“Behind the Iron Mask” had some of the worst reviews ever seen in London’s West End. “One theme running through many of the reviews was summed up by Sheridan Morley in the Daily Express: “How did Behind the Iron Mask get as far as a first rehearsal, let alone a first night?” How did a production that the nation’s critics could see in an instant wasn’t fit for public consumption end up doing battle on one of the theatre world’s most fiercely commercial markets? How did a script littered with potholes end up being accepted at one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatres and how was anyone persuaded to work on it? The answer, according to one person close to the company, is with a great deal of money and naivety.”