Andrew Lloyd Webber’s life lessons
Musical and theatrical legend Andrew Lloyd Webber (70) tells Yours about the music that’s inspired him and his latest recording venture
How it all began
My career really started with a small school performance. Tim Rice and I wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat in 1968 and it was first performed by schoolchildren at their end of term concert. It was performed again, then a critic came and gave it an unbelievable review and it all went from there. We never envisaged it would one day be performed on Broadway. I’d love to see it performed by kids again, though, and I think there’s a possibility that we might do that.
Schools need music
I think it’s disgraceful that music is being edged out of the school curriculum. Music empowers children and that’s what my musical, School of Rock, is about. Picking up an instrument, having music lessons, singing... it’s not just about turning children into musicians, it’s also about empowerment. Somehow, we’ve got to try to plug that gap.
I’ve always loved musicals
When I was young, nobody my age liked the same music I did. I loved musicals like Carousel, The King and I, and Oklahoma, and I saw South Pacific four times. That movie pulverised me and started a love affair with Richard Rodgers’ music.
Criticism can be hard to take
I was so overwhelmed by the melodies of The Sound of Music and was lucky enough to attend the first night in London when I was just 13. But my enthusiasm wasn’t shared by the critics. This was rammed home to me by my so-called schoolfriends who laid out all the reviews for me the next morning.
One review I will never forget read, ‘If you are a diabetic craving extra sickly, sweet things, inject a large dose of insulin and you will not fail to thrill to The Sound of Music.’
Making decisions can be difficult
I had some very hard choices to make when deciding what to include on my Platinum Collection album, a four-disc CD compilation of my music. As well as old favourites such as Julie Covington singing Don’t Cry For Me Argentina, Michael Ball’s Love Changes Everything, Michael Crawford’s The Music of the Night and Marti Webb’s rendition of Take That Look Off Your Face, it also features new recordings, such as Lana Del Rey’s You Must Love Me, Gregory Porter’s Light at the End of the Tunnel and Nicole Scherzinger singing Memory.
■ Andrew Lloyd Webber: Unmasked – The Platinum Collection boxset, out now, £27.99, plus Unmasked – a memoir, £14. Andrew will receive a Lifetime Achievement Honour at the 2018 Tony Awards at Radio City Hall in New York on June 10.
■ He was talking to Alison James.