Andrew Lloyd Webber ‘Unmasked’
His autobiography, ‘Unmasked’, was released this month, along with a massive, four-CD collection of his songs
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 70th birthday, which was celebrated on Thursday, saw the composer yearn for more work.
The man behind such blockbuster shows as Cats, The Phantom of the Opera and School of Rock has shows in London’s West End, Broadway and on tour, but he’d like to be composing another one.
“The biggest birthday present to me would be to know that I’ve found another subject. Genuinely, that’s what I would most want... To know I’m writing,” he said.
Lloyd Webber may actually be close to another musical subject but doesn’t want to jinx it by revealing details. “Knowing me, I’ll find some speed bump along the line,” he said.
It’s typical of this restless, self-described perfectionist that he’s looking forward as his past is being celebrated in words, performances and music.
His autobiography, Unmasked, was released this month, along with a massive, four-CD collection of his songs, performed by the likes of Barbra Streisand, Lana Del Rey and Madonna. NBC plans a prime time tribute on March 28.
The Lloyd Webber-mania also includes an upcoming live televised NBC version of Jesus Christ Superstar starring John Legend and Sara Bareilles, and a new musical featuring his songs at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey in September. He was the subject of a Grammy Awards tribute, and winter Olympic fans would have noticed Lloyd Webber soundtracks for several skaters.
The book, which he jokingly refers to as a “medium sized doorstop,” covers the years from his birth to the birth of The Phantom of the Opera. It’s honest and very funny.
“I just hope it shows a little more about me to people who perhaps don’t know me,” he said in his apartment overlooking Central Park. “I just hope I’ve told some of the funniest stories and they’re not too boring for people.”
Readers will learn how close he was to being cast as Mozart in the Oscar-winning film Amadeus, the time he scribbled the title song in Jesus Christ Superstar on a paper napkin, and how Judy Garland inspired Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.
He also corrects the record about his first meeting with mega-producer Cameron Mackintosh. They did not consume four bottles of burgundy over a long lunch. “It was three bottles and two kirs,” he writes.
One of the book’s most fascinating sections involves the troubled creation of Cats, which became a global phenom-