STEPHEN WARD, ALDWYCH THEATRE, LONDON, DECEMBER 3, 2013 – MARCH 29, 2014
‘Just watched, what in my opinion, is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s greatest musical.
Beautifully irreverent, sardonically witty and exquisitely performed – at times with just the right amount of tongue in cheek.
Cleverly staged, deftly directed, it is all about the performances.
Can’t wait to see it again.
Alexander Hanson nails it as a detached, yet sympathetic Stephen Ward.
It may be closing soon, but this musical will have a life after the West End. Of that, I have no doubt.‘
The plan was to talk to Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber (“Call me Andrew,” he insisted) about the 25th anniversary production Phantom of the Opera and his arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar when we chatted in October 2012, until I mentioned I’d read he was just about to start work on a musical about the 1960’s political scandal known as The Profumo Affair. He needed little persuasion when I asked if he could share a bit more about it and the interview turned into quite the exclusive.
The musical, a piece championing the man charged with instigating the affair, would become Stephen Ward The Musical, charting how, in 1963, John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, had an affair with Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Soviet spy. After lying about it in the House of Commons he was forced to resign. But it was another character in the centre of proceedings that captured Andrew’s imagination.
He explained: “The new musical will be about Dr Stephen Ward, the most celebrated man in London, who ended up as a waxwork in Madame Tussaud’s Chambers of Horrors. He was the man who was, wrongly in my view, convicted of pimping – although he committed suicide before the court could sentence him – because he introduced Keeler to Profumo. It’s a fascinating period of history because it is exactly at the time that everything is changing… I can just about remember it. I was about 13 and it was so big you couldn’t miss it.”
An osteopath, artist and ultimately an establishment scapegoat, Ward became notorious after bringing the married British cabinet minister and the showgirl together. Following the Profumo scandal, he was charged with living off the profits of immoral earnings. He overdosed on sleeping tablets on the last day of his trial.
Andrew continued: “People think of it as The Profumo Affair but I am much more interested in the character of Stephen Ward. It’s quite interesting how a whole series of little events led to people, even Hoover in America, thinking there was an international call-girl ring of spies, which is absolute nonsense. Of course, everyone had become so paranoid because it played out against the backdrop of the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis and all that, so you kind of understand it.”
At the time of the interview, Andrew was aiming to bring the piece to the stage by the Easter of 2014… “if it works out and the writing goes well. I’m going to give it a whirl, but it wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve got quite a long way through a musical and found I couldn’t finish it because the story didn’t quite work. So I might find when I finally get to grips with it that what I think at the moment is a very good idea, isn’t. But I do think it is an incredibly strong story, especially as a lot of the key players are still alive.”
That last comment was to prove, perhaps, prescient. Stephen Ward The Musical actually opened ahead of the Easter 2014 target date, receiving its first preview on 3 December 2013 at the Aldwych Theatre, where it ran until 29 March 2014, closing early after mixed reviews. I saw it a couple of weeks before it closed in a sparsely populated theatre and loved it. The cast giving it their all. Vibrant, risky as well as risqué, it was a fresh and engrossing take on a piece of modern history. Hopefully, one day, Andrew will revisit the piece. Very different in feel to many of his other works, its contemporary nature and sexual content seem to have been just too unexpected for those expecting another Phantom or Joseph. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for a chance to see it again.
Excerpts from Liam Rudden’s archive and notes penned after the performance
