Famed musical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber says he will be reopening his theatres next week, without social distancing, even if it means he will be arrested.

Webber spoke with The Daily Telegraph in an exclusive interview about his plans and how the pandemic has impacted his business. He says that it costs £1 million a month ($1,7129,25.00 CAD) just to keep his six theatres closed.

Live entertainment has faced heavy restrictions in England since March of 2020. But after a year of lockdowns the government presented a plan for reopening; those plans, however, have kept changing and the latest date of June 21 is at risk of being moved again.

With major productions, backed by major loans, in the wings, Webber says he needs to move forward. Otherwise, he claims, he will likely have to sell his theatre empire off. “There is a real risk of that,” he says to the Telegraph. “I will fight to the last ditch to prevent that happening but no one can deny that there are foreign buyers sniffing around who would quite love to have these [theatres] as trophy assets. They call them bottom-feeders, don’t they?”

Cinderella is his first show set to open. "I jumped the gun and all the bigger shows have followed suit. I just hope I’m right. I took what I thought was an informed decision on what I knew the Government wanted.”

Webber claims he has seen scientific proof that COVID-19 doesn't spread in theatres.

“I’ve seen the science from the tests, don’t ask me how,” he says. “They all prove that theatres are completely safe, the virus is not carried there. If the Government ignore their own science, we have the mother of all legal cases against them. If Cinderella couldn’t open, we’d go, ‘Look, either we go to law about it or you’ll have to compensate us.'

“We are going to open, come hell or high water,” he says. Even if the government pushes openings back yet again. “We will say: come to the theatre and arrest us.”