In February 2012, Webber first revealed in an interview with the British broadcaster Chris Evans that he was considering working on a show based on the Profumo affair.

[6] Officially confirmed on 28 June 2013, producers announced that the initial production would be staged at the Aldwych Theatre,[8] with tickets going on sale immediately.

[9] The show, budgeted at £2.5 million[10] had a book with lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton[11] and is directed by Richard Eyre,[12] with choreography by Stephen Mear, set design by Rob Howell, lighting design by Peter Mumford and sound by Paul Groothuis.

[16] On 6 September 2013, full casting was announced with Alexander Hanson playing the title role of Stephen Ward,[17] Charlotte Spencer as Christine Keeler,[18] Joanna Riding as Valerie Hobson,[19] Charlotte Blackledge as Mandy Rice Davies, Anthony Calf as Lord Astor, Daniel Flynn as John Profumo, Ian Conningham as Ivanov, Christopher Howell as Percival Murray, Ricardo Coke Thomas as Lucky Gordon and Wayne Robinson as Johnny Edgecombe.

Media who were attending Stephen Ward were diverted by news-desks to cover the incident at the Apollo Theatre.

The planned after-show press room was cancelled, once the scale of the incident at the Apollo Theatre became clear and that audience members had been hurt.

[27] Michael Billington wrote that Lloyd Webber's "great gift is for writing music about either fulfilled or unrequited romantic passion".

On Stephen Ward, he wondered why Lloyd Webber "ever felt it was the right subject for his particular talents and why the producers thought a show about a flagrant miscarriage of justice half a century ago had much resonance for a modern audience.

"[28] An admirer of Lloyd Webber, Billington believed such a project had demanded the "satirical bite" which Kander and Ebb displayed in the musicals Cabaret and Chicago.