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Micky Jo
Do you know what? This isn't even the video I was meant to be filming today. I was sitting down here getting ready to talk about something completely different. And then Andrew Lloyd Webber and Baz were like, you know what, let's just drop some news and change the trajectory of Mickey Joe Theatre's afternoon. I had to get the camel and the cat and the bear out and I also have to get the ring lights out and bring them uncomfortably close to my face for reasons that will become apparent because Andrew Lloyd Webber has a brand new musical. Oh my God. Hey. Welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. My name is Micky Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I am a professional independent theatre critic here on social media and a pundit and a content creator best known to many people on the Internet for my commentary of the what I call the Bad Cinderella saga. This was a musical, one of the first West End musicals to reopen the West End after the pandemic of a few years back. You may have heard of it at the Gillian Lynn Theatre. The show ultimately closed and then reopened in a new production, a retitled production on Broadway called Bad Cinderella. But throughout both of those runs, it was plagued by a certain amount of drama, something that has, if we venture a little further back in musical theater history, haunted many of Sir Andrew's musicals in the past. But those are all different videos for another day. Today we are talking about the future because the man is writing another musical. And for the reasons I will detail in this video, as we talk through the announcement that has just been made, the many new details we have learned we one being particularly interesting, I am cautiously optimistic and I'm going to encourage you to be as well. So stay tuned for all of those details, but make sure as well to comment down below with all of your thoughts and feelings. How do we feel about this? What else can we infer from the information that's been released exclusively via Deadline? Let me know all of your thoughts and if you want to stay up to date with all theatrical news, not just Android Webber musicals. I promise though, and been talking about them a lot lately. Make sure you are following me here. Make sure you're subscribed. Turn on the notifications with the button somewhere below my face so your phone tells you every time I post a new video. You can also find me across the Internet on other social media platforms. I am on Instagram, I am on TikTok, and I am on the app formerly known as Twitter ickyjotheater, but with no further introduction. Let's talk about it. Android Webber's brand new musical. We now know what it is. So hilariously, this actually got leaked, but not really leaked because I guess he spoke about it during the Sunset Boulevard opening kind of press situation. And when a big show like that opens on Broadway, there are a great many press opportunities, especially for someone very public facing who is attached to it, like Andrew Lloyd Webber. It's his show, he composed it and so he's doing a lot of interviews and he revealed at one point some more details about the new musical that he had been teasing. A few months ago I made another video. Not even a few months ago, a few weeks ago I made another video video here on my channel speculating about it wildly. He also talked about some of the other projects in development. An immersive Phantom in New York, the transfer of the Cats Off Broadway ballroom revival to London potentially. But what happened here is he was not meant to name and divulge details about his new musical project because I guess they had already set up an exclusive with Deadline or they had probably at least already promised an exclusive to Deadline, if not officially, because Baz Bambi Boy breaks many of theatres, certainly many of West End Theatre's most exciting stories. If it goes through Baz as an exclusive, usually it's big news. And a lot of the producer Michael Harrison's shows do tend to go through Baz. Okay, so here is the news. This was shared about an hour ago. Andrew Lloyd Webber has unveiled his new West End and Broadway musical. They're calling it a West End and Broadway musical. And this is a journalist who knows what those words mean. This is not just like generic entertainment news. So that has been done purposefully. That means it has plans to happen on both continents. And you know, Cinderella did that and Sunset Boulevard is doing that. Andrew and Weber has the capital to make that happen. As we saw with Cinderella. Even if the show is not a huge success in London, that does not preclude it from going to Broadway. So that is the plan for this show is that it will do both and it's a magical romance called the Illusionist. Many of you guessed that in the comment section of my last video because he shared when and where the story was set and that was based on a film. So points to you. If you guessed the allusionist correctly, you win eternal bragging rights and your very own real life Jellicle cat. Bear in mind they are an awful lot of work to maintain. But here is the big news, even bigger than the fact it's going to The West End and Broadway. Even bigger than the fact it is the Illusionist. It is going to be directed by Sunset Boulevard's Jamie Lloyd. This is huge news and maybe people could have seen this coming because he has been working so publicly on Sunset Boulevard. And it's been such a big moment, both for producer