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Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber
(born 22 March 1948) is a highly successful English composer of musical
theatre and the elder brother of Julian Lloyd Webber.
He was the most popular theatre composer of
the late 20th century and is arguably the most popular theatre composer
of all time, with multiple showpieces that have run for more than a
decade both on Broadway and in the West End. He has composed 13
musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a
Latin Requiem Mass. He has also accumulated a number of honours,
including three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Oscar, an
International Emmy, six Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and the
Kennedy Center Honors in 2006. Several of his songs, notably "I Don't
Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, "Don't Cry for Me,
Argentina" from Evita, "Memory" from Cats, and "The Music of the Night"
from The Phantom of the Opera have been widely recorded and were hits
outside of their parent musicals. His company the Really Useful Group is
one of the largest theatre operators in London.
****
Personal History
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Andrew Lloyd Webber was born on March 22,
1948 in South Kensington in London, England. He is the son of composer
William Lloyd Webber and piano teacher Jean Johnstone Lloyd Webber, and
his younger brother, Julian Lloyd Webber is a cellist. He was a Queen's
Scholar of Westminster School and studied history for a time at Magdalen
College, Oxford (although he did not complete the course, deciding
instead to pursue his interest in musical theatre).
His first wife was Sarah Hugill. They
married on 24 July 1972 and had two children, Imogen Lloyd Webber (born
31 March 1977) and Nicholas (born 2 July 1979). Lloyd Webber and Hugill
were divorced in 1983. He then married singer/dancer Sarah Brightman on
22 March 1984. He cast Brightman as Christine, the lead in The Phantom
of the Opera. However, the marriage did not last, and they divorced in
1990, but remained friends. He married his present wife, Madeleine
Gurdon, on 9 February 1991, and had three more children: Alastair (born
3 May 1992), William (born 24 August 1993), and Isabella (born 30 April
1996).
He was knighted in 1992 and created a life
peer in 1997 as Baron Lloyd-Webber, of Sydmonton in the County of
Hampshire. (His peerage title is hyphenated but his surname is not.) He
is ranked the 87th richest Briton in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006
with an estimated wealth of £700m. He also owns much of Watership Down,
the down made famous by Richard Adams's novel of the same name.
Politically, he had been an active
supporter and promoter of the Conservative Party, even writing special
music for a party political broadcast. However, in recent years, he has
distanced himself from the Conservatives.
Lord Lloyd-Webber is an art collector with
a passion for Victorian art. An exhibition of works from his collection
was presented at the Royal Academy in 2003 under the title
Pre-Raphaelite and Other Masters—The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection.
Professional career
Early years
Andrew Lloyd Webber's first musical with
lyricist Tim Rice was The Likes of Us, a musical based on the true story
of Thomas John Barnardo. This musical was not performed, however, until
as recently as 2005 when a production of The Likes Of Us was staged at
Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sydmonton Festival. Lloyd Webber and Rice wrote
many one-off pop songs that were recorded as singles for record labels.
Wes Sands, Ross Hannaman, Paul Raven and Gary Bond are among the many
artists to have recorded early Lloyd Webber/Rice tunes. A selection of
these early recordings were re-released on the 5-CD compilation "Andrew
Lloyd Webber: Now And Forever" (2003).
Their next musical, Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat, a work which they were commissioned to write for
Colet Court, a prep school, in 1968, followed the style of The Likes of
Us. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a light-hearted
retelling of the biblical story of Joseph in which Lloyd Webber and Rice
humorously pastiche a number of popular styles such as Calypso and
Country and Western music. The musical began life as a short cantata
that gained some recognition on its second staging with a favorable
review in The Times. For its subsequent performances, Joseph underwent a
number of revisions by Lloyd Webber and Rice with the inclusion of
additional songs that expanded the musical to a more substantial length.
This culminated in a two hour long production being staged in the West
End on the back of the success of their third musical, Jesus Christ
Superstar (1970).
