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Mickey Jo
Light the beacons, sound the trumpets, throw your patio furniture into the swimming pool because Andrew Lloyd Webber is writing a new musical. Oh my God. Hey. Welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. My name is Mickey Jo. I am a professional theatre critic and pundit and content creator here on social media. You can find me all across the Internet and I am perhaps best known to many of you enduringly for my extended coverage of one particular show. That was Andre Lloyd Webber's Cinderella, which transferred to Broadway and subsequently became Bad Cinderella. The show was among the first to reopen the west end during the COVID 19 pandemic, which went some of the way towards its struggles though. And I'm not going to rehash this because I've spoken about it at length in previous videos, it had other problems evidenced when the show opened on Broadway some decent time after COVID 19 and had an even more short lived run than it had had in the West End. But I'm not here to bring all that up today again. Today we are turning our attention towards Angel Lloyd Webber's next musical because in the years since Cinderella, he has ref his priorities in a way that I actually think is very positive. Because while much of his significant success as a composer back in the 1980s has begotten him something of an empire in the West End where he is now composer and producer and theater owner and general theatrical titan, it's when he is composing that he's at his best. And post Cinderella, we have seen him forging a producing partnership with Michael Harrison, who has led the charge on many of the most successful Android Webber productions since remountings and revivals of his previous shows, including Sunset Boulevard. A huge award winning hit in the West End about to open on Broadway, recently began preview performances at the St James Theatre in New York. Mr. Harrison is also jointly responsible for the huge new production of Starlight Express at the Troubadour Theatre in Wembley Park. And it allows Andrew to do what he does best, which is to be the creative, to be the composer without having to worry about all of the producing side of things. And if the work that has been produced by this partnership can be any indication, it's been a very positive change. Which is why I'm now newly intrigued and maybe even cautiously optimistic about Andrew's next show. He is writing another musical and we are beginning to get the first few details about it. He gave an interview to the Times where he also spoke about a few other projects and I'm going to mention those in this video as well. But critically he told us the littlest bit about his next show. So we are going to take that and we are going to speculate wildly and see if we can go some of the way towards answering the question, why? What is Andrew Lloyd Webber's next musical going to be? That is the focus for today's video. If you have any thoughts and feelings, let me know in the comments section down below. And if you want to stay up to date with all of the West End and Broadway news, make sure you are following me on social media. You can hit subscribe and turn on the notifications right below this video. You can also find me on other social media platforms. I am on Instagram, I am on TikTok, I am on the app formerly known as Twitter, I am on LinkedIn for business inquiries and I am available on podcast platforms. Honestly, I'm everywhere. I'm inescapable. I am the Andrew Lloyd Webber of theatrical social media. Close every door and another one opens. But I have said enough. Let's take a look at this interview and see what we can find out about his next show. So the way that they framed this, and it's not what I would have led with, I would have led exactly as I'm doing with this video. What is Andrew Lloyd Webber's next musical going to be about? Jonathan Dean, who wrote this, or whoever's edited it, at least has framed this with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Let's rip on modern musicals, West End prices and Cats. And it's worth saying we are now approaching 2020. The Cats film was in, what, 2020 or late 2019 when that was released in cinemas? I think it's time to let it go. But there is more to say. So, at 76, the theatre giant is putting a difficult couple of years behind him and fired up about creating his first new musical since Cinderella. Jonathan Dean talks about meeting the composer in his elegant Edwardian offices on the top floor. And he points out that immediately he's very excited to play him Hydrogen and the new song from the soon to be released recording of Starlight Express. Apparently, he lip synced along to Hydrogen as they tumbled into a passionate scattergun rush of chat and opinion from the composer, impresario, philanthropist, presenter, campaigner and what I would not give to see Android Webber lip syncing to hydra. He has TikTok. They have him on TikTok. Now. Where is that content? Honestly, that's exactly what we need. I don't care what he thinks of peanut butter sandwiches. Give me that. Now we get a little bit political here. And he does seem to be largely separate to any specific party these days, despite any previous political affiliations. He talks about the arts cuts made by the previous Tory government. He calls them absolutely idiotic. And he points out that artists like Adele have brought an extraordinary amount of cash to the Exchequer. But his principal passion here, as it has long been, is music in secondary schools, and he has a trust, the