As West End and Broadway theatres closed their doors to the public in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, musical theatre giant Andrew Lloyd Webber teamed up with Universal to stream some of the filmed versions of his shows on the newly-created and aptly named Youtube channel, ‘The Shows Must Go On!’.

According to the composer: ‘Universal have come up with the idea of a whole series called The Shows Must Go On, which is about musicals going from stage to screen.’

DONNY OSMOND IN JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT

The first musical in this series to air will be the 2000 version of ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’, starring Donny Osmond, Maria Friedman, Sir Richard Attenborough and Dame Joan Collins. The full-length show will be available to watch for 48 hours, starting on Friday, 3 April at 7pm GMT.

Next week’s musical will be ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, recorded in 2012 and starring Ben Forster as Jesus, Tim Minchin as Judas, Spice Girl Melanie C as Mary Magdalene and Chris Moyles as King Herod.

TIM MINCHIN AS JUDAS

The series will continue every Friday for the next few weeks.

While it is unclear at this time for how long musical theatre enthusiasts will be treated to the famous performances, what we do know so far is that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1975 show ‘By Jeeves’ is on the cards sometime in the near future and that the channel will also feature behind-the-scene footage and other short clips.

Although the service is free, the composer does encourage anyone who is able to help the theatre industry to make a donation through one of the charities listed on the channel’s page, including Acting For Others, Broadway Cares and the Actors Benevolent Fund.

Earlier this week, Andrew Lloyd Webber has recorded a beautiful virtual performance of ‘All I Ask of You’ together with the West End’s ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ orchestra, proving that the composer has swiftly adapted to the global crisis we all suddenly found ourselves in and that he will be making sure we all stay connected through the wonder of music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o04ECIpQFi0