History Creator / AndrewLloydWebber

The most recent thing of note that Lord Lloyd-Webber did involved his current production of ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'', a British SoapOpera, Creator/BonnieLangford's niece, and a highly-successful publicity pull. It went something like this: Webber chose to cast Summer Strallen, the aforementioned niece of Bonnie Langford (who was in ''Series/DoctorWho'' as Mel, BTW and does {{Panto}} a bit) as the second person to play Maria, having cast his first, Connie Fisher, via a TV TalentShow. Bar one appearance in ''Series/HotelBabylon'', her [=IMDb=] profile was rather short. She'd done stuff on the London Stage, but wasn't too well known. So, Lord Lloyd-Webber called up the producers of ''Series/{{Hollyoaks}}'' (the British SoapOpera in question) and got her a part as Summer Shaw, an aspiring actress. Not telling the press that she would be Maria, the writers of said show had Summer Shaw, in character, head to London, find Lord Lloyd-Webber (played by himself) and convince him to cast ''her'' as Maria. Shaw then proceeded to leave the show and the whole thing was revealed. Cue national headlines. Webber ended up casting Strallen again as Meg Giry in ''Love Never Dies''.

He also did a TalentShow to cast a Joseph (''Any Dream Will Do'') and did another one (''I'd Do Anything'') for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Mackintosh his mate]], who is doing a production of ''Theatre/{{Oliver}}''. His latest, ''Your Country Needs You!'' was an attempt to find a good Series/EurovisionSongContest singer for the 2009 contest, with future [[Music/{{Sugababes}} Sugababe]] Music/JadeEwen performing the song. He wrote the song and played the piano--the song actually came fifth. Considering the previous and following years saw the UK entry come last, this was a major improvement.

Shares a birthday (though 18 years apart) with Music/StephenSondheim, of all people. His son Nicholas "Nick" Lloyd Webber was also a composer, he died on 25 March 2023 at age 43 from gastric cancer.

Shares a birthday (though 18 years apart) with Music/StephenSondheim, of all people. His son Nicholas "Nick" Lloyd Webber was also a composer, he died on 25 March 2023 at age 43 from gastric cancer for 18 months.

Shares a birthday (though 18 years apart) with Music/StephenSondheim, of all people.

A new FracturedFairyTale adaptation of ''[[Theatre/CinderellaAndrewLloydWebber Cinderella]]'' premiered in 2021. Creator/EmeraldFennell wrote the book, and West End veteran Carrie Hope Fletcher opened as the title character.

However, his success has made him ever ripe for mockery and parody. Critics feel he has a bad habit of shows where the audience leaves "whistling the sets and lights." In other words, as observed by critics and former performers in Webber shows, the ''star'' of ''The Phantom of the Opera'' is actually the chandelier; for ''Cats'', the costumes; for ''Joseph'', the flying sequence; or the roller skates in ''Starlight Express''. (They don't know what to make of ''Theatre/AspectsOfLove'', which is basically a SoapOpera, but then no one's ever known what to make of it.) He's also prone to reprising tunes constantly within each show with different lyrics and context, and the effects of his biggest tunes ("Don't Cry for Me Argentina" [''Evita''], "Memory" [''Cats''], and several ''Phantom'' numbers) have driven many listeners batty. The fall of the pop opera, at least in the U.S., owed a lot to critical and audience fatigue with the omnipresence of these shows as well as similar efforts like ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' and ''Theatre/MissSaigon'', though his legacy of sheer theatrical spectacle lives on in shows like ''Wicked'' and the various Disney stage musicals. Additionally, Music/PinkFloyd's Music/RogerWaters has accused him of appropriating one of ''Phantom'''s most famous riffs from "Echoes", a song on PF's 1971 album ''Music/{{Meddle}}'' (he noted that they were in the same 12/8 time signature and had the same chord progression). He has also [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz1IDmmcetQ been accused]] of 'borrowing' tunes from various classical composers.

He also did a TalentShow to cast a Joseph (''Any Dream Will Do'') and did another one (''I'd Do Anything'') for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Mackintosh his mate]], who is doing a production of ''Theatre/{{Oliver}}''. His latest, ''Your Country Needs You!'' was an attempt to find a good Series/EurovisionSongContest singer for the 2009 contest, with future [[Music/{{Sugababes}} Sugababe]] Music/JadeEwen performing the song. He wrote the song and played the piano--the song actually came fifth. Considering the previous and following years saw the UK entry come last, this was a major improvement.

In addition to his pop/musical work, Lloyd Webber has written one piece of classical music, a requiem mass composed to honor his father, who died in 1982. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_%28Lloyd_Webber%29 Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem]]'' premiered in February of 1985 and was eventually released as an album; it was during the production of the recording that Lloyd Webber first met future wife Music/SarahBrightman, who had been cast for a solo soprano part in it[[note]]though she had also played the role of Jemima in ''Cats'' in 1981[[/note]]. The "Pie Jesu" segment of the mass became a major hit, and the Requiem as a whole won the 1986 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

A new FracturedFairyTale adaptation of ''[[Theatre/CinderellaAndrewLloydWebber Cinderella]]'' premiered in 2021. Creator/EmeraldFennell wrote the book, and West End veteran Carrie Hope Fletcher is slated to open as the title character.

The most recent thing of note that Lord Lloyd-Webber did involved his current production of ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'', a British SoapOpera, Bonnie Langford's niece, and a highly-successful publicity pull. It went something like this: Webber chose to cast Summer Strallen, the aforementioned niece of Bonnie Langford (who was in ''Series/DoctorWho'' as Mel, BTW and does {{Panto}} a bit) as the second person to play Maria, having cast his first, Connie Fisher, via a TV TalentShow. Bar one appearance in ''Series/HotelBabylon'', her [=IMDb=] profile was rather short. She'd done stuff on the London Stage, but wasn't too well known. So, Lord Lloyd-Webber called up the producers of ''Series/{{Hollyoaks}}'' (the British SoapOpera in question) and got her a part as Summer Shaw, an aspiring actress. Not telling the press that she would be Maria, the writers of said show had Summer Shaw, in character, head to London, find Lord Lloyd-Webber (played by himself) and convince him to cast ''her'' as Maria. Shaw then proceeded to leave the show and the whole thing was revealed. Cue national headlines. Webber ended up casting Strallen again as Meg Giry in ''Love Never Dies''.