Michael Harrison, for director Jamie Lloyd and for Andrew. Really, it's been such a huge success, but this is still a big surprise in many ways, because this is not something we have really seen Jamie Lloyd associate himself with is the world of new musical theater. And when it comes to a new Lloyd Webber musical, this is a very different kind of a director. It's one thing for Jamie to take his older works and reconfigure them and do bold revivals, which is what he's known for, bold new productions of classic plays and bold musical revivals. It's quite another for him to develop this new work because the director of a revival and a director of a new musical do very different jobs. And the director of a new musical is seemingly much more involved with the early development and working of the material. Having conversations like, there needs to be a new song here that needs to be cut. This isn't working. They get to mould the piece a lot more, which is so interesting. I'm going to share many more thoughts around that. But carrying on here during a private audience at his penthouse office adjacent to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, one of six theat controlled by his LW Theatres group, which I imagine is stunning, the legendary composer of the Phantom of the Opera and Evita gave Deadline an exclusive preview of three of the several numbers he has so far scored. Have they shared that? Or is that just for. Is that just for their benefit? Okay, so he's written several numbers. He played them. Three of them. The impresario says Oscar winning screenwriter Chris Terrio of Argo, we knew this already, has done the book very much with me, but he's the scriptwriter, so he is writing the script, but the two of them are developing the plot in tandem. That's what the book is in a musical. British songwriter Bruno Major is also attached as a lyricist. So Lloyd Webber does not write lyrics. He works with lyricists. Most notably, early in his career, he worked with Sir Tim Rice. They had this very successful partnership. He's worked with several other lyricists since the likes of Don Black and Christopher Hampton. And so assumedly British songwriter Bruno Major. This is not someone who is known to me because they're not from the musical theatre realm. Presumably he has been brought on as a lyricist. Can we find out more about him? Yep. He is a 36 year old singer, songwriter, guitarist. This does not surprise me. Lloyd Webber, for the last few years. We saw this in Bad Cinderella, we saw it in the new production of Starlight Express is, I think, eager to try and do something a little more contemporary, a little bit more down with the kids, if you like. Whether or not that's going to be successful, I don't know. Anyway, carrying on. Lloyd Webber performed an early draft of his score to Jamie Lloyd earlier this year as they began prepping to open Sunset Boulevard starring Nicole Scherzinger and Tom Francis on Broadway. The show premiered at the St James Theatre on October 20 to ecstatic notices from the majority of critics. I would not characterize the majority of them as ecstatic. I think they were largely mixed positive. But I made another video talking through those reviews here on my channel. You can go watch that if you haven't already. And so this sort of gives us an indication of how Jamie Lloyd came to be involved in this. You know, they're working on Sunset Boulevard, it's going very well. Andrew is impressed with this. Michael Harrison is impressed with this. He's developing a new show and he's like, maybe this is the bold visionary to bring some dynamic contemporary energy to his work. Because as a general criticism of the Lloyd Webber musicals since Phantom, and you know, he did, he did give us School of Rock. I said in a video previously that he hadn't really had much success in developing completely new musicals since Phantom. I sort of forgot about School of Rock, so apologies for that one. But many of them, I think, have just felt a little old fashioned. If we look at your aspects of love, if we look at Stephen Ward, if we look at baijeeves, if we look at the Woman in White, he does this romantic classic thing very well. But the best, most exciting Lloyd Webber productions that we've seen in the last few years have been revivals of his work reconceived by other directors by new producers. This is also how the Michael Harrison partnership came to be. By the way, he produced Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. And he has since produced not only the very successful new production of Starlight Express, but also the ongoing, much talked about Sunset Boulevard. And this is a brilliant partnership for all involved. Michael Harrison, a great, conscientious, smart producer. Lloyd Webber, a renowned composer. And it allows them to be both of those things. More importantly, specifically, it allows Lloyd Webber to be the artist, to be the creator to not have to be the producer. And I think he does one of those things a lot more successfully than he does the other. Carrying on. It's only recently that both Lloyd Webber and Michael Harrison, his producing partner in Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, approached Lloyd to direct the new show, which says the composer will feature an operatic score, which I think is A, not a surprise, and B, probably the right kind of a sound for something that is set in. What did he say, like 1900s Vienna. With Director Lloyd, writers Theriau and Major on board, the next important step is to find someone to create the illusions for the illusionist. I mean, there are. There are two notable people who do this. In fact, there may be more, but there are two specific ones that come to mind. John Bellade is an illusion designer who worked on the Magician's Elephant, who I got to interview for a project a little while ago. