Belfast Telegraph

Jesus Christ Superstar’s Emmy puts trio in elite club

- BY AP REPORTERS

NBC’S live version of Jesus Christ Superstar has won an Emmy Award — meaning star John Legend, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice have joined the elite squad of ‘EGOT’ winners.

The musical’s win for best live variety special on Sunday means Legend, Lloyd Webber and Rice have Emmys to go with their To- nys, Grammys and their Oscars — the four biggest prizes in show business.

Lloyd Webber and Rice have already won Tonys for Evita and Sunset Boulevard, Grammys for Cats and Evita, and an Oscar for You Must Love Me from Evita.

Legend has won 10 Grammys and in 2015 scored an Oscar for his song Glory from the movie Selma. Last year, he won a Tony for Best Revival of a Play as a co-producer of Jitney.

Legend, who played Jesus but won as a co-producer of the show, is also gunning for an acting Emmy later this month.

Two other songwriter­s were also one Emmy away from the EGOT — Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, whose song In the Market For A Miracle appeared in A Christmas Story Live!

They previously won an Oscar for La La Land, and a Tony and a Grammy for Dear Evan Hansen.

But their bid for EGOT status was derailed at the weekend when the Emmy for Outstandin­g Original Music and Lyrics went to Saturday Night Live and their song Come Back Barack when Chance the Rapper was hosting.

The special trio join an elite group of winners that includes Robert Lopez, Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Rita Moreno, Mike Nichols and Whoopi Goldberg.

Lopez, the The Book Of Mormon and Frozen composer was 38 when he got EGOT status, is still the youngest to win all four awards. Legend is 39.

The latest award caps a special year for Lloyd Webber, whose autobiogra­phy, Unmasked, came out along with a four-CD collection of his songs performed by the likes of Barbra Streisand, Lana Del Rey and Madonna.

He was also the subject of a Grammy Awards tribute and Winter Olympic fans would have noticed his soundtrack­s for several skaters.

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