Webber: Olympics will crush theater-going

LONDON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber says he thinks the 2012 Olympics in London will keep people from seeing stage plays and musicals this summer.

Webber is the mastermind behind the blockbuster musicals "Evita," "Cats" and "The Phantom of the Opera." His Really Useful Group owns seven London theaters.

"Nobody's going to go to the theater at all," he told the BBC.

"It's going to be very tough," Webber said, adding advance bookings are "about 10 percent" of their normal level.

He said performances of three musicals, which he declined to name, already have been canceled for the dates of the Olympics -- July 27 to Aug. 12, 2012.