Jesus Christ Superstar had been released as
a concept album starring Ian Gillan prior to being staged in the West
End at the Lyceum Theatre. The musical is based on the last days in the
life of Jesus Christ. While Joseph was intended as a light-hearted
family show, the music in Jesus Christ Superstar is at times dark and
unsettling, particularly in the scenes that deal with the crucifixion,
the plotting priests and the conflict between Jesus and Judas. The Rock
idiom is used as a thematic device in Jesus Christ Superstar and the
musical was billed as a Rock Opera in much the same way as Tommy by The
Who had been before it. However, some of the music is inherently
classical in style, particularly the instrumental passages such as John
Nineteen: Forty-One and the more avant-garde music that accompanies the
crucifixion scene.
The planned follow up to Jesus Christ
Superstar was a musical comedy based on the Jeeves and Wooster novels by
P. G. Wodehouse. Tim Rice was uncertain about this venture, partly
because of his concern that he might not be able to do justice to the
novels that he and Lloyd Webber so admired (Rice, 1999). After doing
some initial work on the lyrics, he pulled out of the project and Lloyd
Webber subsequently wrote the musical with Alan Ayckbourn who provided
the book and lyrics. The musical, Jeeves, failed to make any impact at
the box office and closed after a short run of only three weeks. Many
years later Lloyd Webber and Ayckbourn revisited this project, producing
a thoroughly reworked and more successful version of the musical
entitled by Jeeves (1996). Only two of the songs from the original
production remained ("Half a Moment" and "Banjo Boy").
Mid-1970s onwards
Lloyd Webber collaborated with Rice once
again to write Evita (1976), a musical based on the life of Eva Peron.
As with Jesus Christ Superstar, the musical was released first as a
concept album and featured Julie Covington singing the part of Eva
Peron.
The song "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"
became a hit single and the musical was staged at the Prince Edward
Theatre in a production directed by Harold Prince and starring Elaine
Paige in the title role. Much of the music in Evita is classical in
style, the opening featuring a choral piece (Requiem for Evita) as well
as a choral interlude in Oh What a Circus. There are a number of
instrumental passages throughout the musical such as the orchestral
version of the Lament and the introduction to Don't Cry For Me
Argentina, all of which form an integral part of the framework of the
composition. There is, however, quite an eclectic use of styles in
Evita, with some gentle ballads such as "High Flying, Adored" and
"Another Suitcase In Another Hall", and the rhythmic, latinate styles
prominent in pieces such as "Buenos Aires", "And the Money Kept Rolling
In (And Out)" as well as the slower "On This Night of A Thousand Stars".
There is some rock music that can be heard briefly in "Oh What A
Circus", "Peron's Latest Flame" and "The Lady's Got Potential" (a rock
song that was cut from the original production but reinstated for the
1996 movie with revised lyrics by Tim Rice). Evita was a highly
successful show that ran for ten years in the West End. It transferred
to Broadway in 1979. Rice and Lloyd Webber parted ways soon after Evita.
1980s
Andrew Lloyd Webber embarked on his next
project without a lyricist, turning instead to the poetry of T. S.
Eliot. Cats (1981), is a dance musical based on Eliot's Old Possum's
Book of Practical Cats (1939) which the composer recalled as having been
a childhood favorite. The songs of the musical comprise Eliot's verse
set to music by the composer, the exception being the most famous song
from the musical, "Memory", for which the lyrics were written by Trevor
Nunn after an unrelated Eliot poem entitled "Rhapsody on a Windy Night".
An unusual musical in terms of its construction, the overture
incorporates a fugue and there are occasions when the music accompanies
spoken verse. The set, consisting of an oversized junk yard, remains the
same throughout the show without any scene changes. Lloyd Webber's
eclecticism is very strong here; musical genres range from classical to
pop, music hall, jazz and electroacoustic music as well as hymn-like
songs such as "The Addressing of Cats" which Old Deuteronomy sings. Cats
was originally intended to be a song cycle but when Valerie Eliot
provided some fragments of unpublished poetry by her late husband that
included a character named Grizabella who is shunned by the tribe as
well as the concept of a rebirth for a chosen Cat at the Jellicle Ball,
it was apparent that there might be a story that could provide a
possible framework for a musical. Cats was to become the longest running
musical on Broadway, spanning a reign of eighteen years which later
would be broken by another Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
Starlight Express, a musical also directed
by Trevor Nunn, is similar in its theatrical concept to Cats in that it
also features dancers in costume representing non-human characters.
