Composer and theatre impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber has confirmed he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
An official statement said: “The condition is in its very early stages. Andrew is now undergoing treatment and expects to be fully back at work before the end of the year.”
The diagnosis comes at a busy time for the composer, who launched his new show Love Never Dies to the press on 8 October. The follow up to his hugely successful musical The Phantom Of The Opera, Love Never Dies is due to open at the Adelphi theatre next March, with a New York production to follow later in the year.
Lloyd Webber is also planning to launch another televised search for a West End star when he teams up with the BBC next year to find a Dorothy for a new production of The Wizard Of Oz.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of non-skin cancer in men in the UK with some 35,500 new cases every year. When detected early enough, the disease has a high cure rate.
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