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up becoming attached to this. And there is someone else as well. Oh, Jamie Harrison, who did the magic and illusions for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, would not surprise me. But from even this nugget of information, this tells us, I think, that this is not going to be another Jamie Lloyd aesthetic production. If we're going to have illusions, that implies, you would think, a little bit of color to it, at least props, at least people holding things. This is what has been absent from Sunset Boulevard, arguably to great effect, and also more recently from Romeo and Juliet with Tom Holland and arguably to no effect whatsoever. And because both of those productions have been so high profile, people have been saying, oh, every Jamie Lloyd production is now going to look like this. We are waiting to see what happens with the Tempest and Much Ado About Nothing, which are coming to Theatre Royal Drury Lane very soon. Also waiting for Godot on Broadway that he will be directing. And rumors of him restaging his production of Evita next summer in the UK have also been swirling with a very conspicuous Broadway and cinema name attached to play Eva Peron. And though this is total hearsay, I've also heard that he may be attached to a revival of Ragtime at an unexpected London venue. And with him working on so many different upcoming projects, it seems unlikely to me that these will all have the same kind of aesthetic as we have seen in Sunset Boulevard and Romeo and Juliet. But with a Lloyd Webber show, I feel like he is no longer the most powerful creative voice in the room. And Jamie Lloyd, from what I've heard, is this really brilliant, diplomatic, democratic, encouraging and inspiring creative force. I don't want to portray him as being this autocratic director. But Lloyd Webber, even as just the composer, is also a compelling creative force who will be involved in sort of every creative facet of this production to some extent, as he should be. It's his name that is selling the thing and is going to be attached to it. And so the collaboration of something new between him and Jamie Lloyd, with Michael Harrison in that melting pot as well, so interesting to me. So interesting to me because it's the prospect of an exciting new power dynamic from a composer who has worked with many directors that he seems able to instruct, and a director who has worked with material that is older and so doesn't have to answer to the writer at the most immediate stage, and they suddenly are going to engage together. This could be brilliant. This could be a disaster. I'm optimistic. Let's carry on. So we were talking about the illusions for the Illusionist. Obviously, there's an illusion, Lloyd Webber divulges, where we can literally disappear somebody in front of the audience. And there are a couple of other coup d'theatre magical moments that will need to be developed. They're not a huge part of the show, but they're a very important part of the show, he explains. But they need to be designed at the get go. Harrison adds, whoever the magic person is, and we don't know who it is yet, they'll be heavily involved because it's very important, obviously, if you're doing a show called the Illusionist, that there be good illusions. Now, Michael Harrison is characterizing these revelations and this news as more of an early announcement, rather than them launching the show that will come later. Much for us to look forward to. Lloyd Webber adds, I think it's absolutely fair to say we haven't a clue where it's going to open, because an awful lot of it's got to do with what theaters are available on which side of the pond. It could be New York, it could be here in London. As yet unconfirmed which one's going to get it first. He says he'd like it to be here, but it could be New York. It's also important to emphasize that it's very, very early days. We are not going to see this for a little while yet. The first thing that will happen, I imagine, is that it's going to get some kind of a workshop, and then there are a certain number of theatres we would expect to see it in in London, because he owns, like it said earlier in this article, six different theatres in London, many of them however, will not be viable options. Matilda continues at the Cambridge the Adelphi, highly sought after, currently the home of Back to the Future Theatre. Royal Jury Lane, is vast and huge, and this next part kind of precludes that because Arison expresses a desire for the Illusionist to open in London and observes that while it will be spectacular, it doesn't need to be in a huge house. If the title sounds familiar, it's because the production's partially inspired, partially Here we go. By the 2006 movie of the same name, written and directed by Neil Berger, which in turn was based on a novella called the Illusionist taken from the Barnum Museum, a book of fantasy themed short stories by Stephen Milhouser, a Pulitzer Prize winning short story fiction writer. So this is many steps down from that in terms of adaptation. The movie, set in Vienna in 1900. There was the Clue starred Edward Norton as Edouard, who uses the stage