Music in Secondary Schools trust. He provides 29 secondaries with free instruments and tuition and points out that it's not expensive to do so. He says, people just don't realize the value of the arts. I'm not saying we turn every child in Britain into a musician, but music empowers a child to do well in other areas. That I can say is true. There has been a lot of study and evidence around the connection between music and mathematics at its most fundamental. It also helps you develop listening skills and independence and fosters creativity, and it encourages you to work in an ensemble in a receptive and open way. He goes on to say, I really believe that for every penny spent on music in schools, you will save it. Policing costs related to knife crime, drugs and behavioral issues. That's not where I would have taken that, but, you know, I'm prepared to see evidence from studies. He says he looked at the recent riots and I bet none of those schools had any kind of music anymore. Perhaps there's truth to that. I wasn't expecting that to be the direction we took this in, but sure, now. He met the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, this month, and when asked if he was optimistic about the new government's support of the arts in general, he said, so long as they don't blow it by getting rid of every single creative because of tax. And he hopes to find an ally in Keir Starmer, who spoke in his conference speech last week about how flute lessons at the Guildhall School of Music at weekends gave him opportunities. Now, I mentioned the professional challenges that Lloyd Webber endured with Cinderella, but there were also personal challenges, because around the same time that the Broadway production was opening, he tragically lost his son to cancer, for which, of course, I express extraordinary sympathy. And you can only imagine that that kind of loss, especially as a parent, which is this hugely unnatural and unexpected thing, will really have the possibility to change the trajectory of someone's life and their mindset. And he expresses a little bit of that here as well. He says his own life turned around and he felt as though he was doing so much that, frankly, wasn't him. For instance, his fight to keep theaters afloat during the pandemic. And so he says, I decided not to be involved with the business side. I'm just going to be a creator again. And this is what I alluded to at the beginning with his partnership with Michael Harrison. That seems to be extraordinarily positive. He continues, I firmly believe that all theatre needs is a great big warehouse with flexible seating and an ability to fly, but you get stuck in your ways. So I needed a new team and I don't disagree with that sentiment. And certainly I think there's a lot more positivity to come from Lloyd Webber the creative, Lloyd Webber the visionary, Lloyd Webber the musician, the composer, rather than the businessman. The producer. Jonathan Dean goes on to write. He's talking about his collaboration with the director Jamie Lloyd on Sunset Boulevard last year and the producer Michael Harrison on Starlight Express. In fact, he's talking really largely about his collaboration with Michael Harrison as a producer overall, but also with Jamie Lloyd. Now, I promise we are going to get to the new musical. But this is where he starts to drop information about other projects, because this has been rumoured, but this is the first we've heard of it talked about with any kind of confirmation. He talks of an immersive production of Phantom of the Opera due off Broadway next year. He says that friends like J.J. abrams and Lin Manuel Miranda, imagine that, dinner party, if you will, just for a moment, share his excitement for the future of musical theatre, though not necessarily specifically for that production. So this has been rumoured on places like TikTok and people have talked about. I think that's a specific address that has been zoned or whatever needs to happen to a building for it to be allocated least. Perhaps I'm not Mickey Jo properties, I really don't know, but there's a specific location linked to this theoretical production of Phantom of the Opera. In fact, I have heard talk of two different immersive Phantom of the Operas, one of them being linked to the musical and being linked to Lloyd Webber, and the other potentially being a punch drunk project. Punch drunk, of course, best known in New York for Sleep no More, but who have developed various other immersive shows. And the Phantom of the Opera, of course, before it was a well known musical, was also a novel by Gaston Leroux, so possibly there's a version simply based on that. But this one, they are talking about being off Broadway and based on Lloyd Webber's musical. I am so intrigued as to how this would begin to work, because the setting of the Phantom of the Opera is Paris Opera House, right It's the Palais Garnier and its falling chandeliers and its big set pieces and its underwater caverns and catacombs. I don't understand how you conjure this particular world off Broadway. I'm not going to spend too much more time exploring this because we really don't know much yet. But is it a case of, like, how much of the music and how much of the plot are they really going to use in it? I'm fascinated and confused. But, you know, it's creative and I'm willing. I'm willing to give it a shot because the Cats. Who thought that Cats was going to work. Cats, the Jellicle Ball, the recent Off Broadway production that reconceived the whole thing to be this ballroom, queer culture, humanoid version