Within musical theatre, five of the most successful shows of all time are Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera, and Sunset Boulevard. What is even more remarkable than the enormous success and quality of these theatre musicals is that all were composed by one individual, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Without peer as a composer in contemporary musical theatre on both sides of the Atlantic, Webber was knighted in 1992 and has been the recipient of seven Tonys, three Grammys, six Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, and International Emmy, and the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, (Playbill, p. 1). Perhaps even more astonishing than any of the above is the fact that these five musicals represent only a handful of the shows composed and produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and exclude his compositions for film, of which there have been three, Gumshoe, The Odessa File, and Requiem, (Playbill, p. 1). Andrew Lloyd WebberÆs most recent work is the composition of the score for the film version of The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Joel Schumacher, and due for release in December 2004, (Really, p. 1).
Webber was born on March 22, 1948, in London, England, the son of William Lloyd Webber, a composer and musical scholar who taught at LondonÆs Royal College of Music, (Andrew, p. 1). Webber was also born to a mother with music talent, Jean Johnstone Lloyd Webber, a piano teacher. At an early age, this environment influenced Andrew, who learned to play a number of musical instruments. Even as a young boy he enjoyed playing his own compositions than the works of other composers. For his compositions, Lloyd Webber won a scholarship to Oxford University to study music in 1964, (Hafner, p. 1). The following year, fate and circumstance would forever alter the young musicianÆs life: ôIn 1965, Webber met lyricist Tim Rice and dropped out of school to compose musicals,ö (Andrew, p. 1).
The pairing of W...