to prevent medics raising assisted dying with under-18s

Medics would not be allowed to raise assisted dying as an option with under-18s, and advertising it would be banned under changes backed by MPs before a final vote expected next week.The Commons voted on Friday on amendments to the assisted dying bill, which would legalise the option for terminally ill adults in England and Wales who have been told they have fewer than six months to live.The final Commons vote is scheduled for 20 June, with support and opposition finely balanced amid growing scrutiny of timelines, loopholes and who would ultimately deliver the system.A majority of MPs approved a clause tabled by the Labour MP Meg Hillier, an opponent of the bill, to ensure health professionals cannot raise the topic of assisted dying with under-18s.A separate amendment from Hillier to bar health workers from raising the option with adult patients before they have brought it up themselves was voted down

3 days ago
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Resident doctors have good reason to strike over pay | Letters

I write in response to the letter from senior clinicians urging resident doctors to vote against strike action (8 June). During my 22-year career we have seen fundamental changes in medical training, including the introduction of tuition fees for medical school, loss of free accommodation for first-year doctors, the lack of expansion in training numbers, and pay erosion over 15 years.This has left many resident doctors with crippling debt on graduation, spiralling costs of training, deteriorating pay, and the prospect of unemployment. I, and the authors of the letter, were fortunate enough not to face such hardships during training.Hence I urge colleagues not to influence the negotiations between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the government regarding resident doctors’ pay

3 days ago
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Suman Fernando obituary

My friend and colleague Suman Fernando, who has died aged 92, had an international reputation in the field of critical psychiatry, particularly in relation to advocating for race equity in mental health.As well as being a consultant psychiatrist in the NHS for more than 20 years, Suman wrote 14 books and many articles in which he consistently and methodically challenged institutional racism in British mental health provision.In his first book, Race and Culture in Society (1988), he explored the role that race and culture play in how people experience mental health issues and services. In his breakthrough 1991 book, Mental Health, Race and Culture, he challenged the dominance and singularity of the medical model, and argued that any service response for minority communities should also focus on social, cultural and institutional issues.Suman often juxtaposed the western, individualised notion of mental illness with those of the global south or indigenous healing systems that see fragmentation of community cohesion as causal, with responses that are more spiritual and community-based

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Robert Tollemache obituary

My father, Robert Tollemache, who has died aged 88, was a well-respected psychotherapist, best known for his work at the Open Door young people’s mental health charity, the Inner City Centre psychotherapy service and the medical foundation Freedom from Torture.He completed his training at the Lincoln Clinic and Centre for Psychotherapy in 1985, and for 40 years maintained a private practice in Highbury, north London. Alongside his clinical work, he campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness on environmental issues, completing a PhD, aged 79, on climate change denial. He was still working for the Islington Climate Centre weeks before his death.Born at the Royal Marines barracks in Plymouth, Robert was the youngest of the four children of Nora (nee Taylor) and Maj Gen Sir Humphry Tollemache

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CEO pay at UK’s top companies is 52 times that of typical worker, report finds

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Hey AI! Can ChatGPT help you to manage your money?

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Workers in UK need to embrace AI or risk being left behind, minister says

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JJ Spaun completes fairytale with monster final putt on wet and wild day at US Open

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US Open golf: JJ Spaun holes long-range putt on 18 for victory – as it happened

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