of the show, who thought that was going to be a good idea. And yet it really, really worked. Now he talks about that next. And in the same week that I saw it off Broadway, he and Michael Harrison both made the trip to go and see the show. Now he says, here I'm totally re energized. At 76, theatre is having a total renaissance. There is even a new Cats, which he admits was a surprise. And Cats, the Jellicle Ball, is referred to here as an Off Broadway show that Lloyd Webber would like to bring to London. And that has me surprised because people have been asking me on live streams, do I think that this is likely to come to London, do I think it would work in London? And I have said no to both questions. I thought it would potentially be eyeing a Broadway transfer to somewhere like the Circle in the Square. It may be taking its time to do so because I don't think they want to overlap with Sunset Boulevard in terms of the same Tony Awards season. I wouldn't be surprised if Cats, the Jellicle Ball, returned next summer either at the same venue, which is the Perelman Performing Arts center downtown in Manhattan, or on Broadway at the Circle in the Square, possibly. Which, if you don't know, is this in the round, more intimate Broadway theatre where Romeo and Juliet is currently playing with Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler. But I don't think they want to get in the way of their own Tony's campaign with Sunset Boulevard that is the focus right now. They delayed Sunset Boulevard in part because of Cabaret and atg, producing both and not wanting to step on their own toes there. So they're going to hold off on the Cats for now. But London, that really surprised me because London has had a major West End revival of Cats since the Original long running production, Cats has toured. I think Cats is better known in London and better understood here than it ever really was on Broadway. And what's less well understood here, I think, is ballroom culture. It's very inherently New York. That being said, I'm British. I went to go see it, I understood it and I really loved it. And I've spoken to a lot of other British based people and British people who similarly saw the show, understood the show and loved the show and thought it was the best version of Cats they ever saw and said it's the only version of Cats there now needs to be. So maybe I'm underselling the British public and they would like Cats, the Jellicle Ball. I really. I don't think commercial West End would be the answer, but if they can find somewhere fun and edgy to do it, I'm all for it. I just really didn't think that was gonna happen. Anyway, he once again tells the story of how he was so depressed by the Cats film and how terrible it was that he went on to adopt a dog named Mojito. I didn't realize that that was suggested by his good friend Glenn Close, who meanwhile is just still desperately trying to get a film adaptation of Sunset Boulevard starring her maid, which incidentally takes us into the conversation of Lloyd Webber's next musical. Now, I'm going to jump ahead in this article a little bit to where this is talked about. Jonathan Dean writes he is scoring a new based on a film that he hopes to open in 2026, which presumably means it's being workshopped very soon. If you don't know, workshopping is something, usually private, that happens in a show's development before it opens on a major stage. And this being a new Lloyd Webber musical, we could see this opening cold in the West End. That is not a privilege afforded to many producers or many composers. Most things try out off West End or regionally first or transfer in from New York. It's not often that we get entirely new shows just appear in a West End theatre. The last one that I think did that may have been Opening Night, which, needless to say, did not go great. And truthfully, in terms of new musicals, I have to be honest and say that Lloyd Webber has not had an extraordinary amount of success with his own shows opening cold, really, in the past 20, 30 years in terms of what is technically a hit and technically a flop, various revivals and remountings of his work have done well. New productions of Joseph and Sunset Boulevard and the Return of Cats and all sorts of regional productions of shows like Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar and lots of successful tours. But in terms of the new stuff that he has created, other than, you know, where he's adapted shows like the wizard of Oz, something entirely new, I'm thinking like Stephen Ward, I'm thinking Love Never Dies, I'm thinking Cinderella. It has not been a string of successes. And you begin to wonder, just because Andrew Lloyd Webber has access to a whole slew of West End theatres, he owns several theatres under LW Theatres, including Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the Cambridge and the Adelphi and various more, does that mean that is still the best path? If you have all of these other shows achieving success by growing their audience somewhere else first, something like an Operation Mincemeat, even just for one day, going to the Old Vic before then coming into the Shaft Spree next year, is that something that they should be considering? Is that a change we're going to see with Michael Harrison's input? I don't know, but let's see what else we know about this show. So all that he can say for now is that Chris Terrio, who wrote the Oscar winning film Argo, as well as the controversial Justice League film, let me point out, about the storming of the US Embassy in Iran, is co creating