Andrew Lloyd Webber and Malala Yousafzai to Host Special Gala Performance of CINDERELLA

Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical Cinderella, playing at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London's West End, will hold a special gala performance to raise money for Malala Yousafzai's work to empower women and girls around the world.

With the backdrop of a worsening global refugee crisis, which has interrupted the education of millions of young women, the Malala Fund wants those who have lost everything to retain access to the opportunities they need to build a better future.

More than 130 million girls are out of school today and the Malala Fund is working for a world where every girl can learn and lead through access to a free, safe, and quality education.

The Cinderella gala performance will be held on Monday, November 22. The show has been donated by Andrew Lloyd Webber and every penny raised will be donated directly to the Malala Fund.

Tickets for the gala performance of Cinderella are on sale now at https://andrewlloydwebberscinderella.com/malala-fund-gala/

Malala Yousafzai said, "Since age 10, I've been fighting for a world where every girl can learn and lead. But in the past two years, girls in many countries have faced enormous setbacks to their education - from COVID to economic pressures to conflict and displacement. I am grateful to my friend Andrew for all his support, and I want to thank the cast and crew of Cinderella for arranging this special performance to support the Malala Fund."

Andrew Lloyd Webber said, "I am an enormous admirer of Malala. She is an extraordinary person, and you can imagine my delight when I discovered that she loved musical theater. Malala and her fund work to empower women and girls to be the best version of themselves and the people they truly want to be. Recent events in Afghanistan, and the worsening of the global refugee crisis, which will be inevitably exacerbated by climate change in the years to come, have brought into sharp focus the importance of Malala's work.

"We wanted to do this gala performance of Cinderella because our heroine is a strong-willed and mischievous young woman whose lesson is: don't change to please others. I want to thank everyone who supports this gala and enables us to do more to help women and girls to achieve their dreams."

Book writer Emerald Fennel said, "Malala Yousafzai is a true hero and a beacon of light to so many of us. It is an honor to be able to support her work in any small way, especially at such an urgent and terrible time for the women and girls around the world."

The Cinderella gala event will also feature the work of a contemporary Afghan artist, Shamsia Hassani, and the stories of female Afghan musicians.