name Eisenheim, whose increasingly elaborate illusions cause an uproar in the imperial city with questions raised about the boundaries between illusion and reality. Which sounds fun. The film introduced a love story between Eisenheim and Sophie, a young woman he falls in love with, played by Jessica Biel, who happens to be betrothed to the crown Prince, a role taken by Rufus Sewell in. In the film. Rufus Sewell always playing the bad guy. Poor Rufus Sewell. But of course she is betrothed to the crown Prince. And of course there is a scrappy, romantic young dreamer illusionist who she falls truly in love with instead. It's very Moulin Rouge, isn't it? In the movie, a police inspector played by Paul Giamatti of all people, accuses Eisenheim's act of shaking the foundations of the universe. That part is much reduced in the new show. Then why tell us? Lloyd Webber stresses that the musical is not going to be a straight rehash of the film. We are not hugely based on the movie, he declared. Declares I think what we've done is taken the idea of it and developed it into another area completely. That's interesting to me because, you know, that gets said a lot. People say, like, oh yeah, we saw the film and then sort of we want to do our own thing with it. And it's still the film. And yet you have something like Warriors. The warriors, which was just released as a concept album by Lin Manuel Miranda, a friend and contemporary now of Angela Dwebber and Issa Davis. And they substantially reworked the material because they reconceived these central characters, this New York gang, as an all female group instead of the all male version in the source material. So, you know, there is room to depart from the source material in these things. Remains to be seen exactly how much they will, but they're saying that's the idea, and as if they heard me say that we carry on. For instance, he and Terrio have expanded the Sophie character. We've made her very much in the second act, the catalyst of everything that happens, which is quite different from the movie. Is she a character or is she a catalyst? Because those are slightly different things. And it's fair to say there has been criticism of some. Lloyd Webber composed musicals in the past for their positioning of female characters, even in Phantom. I'm gonna say it as an addendum to that before you fight me in the comments section. I will also say that he has delivered some of the best roles for women on stage. The likes of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, that Nicole Scherzinger is currently getting rave reviews for from audience members. Also Evita, even Grizabella in Cats. The show, he remarks, will conjure up a fascinating period of history where the city was this melting pot, where on the one hand you had Strauss's waltzes, which I dare say will inspire the score, while on the other hand, he points to the cultural, societal and psychological breakthroughs involving, for instance, the likes of Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytical theories and Arnold Schoenberg's revolutionary music techniques. It sounds very exciting. So what we've written, which is not really part of the movie, is something where it's a cauldron of those various ideas. Lloyd Webber tells us. What also fascinates him historically. Gosh, this is longer than I thought, is that within 14 years, an empire was going to be dismantled by a world war. So it's a wonderful rich area for me, he says, which will enable my romantic side to fly, and his kind of more mathematical side, because the plot is set in a city where everything was changing, innovations, ideas, everything. I mean, that is exciting. He likes to play with time signatures. And, you know, if I was to ask you the greatest Andrew Webber songs, you would probably pick some lush, sweeping romantic or tragic ballads. He does this emotive thing very well in his composition. And so you've got people coming to Vienna, and all of them for different reasons. Some of them because they want to hear a waltz. The musical lord surmises quite a lot of them are coming because they want to find a solution to their problems, others because they're excited about the act, that there is new work going on there. Did that sentence make sense? All of that, however, counts for naught if the score doesn't lift you, the audience and the show. Lloyd Webber and Harrison both ask David Andrew Wilson, the really useful group's director of music, to play me recordings of three piano demos with voice accompaniment. Oh, I wonder who sang on it. The first, a powerful ballad, invincible, to be sung by Don't Tell Rebecca Das musical after he's been put down by his father for performing magic in the village square, which sounds not unlike the beginning of the film Coco. That's followed by I Only Came to say Goodbye, not to be confused with as if We Never Said Goodbye, a sweeping love song with a haunting melody, which Lloyd Webber jokes, just in case everybody thought that I'd gone back irrevocably to rock and roll, I have tried to do something a little bit more in my older mould, but it's the second act number, Always Everything to Me, a passionate love song that lingers most. That's a classic, says Harrison, breaking the silence. True, I can forever boast. I joke that I heard it seated next to the composer on an October afternoon. It took me back to an early evening meeting with Lloyd Webber nearly four decades ago, when he sat at his grand piano and played me Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera. I