and that it is set in Vienna in 1900. Now, Lloyd Webber has only ever been a composer, I believe, you know, anecdotally he's become more and more of a dominant creative force in terms of how the collaborative process works. But he is a composer, he is not a book writer, he is not a lyricist. And if you're working with a screenwriter, you would assume that they're going to write the book. This is the same thing that happened with Cinderella. Emerald Fennell, principally known as a screenw, wrote the book for Cinderella before privately severing all ties with the show. So presumably there is a lyricist also working. Unless Chris Terrio is also writing the lyrics, but he is a screenwriter, presumably writing the book for this show they're co creating, set in Vienna in 1900. Now, the first time I read this, I read this as the 1900s, but no, specifically the year 1900. That really limits the films that this could be based on. And he goes on to say, it will have moments nobody has seen done on a stage before. So this is a brand new collaborator for him. This is something with a certain amount of source material. These are both encouraging factors, I suppose. But what on earth is this? Well, there can only be so many films set in Vienna in 1900 that seem like good fodder for a musical. And in fact, I've had a glance through the list already. One of the most iconic Vienna set films is, of course, the adaptation of Peter Schaeffer's Amadeus. This is not set in the year 1900, however. This is set, I believe, in the 18th century. But it wouldn't necessarily shock me if Lloyd Webb was writing something linked to classical composers because of all his influences. Now, when you're looking at Vienna set films, many of these are set around the dawn of the beginning of the Second World War. That is, of course, too late if we're talking about something set specifically in 1900. There was a 2011 historical drama called A Dangerous Method, all about Sigmund Freud that had a screenplay written by Christopher Hampton, who is a previous collaborator of Lloyd Webber's on Sunset Boulevard. So that kind of caught my attention. That is set partially in Vienna across a period from 1902 to the eve of the First World War. So that doesn't really align with what he was saying there, but the Christopher Hampton connection makes it seem a little bit suspicious. It's also possible he just got the year a little bit wrong and we could be steering ourselves completely astray at this point. If anyone has any good suggestions, comment them down below. I'm determined that we can figure out what this film is before it's publicly announced. There are only so many films, people. This is one I had been eyeing, which was a 1934 biographical film directed by Alfred Hitchcock called Waltzes From Vienna that follows Strauss. I believe it's a semi fictionalized account of some of Strauss's creative life. Again, this seemed like potentially good fodder for a Lloyd Webber musical, but from what I can tell, I think this also based on When Strauss was alive, would be set a little bit too early. That's a film set in 1914. That's a film called 1914 the angel with the Trumpet. What is this? Oh, Captain Civil War. You know what I wouldn't give to see the Andrew Webber musical adaptation of Captain Civil War. I think that would be fascinating. A great many of these are also musical films. When is Goodbye Mr. Chip set? See, it's a flashback of his life that begins in 1870 and goes through 1914. So many of these films take place over a great many years. And he said it's set in Vienna in 1900. Did he mean the 1900s? Do I trust the journalist who took this interview here is one that fits the description. This is called Letter from an unknown woman. This was a 1948American drama romance film. And when I tell you a little bit of the plot of this, you're going to hear a little bit of an aspect of love. Phantom of the Opera, esque parallel. Because in the early 20th century Vienna, in fact around the turn of the century, we're in the right place, we're in the right time. A man named Stefan Brand returns home. He is due to duel against an opponent the next morning, but plans to skip town and avoid it. His mute butler, hello, Sunset Boulevard, hands him a letter addressed to him by a woman who claims that she may be dead by the time he receives it, which Stefan begins reading. You know, I'm intrigued. That's very compelling. I shan't tell you the entire plot, but we flashback to many years earlier when he was a musician and she was inappropriately young. And you begin to hear the possibilities of a Lloyd Webber adaptation. Do you not that right now I think may be the strongest contender for the basis of his next show. But if anyone else has any other good ideas, let us know in the comments. In terms of the theatres where we could see that playing 2026 is still a little bit of time away. Possibly the Adelphi will be free by then, but it's a very popular space. But LW theaters don't have that many different theatres to play with. The Gillian Lynn is a possibility. I assume Matilda will continue to be running successfully at the Cambridge Theatre. Drury Lane is a spoken for throughout 2025. With Disney's Hercules set to open there next summer. You would assume that would stick around for a little while. But also not a friendly space to open a brand new show in because it's huge, it's vast and the audience you would need to get in in order to sustain a run in that space would be intimidatingly large. Which brings us on to another topic tackled in this interview. Lloyd Webber