Legendary Broadway composer and producer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber isn’t resting on his laurels. The 75-year-old producer of such famed shows as "Evita", "Jesus Christ: Superstar,” "Cats," and the about-to-re-open “The Phantom of the Opera,” is already thinking about his next great work.
"I want to do something which is very much of our time, because there are a lot of issues...from climate change, to refugees, to Afghanistan,” he told 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning. “I would like to do something which takes on something meaty this time," said Lloyd Webber.
In the meantime, Webber is eagerly anticipating tomorrow night’s re-opening of "The Phantom of the Opera" at the Majestic Theatre. "It's great to have a chance, with an old show like that, to start it again as if it's new," Lloyd Webber told Berman and Riedel.
The re-opening of Broadway theatres has been viewed by many as a crucial bellwether in New York City's resurrection from covid closure, but one Broadway legend is already looking to the next act on the Great White Way.
"Phantom," which was Lloyd Webber's first crack at a romantic musical, came to life because "it was time for me to do a high romance; I just wanted to get it out of my system."
It was over drinks with producer Hal Prince that the longest running show in the history of Broadway began to take shape. They both were intrigued by the 1910 Gaston Leroux novel; however, "when one does something like that, I think, like any writer, you have no clue whether it's going to work or not," said Lloyd Webber. Over 13,000 performances later, "Phantom" iscertainly a success.
Andrew Lloyd Webber looked to a classic fairy tale for his next Broadway project - Cinderella. "We've got to find a theatre for it... but our plan would be to hopefully get it open in the summer of next year," he said. The show has already opened in London.
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