However, unlike Cats, the music is mostly in the realm of disco and pop
with one or two pastiche songs such as the Country and Western styled
"Uncoupled". In some ways this musical could be seen as more of a return
to the style of Joseph, although the latter was more varied in its use
of musical styles and influences. Starlight Express was a commercial hit
but received negative reviews from the critics. It enjoyed a record run
in the West End, but ran for less than three years on Broadway.
Lloyd Webber wrote a Requiem Mass which
premiered in New York on 25 February 1985 at St Thomas Church. This
composition had been inspired by an article he had read about the plight
of Cambodian orphans. It was dedicated to his father, William Lloyd
Webber, who had died in 1982. Although this might seem like a surprising
shift in direction from the modern musical, church music had been a part
of the composer's upbringing and Lloyd Webber had on a number of
occasions written sacred music for the annual Sydmonton festival
(Snelson, 2004). Lloyd Webber received a Grammy Award in 1986 for
Requiem in the category of best classical composition. Perhaps
surprisingly given the classical nature of the work, the Pie Jesu from
Requiem climbed to the top of the popular music charts in Great Britain.
In 1986, Lloyd Webber premiered his next
musical, The Phantom of the Opera, inspired by the 1911 Gaston Leroux
novel. He wrote the part of Christine for his then wife, Sarah Brightman
who played the role in the original London and Broadway productions
alongside Michael Crawford as the Phantom. The production was directed
by Harold Prince, who had also earlier directed Evita. Charles Hart
wrote the lyrics for the musical with some additional material provided
by Richard Stilgoe and Lloyd Webber co-wrote the musical's book with
Stilgoe. Although the musical received mixed reviews from the critics,
it became a phenomenal hit and is still running in both the West End and
on Broadway; in January 2006 it overtook Cats as the longest running
musical on Broadway.
1990s to present day
Aspects of Love followed in 1990, a musical
based on the story by David Garnett. The lyrics were by Don Black and
Charles Hart and the original production was directed by Trevor Nunn.
There was a noticeable shift of emphasis towards a quieter and more
intimate theatrical experience; the staging and production values were
less elaborate than Phantom of the Opera and Lloyd Webber chose to write
for a smaller musical ensemble making the through composed score more
akin to a chamber work. The musical had a successful run of four years
in London but did not fare nearly as well on Broadway, where it closed
after less than a year.
Lloyd Webber was asked to write a song for
the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and composed "Amigos Para Siempre - Friends
for Life" with Don Black providing the lyrics. Lloyd Webber's many other
musical theatre works include Sunset Boulevard, Whistle Down the Wind,
Song and Dance, The Beautiful Game and The Woman in White. While some of
his works have had enormous commercial success, his career has not been
without failures, especially in the United States. Song and Dance,
Starlight Express, and Aspects of Love, all successes in London, did not
meet the same reception in New York, and all lost money in short,
critically panned runs. In 1995, Sunset Boulevard became a very
successful Broadway show, opening with the largest advance in Broadway
history, and winning seven Tony Awards that year. However, owing to high
weekly costs, it became the biggest economic musical failure in history,
losing 25 million dollars. His subsequent shows (Whistle Down the Wind
and The Beautiful Game) did not make it to Broadway, and his most recent
musical The Woman in White closed after a very short run in New York.
This closing is largely credited to many absences in the cast for many
of the shows; only 39 of the 108 performances had the full cast. Maria
Friedman and Michael Ball both missed shows frequently; the former was
battling breast cancer and the latter suffered a throat infection.
Somewhat unusually, Lloyd Webber (along
with Nigel Wright) was responsible for a 1992 Eurodance single featuring
music from the computer game Tetris.[1][2]Released under the name Doctor
Spin, Tetris reached reached #6 on the UK charts[3], although Lloyd
Webber's involvement was not publicised. He was also involved with
Bombalurina's 1990 cover of Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot
Bikini (UK #1).[4][5] The band, whose lead singer was children's TV
presenter Timmy Mallett[6] was named after a character in the musical
Cats.[7]
Lloyd Webber is currently producing a
staging of The Sound Of Music, which debuted November 2006. He made the
controversial decision to choose an unknown to play leading lady Maria,
through the reality TV show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?,
where he was a judge. The winner was Connie Fisher.