was asked his thoughts about the finances of theatre and ticket prices. He calls it a minefield. He says the answer to people who say theatre prices are high is that we are very labor intensive. Also you see the new generation chucking their money at Taylor Swift and they don't seem over worried about that. I think a difference being a lot of the people who are very vocal about ticket prices are the people who go quite often. And so it's more of a regular purchase of people going to a Taylor Swift concert. And like that's not. That's not something that happens routinely. That is more a once in a year, maybe Even a once in a lifetime thing. Is there a temptation, though, our writer asks to use dynamic pricing for hot tickets like Tom Holland's Romeo and Juliet. Lloyd Webb replies, I don't think theatres should be in the business of trying to push prices up. You need to break even. But I don't like making theater inaccessible. I hate it. Dynamic pricing is racketeering, really. It's completely wrong. And in terms of those moments where we are seeing prices fluctuating and inflating suddenly and wildly based on demand, I can't help but agree. I disagree, however, with the next paragraph where Jonathan Dean writes, does Lloyd Webber have a place, though, in the new West End where jukebox recycling the old hits of everyone from Tina Turner to Michael Jackson via ABBA seemed to have a stranglehold? Original work is what made Lloyd Webber. Will those days ever come back? And I don't think in 2024 we're seeing more jukebox musicals compared with the number that we've seen over the past two decades. I think from the year 2000 onwards we have seen the dawn, the rise and the height of the jukebox musical. Jersey Boys closed not too long ago. In the West End, we've had the Drifters Girl through, we've had Ain't Too Proud. There is a place for jukebox musicals alongside new work, alongside revivals, alongside original scores, and I don't think they have attained much more supremacy in the West End lately than they've enjoyed for the last decade. And I don't agree with Andrew either when he says the biggest show on Broadway right now is Hell's Kitchen. Do we think Hell's Kitchen is the biggest show on Broadway? I don't even think it's the biggest new show on Broadway. I think that's the Outsiders. You can still get a rush ticket for Hell's Kitchen if you rock up after 9am any day of the week. That's not an indication of the biggest show in town. There's an enormous audience for Hell's Kitchen. It's doing very well. I don't deny that. I don't think it's the biggest show in town. He does, however, accurately point out, you're going to be bringing in new people if they know the music. Now he's thinking like a producer again. But it's much harder to do a new musical today, he continues, something clearly on his mind. I wonder if one would have been able to get Jesus Christ Superstar heard in the TikTok and Spotify age. And it's the word heard there that is so pertinent. He's talking about getting the music heard because this was a key factor in the success of Jesus Christ Superstar, of Evita, of some of his earliest work is they were played on the radio, they had concept albums, and they made it into mainstream consciousness. My parents are aware of the music from Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar and, you know, I don't believe that they grew up listening to musical theater, at least not deliberately. They heard it on the radio. That's not something that we get today. There is this strong separation from musical theater music and mainstream regular music. Even when musical theater stars with these brilliant, trained vocalists go on TV talent shows, they're often told that their vocals are too musical theater sounding. There is this needless segregation and it's harming new musicals and new musical theatre composers. And where he feels that the TikTok and Spotify Age is a challenge, sure enough, the time period we're in is more challenging. But TikTok and Spotify, I think, are actually very valuable tools to new musical theatre composers. Look at a score like Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York and having snippets of that going semi viral on TikTok. Why am I so single? The reason a lot of people have heard the musical from that show and six as well, is because of Spotify and TikTok and social media streaming. Now, this I'm also very curious about. He says the last musical that really excited him was the band's visit in 2017 because he was hearing different rhythms. He says, every musical I've written had 7, 8 time. But now every show is in 4, 4, which, if you don't know, is a 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. That refers to the time signature that the music is written in. Stephen Sondheim wrote an entire musical in three, four waltzes when he wrote a little night music. One, two, three, one, two, three. One, two, three, one, two, three. And Lloyd Webber famously enjoys a complex time signature like a 7, 8, which I only know how to count by going, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2', 3, 1, 2, 3,1, 2, 1, 2. Funnily enough, the way that I count 5, 4 is by going, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Now he's asked if he could envision a Lloyd Webber jukebox musical, and he says, oh, hopefully not. However, I want to know if he is aware of the Andrew Lloyd Webber parody bio musical One Man Musical by Flo and Joan that was seen this summer at the Edinburgh Fringe. It's going to be playing a few very short stints off West End in London