The ‘Superstar’ Composer Who Shares His Heart with the World

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (Credit: AP)

Andrew Lloyd Webber is a musical theatre composer and creator of some of the most well known and loved rock operas of all time. He blends hard rock with Broadway tunes, creating a style that's fun and beautiful.

Andrew Lloyd Webber came from humble origins. He was born in London. His mother was a piano teacher; and his father was the director of music at the London College of Music and an aspiring composer as well as a famous organist. His brother was a leading concert cellist and prominent pianist. But it was Andrew who brought rock, pop, and theater into the family.

Andrew started writing his own shows at around 8 years old. He and his brother staged early musicals using a toy theater. At 17 he met the talented lyricist Tim Rice and decided not to accept a scholarship to Oxford to study history. 

In the late 1960s Andrew and Tim started their hugely successful partnership. Andrew was a big fan of rock music, especially hippie rock.  He and Tim went to Woodstock to see the performances.

While there, they came up with the idea of a concept album which was to be performed by one of the Woodstock bands based on the life of Jesus Christ. This would eventually become Jesus Christ Superstar which was told from the perspective of Judas.

After the success of the concept album, the show went on to Broadway. Americans loved the mix of the Jesus fan fiction story and a great rock opera score.

Eventually there was a movie version of Jesus Christ Superstar starring Ted Neeley as Jesus and Carl Anderson as Judas. Andrew wanted the show to have the feeling of a rock concert.

Andrew recently reprised Jesus Christ Superstar in a new production in California starring Adam Lambert as Judas and Cynthia Erivo as Jesus.  She is best known for her role as Elphaba in the movie version of Wicked. 

Andrew and Tim had a series of successes throughout the 1970s and 80s. In the mid-1970s on the way to a dinner party, Tim heard a radio program about Argentinian First Lady Eva Peron. He was so intrigued, he travelled to Argentina to find out more about her directly from the Argentinian people.

In 1976 the revolutionary musical Evita premiered. Andrew said the main point of the show was a warning to not fall for Eva Peron’s glamour and beauty because they hid the political ideology of fascism.

Next came Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which was a new take on the biblical story of Joseph earning them worldwide acclaim.

Cats premiered in 1983 and was based on a series of poems by Andrew’s favorite poet, T.S. Elliot’s Old Possums’ Book of Practical Cats about a tribe of cats and one cat’s ascent to a better life. Andrew also made a movie version of Cats.

Andrew created Phantom of the Opera based on the novel by Gaston Leroux released in the early 1900s. Some parts of the original novel confused Andrew but in it he saw the makings of a great gothic romance. He began adapting it into a musical adding some of his own ideas Then Tim wrote the lyrics with additional lyrics written by Charles Hart.

   The first Christine was played by Andrew’s then wife, Sarah Brightman. Andrew was inspired by his love for Sarah. With Michael Crawford as the original phantom, the show was a huge success. It is one of the longest-running shows on Broadway having played all over the world winning many awards.

Phantom was made into a movie in 2004 starring 16-year-old Emmy Rossum as Christine, Gerard Butler as the Phantom, and Patrick Wilson as Raoul.

Andrew then made Love Never Dies, the passionate rock opera sequel to Phantom which is based on the fan fiction novel called The Phantom of Manhattan by Frederick Forsyth. The sequel begins 10 years after the events in Paris in the first Phantom and takes place on Coney Island.  Love Never Dies has a cult following of its own with hard core Phantom fans.

Phantom of the Opera fan fiction has always been popular with the Phantom fan base. In addition to The Phantom of Manhattan there was another fan fiction novel by Susan Kay called Phantom. It gained mainstream popularity and has been performed as a play in other countries but not picked up by Andrew.

Andrew’s next musical is his own version of The Illusionist which was based on the 2009 movie with Edward Norton and Jessica Beal. He wants to make this a gothic   romance like Phantom. Andrew has already written the musical score and is now looking for the right director.

He has also influenced other composers in the rock opera genre, including Jekyll & Hyde composer, Frank Wildhorn.

Despite his huge success, Andrew Lloyd Webber is kind, humble, very giving, and has a great sense of humor. Give us more Andrew!