There have been a number of film
adaptations of Lloyd Webber's musicals: Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
was directed by Norman Jewison, Evita (1996) was directed by Alan
Parker, and most recently The Phantom of the Opera was directed by Joel
Schumacher (and coproduced by Lloyd Webber).
Lloyd Webber produced Bombay Dreams with
Indian composer A. R. Rahman in 2002.
It was announced on 25th August 2006 on his
personal website that his next project would be the Master and the
Margarita (however, Lloyd Webber has stated that the project will most
likely be an opera rather than a musical).
In September 2006, Lloyd Webber was named
to be a recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors along with
Zubin Mehta, Dolly Parton, Steven Spielberg, and William "Smokey"
Robinson. He was recognized for his outstanding contribution to American
performing arts.[8] He attended the ceremony on December 3, 2006 and
aired on December 26, 2006.
Shows
The Likes of Us (1965)
lyrics by Tim Rice
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat
(1968)
lyrics by Tim Rice (Originally written as
an Intermediate High School Music Class Project)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1971)
lyrics by Tim Rice
Evita (1976)
lyrics by Tim Rice, (loosely based on
fictionalised aspects of the life of Eva Peron, wife of Argentinian
President Juan Peron)
Cats (1981)
lyrics by T.S. Eliot, (based on Eliot's Old
Possum's Book of Practical Cats)
Song and Dance (1982)
lyrics by Don Black, (combination of Lloyd
Webber's earlier works, Tell Me on a Sunday and Variations)
Starlight Express (1984)
lyrics by Richard Stilgoe
The Phantom of the Opera (1986)
lyrics by Richard Stilgoe and Charles Hart,
(based on Gaston Leroux's 1911 novel)
Aspects of Love (1989)
lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart,
(based on the novel by David Garnett)
Sunset Boulevard (1993)
lyrics by Don Black and Christopher
Hampton, (based on the film by Billy Wilder)
By Jeeves (1996 reworked version ,1975 as
Jeeves)
lyrics by Alan Ayckbourn, (based on P. G.
Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster novels)
Whistle Down the Wind (first version 1996,
second version 1998)
lyrics by Jim Steinman (Based on the Mary
Hayley Bell novel)
The Beautiful Game (2000)
lyrics by Ben Elton
Tell Me on a Sunday (1979/2003)
lyrics by Don Black, (extended version of
the first half of Song and Dance played in 2003)
The Woman in White (2004)
lyrics by David Zippel, book by Charlotte
Jones, (based on the Wilkie Collins novel)
Other works
Variations (1978) - An album Lloyd Webber
wrote consisting of musical variations on the A minor Caprice of
Paganini. This piece of work featured guitarist Gary Moore and piano man
Rod Argent and made #2 in the UK album chart upon its release. It was
later combined with another work to form one show, Song and Dance.
Requiem (1985) – A classical choral work
composed in honour of his father, William Lloyd Webber.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, the Premiere
Collection Encore (1992)
****
References
-
^ "Doctor Spin - Tetris"
record details, Discogs.com. Article retrieved 2006-11-07.
-
^ "Andrew Lloyd Webber",
Discogs.com. Article retrieved 2006-11-07.
-
^ *Roberts, David
(Managing Editor) (2005), British Hit Singles & Albums (Edition 18),
Guinness World Records Limited, ISBN 1-904994-00-8
-
^ Songfacts: Itsy Bitsy
Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, songfacts.com. Article
retrieved 2006-11-07.
-
^ Timmy Mallett
recordings, Brilliant TV corporate website. Article retrieved
2006-11-07.
-
^ "Timmy Mallett"
article, Wikipedia. Article retrieved 2006-11-07.
-
^ "Bombalurina in Cats",
PeoplePlayUK. Article retrieved 2006-11-07.
-
^
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/honors/home.html
-
Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Official Web Site
-
Andrew Lloyd Webber's
biography at the Really Useful Group
-
Rice, Tim (1999) Oh What
A Circus Hodder and Stoughton: London
-
Snelson, John (2004).
Andrew Lloyd Webber. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN
0-300-10459-6.
-
Walsh, Michael (1989,
revised and expanded, 1997) Andrew Lloyd Webber: His Life and Works
Abrams: New York
****
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