this coming autumn and winter. I am so desperate to know if he is aware of this or if anyone in his team are aware of this. It's quite good natured, but also, you know, fairly incisive at the same time. And they don't use his name in the title, but they do use his name and many details about his life throughout the show. They don't use his music, but they emulate his style very cleverly. If that sounds like something you would enjoy, I loved it at the Edinburgh Fringe. Go and check it out. I think it's at the Soho Theatre in October and November. Finally, those of you who have been watching my videos since the Cinderella days, he talks a little bit about that. There's an acknowledgement that this is his first new musical since Cinderella and its short pandemic run. He admits that he was struggling to know what was best to do with the show because the government was completely inconsistent and, you know, that was an extraordinary challenge. There are other shows that simply waited a little longer. There are other shows that opened around a similar time and managed to forge a path to success, but there were many other Covid casualties. It was not just Cinderella. It was a very trying time for theatre universally. He still asks himself if Cinderella could have been saved. Perhaps, he says, he should have kept it open over Christmas in this says 2012, but it's meant to say 2021 and the new Year when Covid struck the cast and crew. We lost so much money in that time, he admits. But that was the moment when I realised I care about what's on stage. He means the thing and not the media outlet. And giving an audience the proper deal. I thought, God, I need a new person beside me. I can't do everything. And now that he has that, perhaps finally we can dare to dream that we are about to experience an Andrew Lloyd Webber scored musical renaissance. Is he going to give us one of his most exciting shows since the 1980s? Since Phantom and Evita and Joseph and Jesus Christ Superstar and Cats? Is this going to represent a return to form from him? I am so intrigued to find out. I am going to be sniffing around this new musical product as closely as I can. If anyone has any speculation you would like to share in the comments section down below, I am all ears. In terms of, like, way too early predictions as to how this might fare, I've said what I said about the idea of it opening Cold in the West End. I don't know what casting will necessarily look like. A lot of his most recent shows have been built around the talents of well known actresses. Whether that's Carrie Hope Fletcher, whether that's the Sons of Boulevard revival with Nicole Scherzinger, whether that was Sheridan Smith and the Joseph revival. It wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to do a new TV talent show for a new musical. That's not something we've really seen before. We've only seen it for revival productions and ongoing productions. To cast someone very publicly and kind of build up a lot of buzz about it that way. You know, I would love to see those shows back on tv and it helped get a lot of mainstream people excited about the theater. And it's obviously way too early to talk about the content of this show, but I'm already a little bit charmed by the idea of an Andrew Lloyd Webber score of a 1900 Vienna set show. I think there are some romantic possibilities there. And the concept of him working with Chris Terrio. Fascinating, Absolutely fascinating. Anyway, I think that is all I have to say for now in this new video. Stay tuned for any and all updates we get about this. I'm going to be following the story very carefully. Make sure you are subscribed with the notifications turned on so you don't miss any upcoming videos. I also have many other new recommendation videos letting you know the best shows to see this coming season in New York and in London. I have some other vlog and challenge content coming very soon as well as many more theatre reviews. Make sure you're subscribed. I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day for ten more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a Stagey Day. Subscribe.
Podcast Summary: "What's the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical? | News and rumours about his upcoming theatre projects"
Podcast: MickeyJoTheatre
Host: MickeyJoTheatre
Release Date: October 1, 2024
Mickey Jo kicks off the episode with exuberance, announcing Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest venture into musical theatre.
Mickey Jo [00:00]: "Light the beacons, sound the trumpets... Andrew Lloyd Webber is writing a new musical. Oh my God."
He sets the stage for an in-depth exploration of Webber’s upcoming projects, positioning himself as a leading voice in theatre criticism.
Mickey Jo provides context on Webber's recent work, particularly focusing on the challenges faced by Cinderella during the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent relocation and renaming to Bad Cinderella on Broadway.
Mickey Jo [00:45]: "Cinderella... had an even more short-lived run than it had in the West End."
He highlights Webber's strategic shift towards focusing on composing rather than the producing side of theatre, thanks to his collaboration with producer Michael Harrison.
Mickey Jo [02:30]: "This allows Andrew to do what he does best, which is to be the creative, to be the composer without having to worry about all of the producing side of things."
The host delves into details from an interview Andrew Lloyd Webber had with The Times, revealing snippets about his forthcoming musical.