felt the same emotional jolt with Always Everything to Me. And Baz Bambcboy knows what he is talking about. He has the experience there that he tells you about. This is someone who has been around in the industry for long enough to know the difference between something genuinely exciting and just another musical. Now, the big test for the creatives is how to integrate these songs into a production that will dazzle and amaze. I'm less concerned about the dazzling and the amazement as I am about, you know, the dramaturgy and the character development and those things that we have been missing in the more recent Lloyd Webber works, and, hell, even some of the earlier Lloyd Webber works, when times were slightly different and audiences were looking for something slightly different. It's clear that Lloyd Webber, 76, wants youthful energy to surge through the Illusionist, as we'd already deduced, which is why it was vital to secure Jamie Lloyd, 43, who is certainly, with his electrifying Sunset Boulevard, introducing new ways to dream in musical theatre. What I will say of all of that is, yes, Sunset Boulevard is great, and people who don't historically like Lloyd Webber shows are saying they now love Sunset Boulevard, even if they don't like Lloyd Webber in general. But the enduring criticism. And the thing that is keeping some critics, some content creators, some audience members from really loving this is still the material. It does not fix everything. There are still lessons to be learned. This is not a perfect piece of theatre. And as an oldie now, to have somebody who's younger just challenges me. This is what we like to hear, Andrew says Lloyd Webber. He notes how the pair developed a close friendship and working relationship on Sunset Boulevard, where they challenged each other. Evidently Andrew more involved in that than perhaps we had realised. They managed to chop two numbers from Sunset Boulevard without falling out, and thank God they did. Lloyd Webber also seems energized by Terrio and Major. Terrio wrote the screenplay for Zack Snyder's Justice League, not the most obvious collaborator for a new Android Webber musical, I will say, and co wrote the screenplays for Star Wars, Episode 9, the Rise of Skywalker and Batman vs. Dawn of Justice. And also, though I'm no cinema critic, not a compellingly successful cv. And the latest script for the long gestating movie version of the Sunset Boulevard musical, which Glenn Close adamantly wants to get produced as if she is Norma Desmond herself, which in many ways, you know, carrying on. While Major's output includes albums, A Song for Every Moon and To Let a Good Thing Die, they were introduced to the ennobled tune Smith by independent music executive Alistair Lloyd Webber, 32, the eldest of his three children from his third and current marriage to Madeleine Gurdon, deputy chair. I feel like I'm reading a family tree here. Equestrian, champion racehorse breeder. Okay, so Andrew's son put them in contact with his father. That's what happened here. Back to something very interesting. Although all concerned would like to see the Illusionist ready to enchant audiences sometime in 2026, Harrison insists that there's genuinely no time frame for the production. So we might get it in 26. It might be later. It's also got to be when everything's right, adds Lloyd Webber as he recites the wonderful piece of advice that Evita and Phantom of the Opera director Hal Prince. The legendary Hal Prince gave him decades ago. You can't listen to a musical if you can't look at it. And I wonder if Jamie Lloyd, of all people, is the person to bring us another staggering Andrew Lloyd Webber cross cultural new musical hit. Not him adding something to a classic film. Not him reviving something as a producer. Not a remounting or new production of one of his earlier shows, but something new and thrilling. Because it was those old productions with Hal Prince where everything worked. Because you Know, Hal Prince wasn't kowtowing to everything Lloyd Webber wanted. He was a strong creative force and maybe that is what the man needs. Oh, here we go. We do not speak of his last show, Bad Cinderella, which wasn't at all ready for the spotlight, although it did keep theatre folk employed during the pandemic. I wonder who that came from. Is that Baz saying it wasn't at all ready for the spotlight? Is that Michael Harrison? Is that Lloyd Webber who is making that acknowledgement? Because at the time, this is not what was being said. Even when it was closing in London and they were readying for Broadway, there was no consideration of the fact that this show may not have been at all ready for the spotlight. I mean, I was saying it, but they weren't. Lloyd Webber acknowledges that with the Illusionist. I've got this tough producer in Michael Harrison who says, andrew, it's not good enough. How interesting. Having Harrison as producer is fantastic, says Lloyd Webber, because I can just be a creator again. This is what I've been saying. This is all encouraging, this is all moving in the right direction. At the same time, it is occurring to me that this creative collaboration is exceptionally male led. Talking about Starlight Express, talking about Phantom of the Opera. Lloyd Webber will continue writing with Terrio and Major for this new musical, while Harrison prepares to mount the London Palladium's raucous annual pantomime. Talking about Pantomime la. Jamie Lloyd's also busy rehearsing Sigourney Weaver, making her London debut as