Composer and producer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber is offering free theatre tickets to any bank employee who has lost their job in the current economic climate.
Any former employee of a bank or financial institution with a P45 dated after 1 September 2008 has until 15 October to claim a pair of free tickets to either The Sound Of Music or Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, both of which are co-produced by Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. Tickets can be claimed in person at the theatres’ box offices on presentation of a valid P45.
Lloyd Webber’s offer comes in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse on Monday, in which thousands of UK staff lost their jobs, and the merger of HBOS with Lloyds TSB, which is also expected to result in job losses.
"Both The Sound Of Music and Joseph are feel good shows and I thought that free tickets might offer some respite, albeit for a couple of hours, for some of those people who have sadly lost their jobs in the current economic upheaval,” commented Lloyd Webber on his website.
The Sound Of Music opened at the London Palladium in 2006 and currently stars Summer Strallen as Maria, the nun-turned-nanny to the Von Trapp children who falls in love with their father. An experienced stage actress, Strallen was ‘cast’ by Lloyd Webber through a storyline on C4 soap Hollyoaks.
At the Adelphi, Lee Mead is still leading the cast as Joseph, the role he won in Lloyd Webber's 2007 BBC reality show Any Dream Will Do.
The free tickets are available for Monday to Thursday performances only.
CB