Mickey Jo [04:15]: "He told us the littlest bit about his next show... we're going to speculate wildly and see if we can go some of the way towards answering the question, why?"
Webber expresses optimism about stepping back from the business side to reignite his creative spark, fostering a "composer renaissance."
The podcast examines potential inspirations for the new musical, based on minimal information from the interview. Webber is co-creating with Chris Terrio, known for Argo and Justice League, and the setting is Vienna in 1900.
Mickey Jo [15:20]: "He is scoring a new based on a film that he hopes to open in 2026, which presumably means it's being workshopped very soon."
Mickey Jo analyzes possible film inspirations, ultimately suggesting Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) as a strong contender.
Mickey Jo [20:45]: "A man named Stefan Brand returns home... it seems like a compelling basis for a Lloyd Webber adaptation."
Webber is rumored to be developing an immersive version of The Phantom of the Opera off-Broadway, blending traditional musical elements with avant-garde staging.
Mickey Jo [12:50]: "I am so intrigued as to how this would begin to work... I'm willing to give it a shot because the Cats. Who thought that Cats was going to work."
This project signals Webber's willingness to innovate within his established frameworks.
Lloyd Webber shares his perspectives on the financial challenges facing theatre, particularly addressing high ticket prices and dynamic pricing models.
Mickey Jo [27:10]: "Dynamic pricing is racketeering, really. It's completely wrong."
He argues for accessibility, emphasizing that theatre should not be prohibitively expensive, despite the labor-intensive nature of productions.
The discussion shifts to the prevalence of jukebox musicals and their impact on the theatre landscape. Webber expresses concern over the dominance of recycled hits overshadowing original compositions.
Mickey Jo [32:40]: "There is a place for jukebox musicals alongside new work... but I don't think they have attained much more supremacy in the West End lately than they've enjoyed for the last decade."
Despite the rise of jukebox musicals, there's an ongoing debate about the need for original storytelling and composition in modern theatre.
Webber touches upon the influence of digital platforms on musical theatre, pondering whether today's composers can achieve the same mainstream success as his earlier works through radio and concept albums.
Mickey Jo [35:50]: "I don't disagree with Andrew... TikTok and Spotify are actually very valuable tools to new musical theatre composers."
The host counters Webber’s concerns by highlighting how platforms like TikTok can help musicals gain viral popularity, citing examples like Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York.
Mickey Jo reflects on Webber’s personal challenges, including the loss of his son and the impact it had on his career focus.
Mickey Jo [22:30]: "He was struggling to know what was best to do with the show because the government was completely inconsistent... Now that he has that, perhaps finally we can dare to dream that we are about to experience an Andrew Lloyd Webber scored musical renaissance."
This personal journey underscores Webber's renewed dedication to creativity over business, hinting at a promising future for his musical compositions.
The episode wraps up with Mickey Jo expressing excitement and cautious optimism about Andrew Lloyd Webber’s next projects, particularly the new musical set in Vienna.
Mickey Jo [40:10]: "Is he going to give us one of his most exciting shows since the 1980s?... I am so intrigued to find out."
He encourages listener engagement through comments and subscriptions, promising to keep the audience updated on developments.
Notable Quotes:
New Musical in Development: Andrew Lloyd Webber is collaborating with screenwriter Chris Terrio on a new musical set in Vienna in 1900, targeting a 2026 opening.
Shift in Focus: Webber is prioritizing his role as a composer over producing, thanks to his partnership with Michael Harrison.
Innovative Projects: Potential immersive productions, including an innovative take on The Phantom of the Opera, signal Webber’s commitment to evolving theatre experiences.
Financial Accessibility: Webber advocates against dynamic pricing, emphasizing the need for affordable theatre to maintain accessibility.
Originality in Theatre: Despite the popularity of jukebox musicals, there is a strong call for original works to reinvigorate the West End and Broadway.
Embracing Digital Platforms: Modern tools like TikTok and Spotify present new opportunities for musical theatre to reach wider audiences.
Personal Resilience: Webber’s personal losses and professional challenges have steered him back to his creative roots, potentially heralding a new era of his work.
Stay Connected:
For more updates on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s projects and the latest in West End and Broadway news, subscribe to MickeyJoTheatre’s YouTube channel and follow on other social media platforms.
This summary captures the essence and key discussions from the MickeyJoTheatre podcast episode, providing a comprehensive overview for listeners and theatre enthusiasts alike.