Andrew Lloyd Webber

ALW's Biography

Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in 1948 in London, England. He was the son of William Lloyd Webber (a composer, musician and musical scholar at the Royal College of Music) and his wife Jean Hermione Lloyd-Webber, a piano teacher. Lloyd Webber was first given a violin at the age of three, followed by piano lessons and then lessons on the French horn. As a child, he prefered playing his own compositions rather than some one else's during his music lessons. At school he continued to compose music and produce local musicals within the school. After school, Lloyd Webber moved onto Oxford University's Magdalin College, where he stayed only a term. It was during this point that he also met lyricist Tim Rice. He composed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita all with lyricist Tim Rice, as well as Variations, Tell Me on a Sunday (combined as Song and Dance), Cats (the longest running musical on Broadway and the West End), Starlight Express, Requiem, The Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love, Sunset Boulvard, and By Jeeves. He also composed the film scores for Gumshoe and the Odessa File.

His awards include six Tonys, four Drama Desk awards, three Grammys, five Laurence Olivier awards and a 1997 Golden Globe Award and Academy Award for Best Original song ("You Must Love Me") in the film version of Evita. He is the first person to have three musicals running simultaneously on Broadway and on the West End. He was knighted in 1997, he was made peer as Lord Lloyd-Webber of Sydmonton. Lloyd Webber has been married three times. He has 5 children altogether. Lloyd Webber has homes at Sydmonton, as well as in London. He also keeps an apartment in New York City, as well as a villa in the South of France. He also bought a castle outside of Dublin, Ireland, where he and his wife Madeleine raise and breed horses.

(www.geocities.com/Broadway/8448/alw.html)

Jesus Christ Superstar

Andrew Lloyd Webber's (music) and Tim Rice's (lyrics) great opera" "Jesus Christ Superstar" changed the face of musical theater when it debuted on Broadway in 1971. Telling the story of the last seven days in the life of Jesus, "Superstar" dramatizes Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, the unrest caused by his preaching and popularity, his betrayal by Judas, the trial before Pontius Pilate, and his ultimate crucifixion. Now, there is an exciting new film adaptation of the

recent Broadway revival. (www.geocities.com/Broadway/8448/alw.html)

Lyricist Tim Rice

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's collaboration on "Jesus Christ Superstar" was a milestone in musical theater history. The show was first released as a double record album in October, 1970 and opened one year later on Broadway, and then on the West End stage in London in August, 1972. It was an instant hit, and soon became the longest-running musical in London theater history, though its record has since been surpassed by both "Cats" and "Starlight Express," also with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Tim and Andrew had met in 1965, when Tim had written to his future partner suggesting they try and write pop songs together. He was almost four years older than the composer, and trying to make his way in the music business while studying law.

They immediately responded to each other's talent and, in the Lloyd Webber family home in South Kensington, surrounded by cats and non-stop music, they composed songs and wrote a musical (never performed) about the philanthropist Dr. Barnardo, who founded a home for orphans in the East End of London. They followed up with "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," a pop oratorio for schoolchildren, though it did not become a commercial hit like "Superstar." (www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/superstar/meet.html)

Discussion

1. Speak about the styles of music that have influenced British pop industry.

2. Comment on the lyrics of Welsh National Anthem (Land of the honoured bards and musicians).

3. Why are Webber's rock operas and musicals so popular?

Project Topics

1. A comparative analysis of musical genres in Britain.

2. Great performers of British pop and rock music.

3. Ukraine and Wales as great singing nations.

Unit 2.

The Art of Dance