Prospero in the Tempest, which we talked about earlier. And then, oh, we're nearly done. Casting for the Illusionist will begin as soon as Lloyd Webber, Harrison and Lloyd have assembled their creative team. I gather there's already a wish list. Is that for casting or for the creative team? I am very intrigued. Will we see Fabian Aloise as choreographer who has worked with Jamie Lloyd on his last two Android Webber revivals, both on Evita and on Sunset Boulevard? I would. I would like that very much because I think he is a brilliant choreographer. And they have posted a video to go with this. Is this going to be a little bit of music? Let's listen to this together. I'm going to hold it near the microphone. How long did it take you to compose it? I listen into your new show. Well, it's probably not finished yet. He says it's not finished yet. It takes as long as it takes. I would say, from, you know, when you think about it, three years. But the writing is not the, you know, In a way, it's, it's the. Finally what happens now and then the hard work starts. Yes, the hard work begins now. The hard work begins now. He said, oh, okay. So he's. He says, roughly, usually takes about three years, estimating taking three years. So I don't know how anyone is getting 2026 from that because this former maths teacher makes their 2027. But I am, I will say it again, cautiously optimistic and excited. How can we not be excited for a new Lloyd Webber musical? I mean, the whole Cinderella thing started with me making a video where I said I'm not excited about Cinderella. And that felt conspicuous to me because it was a new Lloyd Webber show and it wasn't appealing to me or intriguing to me. This one sort of already is. And the reason for that is Jamie Lloyd. This creative collaboration, I think, is going to push both of them in the directions I would like to see them pushed. I would like to see Lloyd Webber doing something genuinely dynamic and genuinely contemporary and not just classic, but trying to aesthetically appeal to a young audience, something authentically youthful and vibrant. And I would like to see Jamie Lloyd working with colour and illusion and spectacle and grandeur and, and props and set pieces and costumes. And I could go as far as to call this the theatrical partnership that British theatre has been needing. However, the separate conversation to all of this is that these individuals, Michael Harrison is a producer, wonderful Lloyd Webber, legendary as a composer, Jamie Lloyd, a brilliant director, all of whom I have a tremendous amount of respect for, take up a lot of space in the industry, an industry which simultaneously needs to be nurturing non white creatives and writers and producers and women in all of these roles and also new writers and emerging writers and new musical theatre writers. And, you know, it's not lost on me that this is making huge headlines. In the same week that why Am I so Single? Is announced, it will close prematurely in the West End. And, you know, it's just a reminder. We need to be supporting new musicals from emerging early career writers as well as the ones who own a bunch of theaters that they can produce them. And I'm just going to say that once more, I am, however, hugely excited and I will be following the development of this as we hear more. Next time I run into Baz Bambing Boy, which just does not happen often, I will be asking him very curiously about the music he heard exclusive previews of. And I wonder how long it will be before we get to hear those. There will be some kind of a workshop presentation for this at which point we may get to find out a little bit more about casting, the nature of the casting, the nature of roles. There's lots that we will discover as this moves forward in its lifetime, but we have, presumably, barring anything going wrong, a new Lloyd Webber musical to look forward to in the West End and on Broadway. And I am hugely intrigued to hear what you think. Let me know in the comments section down below. Do we think this is worth getting really excited over? Do we think, I mean, it's early days yet, but do we think this is going to be a big hit? Is this going to be a change of direction for New Lloyd Webber musicals? I cannot wait to read all of your comments. Make sure to subscribe. Turn on the notifications so you don't miss any more videos around this topic, as well as the other videos I will make talking about all of the rest of the theatre happening in the West End and on Broadway. I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.
Summary of Podcast Episode: Andrew Lloyd Webber's New Musical: THE ILLUSIONIST | Everything We Know About the Upcoming Show
Podcast Information:
In this episode of MickeyJoTheatre, host Micky Jo delves into the exciting announcement of Andrew Lloyd Webber's upcoming musical, "The Illusionist." Transitioning from an unexpected topic, Micky Jo shares insights into the new production, exploring its development, creative team, and what audiences can anticipate from this highly-anticipated show.
Micky Jo begins by recounting how the announcement of Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical altered his planned content for the day. He expresses his enthusiasm and cautious optimism about the project:
"Andrew Lloyd Webber has a brand new musical. Oh my God." ([00:00])
He highlights the significance of Lloyd Webber unveiling a new show, especially through an exclusive with Deadline, underscoring the production's high profile in the theatre community.
Title and Scope:
Micky Jo emphasizes the dual-platform release strategy, comparing it to Lloyd Webber's previous successes like Cinderella and Sunset Boulevard. This approach ensures that the musical reaches a broader audience, regardless of its performance in London prior to Broadway.
"Andrew Lloyd Webber has unveiled his new West End and Broadway musical. They're calling it a West End and Broadway musical... it has plans to happen on both continents." ([Transcript Reference])
Creative Team:
Micky Jo discusses the collaboration between Lloyd Webber and Jamie Lloyd, noting the director's shift from reviving classic plays to developing new musical works. This partnership is seen as a fresh dynamic that could breathe new life into Lloyd Webber's compositions.
"It is going to be directed by Sunset Boulevard's Jamie Lloyd. This is huge news..." ([Transcript Reference])
Setting and Inspiration:
Micky Jo explains that while the musical draws inspiration from the film, it aims to transcend a mere adaptation by integrating historical elements from Vienna's vibrant cultural scene at the turn of the century.
"The production's partially inspired, partially by the 2006 movie of the same name... based on a novella called the Illusionist." ([Transcript Reference])
Themes:
"He points to the cultural, societal and psychological breakthroughs involving, for instance, Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytical theories and Arnold Schoenberg's revolutionary music techniques." ([Transcript Reference])
Micky Jo shares exclusive insights into the early drafts of the musical's score, revealing three key numbers:
"Invincible"
"I Only Came to Say Goodbye"
"Always Everything to Me"
"Lloyd Webber performed an early draft of his score to Jamie Lloyd earlier this year... shared that Deadline has an exclusive preview of three of the several numbers he has so far scored." ([Transcript Reference])
A significant aspect of "The Illusionist" is its incorporation of magical illusions:
Micky Jo discusses the importance of designing these illusions from the outset, ensuring they enhance the storytelling without overshadowing the dramatic elements.
"There is an illusion, Lloyd Webber divulges, where we can literally disappear somebody in front of the audience." ([Transcript Reference])
He speculates on potential illusion designers who might be involved, mentioning John Bellade and Jamie Harrison, both renowned for their work in theatre magic.
The partnership between Lloyd Webber and Jamie Lloyd is a focal point of the discussion. Micky Jo highlights the potential for this collaboration to redefine Lloyd Webber's creative output:
"This creative collaboration, I think, is going to push both of them in the directions I would like to see them pushed." ([Transcript Reference])
He expresses optimism that Lloyd Webber, at 76, can infuse youthful energy into the production, while Jamie Lloyd brings a flair for color, illusion, and spectacle.
Micky Jo delves into the historical backdrop of the musical, emphasizing Vienna's role as a melting pot of ideas and innovations in 1900. This setting provides a rich tapestry for the narrative, intertwining romance with societal upheaval.
"The musical will conjure up a fascinating period of history where the city was this melting pot... implementations, ideas, everything." ([Transcript Reference])
He also touches upon character development, particularly the expansion of Sophie’s role, making her a catalyst for the plot’s progression.
"He and Terrio have expanded the Sophie character. We've made her very much in the second act, the catalyst of everything that happens, which is quite different from the movie." ([Transcript Reference])
While expressing excitement, Micky Jo also acknowledges the challenges ahead:
Despite these uncertainties, the host remains optimistic about the collaboration's potential to produce a standout musical.
"I am, I will say it again, cautiously optimistic and excited." ([Transcript Reference])
Micky Jo concludes by reflecting on the broader theatre landscape, advocating for support of emerging writers and diverse creatives alongside established figures like Lloyd Webber. He underscores the importance of nurturing new talent to enrich the industry.
"This is what we like to hear, Andrew says Lloyd Webber... having a new Lloyd Webber musical to look forward to in the West End and on Broadway." ([Transcript Reference])
He invites listeners to share their thoughts on the upcoming musical, emphasizing community engagement and anticipation for future updates.
"Let me know in the comments section down below. Do we think this is worth getting really excited over? Do we think, I mean, it's early days yet, but do we think this is going to be a big hit?" ([Transcript Reference])
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Final Thoughts
Micky Jo's detailed exploration of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Illusionist" offers listeners a comprehensive understanding of the musical's inception, creative direction, and the potential impact it may have on modern theatre. His balanced perspective, combining enthusiasm with critical insights, provides a nuanced view of what promises to be a significant addition to Lloyd Webber's illustrious portfolio.