60 Fun Facts About Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in London in which year?

His father William was a composer and organist, his mother a violinist and pianist, and his younger brother Julian became a renowned cellist.

By 2025, how many musicals had Andrew Lloyd Webber composed, by the tally that also lists a Latin Requiem?

The New York Times called him "the most commercially successful composer in history" in 2001.

Lloyd Webber and Rice's first collaboration, The Likes of Us (1965), was based on which philanthropist's story?

The Oliver!-style show failed to find a backer and went unperformed until the 2005 Sydmonton Festival.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat began in 1968 as a cantata for which London school?

A family friend who taught music there commissioned it, with a 100-guinea advance from the publisher Novello.

Which Jesus Christ Superstar character sings the number built on Lloyd Webber and Rice's rejected 1969 Eurovision tune?

The original entry was called "Try It and See".

In what form did Lloyd Webber and Rice first release Jesus Christ Superstar in 1970?

It was an immediate success and led to the Broadway debut in October 1971.

Which Deep Purple frontman sang the role of Jesus on the original Jesus Christ Superstar album?

Murray Head was Judas and Yvonne Elliman sang Mary Magdalene, a role she repeated on stage in Pittsburgh and on Broadway.

Besides Hungary, which country banned Jesus Christ Superstar, calling it 'irreligious'?

The Broadway show was condemned by several religious groups on opening in 1971.

Who wrote the book and lyrics for Lloyd Webber's 1975 flop Jeeves after Rice backed out?

The pair reworked it two decades later as the far more successful By Jeeves (1996).

Who sang Eva Perón on the 1976 Evita recording, giving "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" its first hit outing?

On the London stage the role went to Elaine Paige in a production directed by Harold Prince.

What distinction did Evita earn on Broadway in 1979?

It won seven Tonys in all and helped launch two major Broadway careers.

Which song written for the 1996 Evita film won Lloyd Webber and Rice the Best Original Song Oscar?

It was later added to the 2006 London revival and many subsequent stage productions.

Lloyd Webber's 1978 Variations, written for his cellist brother, are based on whose caprice?

The main theme became the signature tune of ITV's The South Bank Show for its entire 32-year run.

Cats is based on a 1939 collection of light verse by which poet?

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats was written for the poet's godchildren, and the show sets his poems almost unaltered.

In Cats, the Jellicle tribe gathers to choose which of them will ascend to what?

It is the cats' version of heaven, from which the chosen cat returns to a new life.

Which actress withdrew from the original Cats a week before previews after snapping her Achilles tendon?

Casting her had been one of the director's conditions for taking the job; Elaine Paige took over Grizabella.

Who wrote the lyrics of "Memory", drawing on Eliot's poem "Rhapsody on a Windy Night"?

Lloyd Webber played the tune to his Puccini-expert father, who reportedly said it sounded "like a million dollars".

How many performances did Cats play during its 21-year run in London?

On Broadway it ran 18 years and 7,485 performances, a record later broken by The Phantom of the Opera.

In Starlight Express, the actors perform on what?

The story follows Rusty, an obsolete steam engine racing modern diesel and electric locomotives to impress the observation car Pearl.

Starlight Express has run since 1988 in a purpose-built theatre in which German city?

It holds the Guinness World Record for the most visitors to a musical in a single theatre.

Which tenor joined Sarah Brightman and a boy soprano at the 1985 premiere of Lloyd Webber's Requiem?

Its Pie Jesu became a certified silver hit in Britain, and the work won the 1986 Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

The Phantom of the Opera is inspired by a novel by which French author?

The disfigured genius haunts the labyrinth beneath the Paris Opera House and becomes obsessed with the soprano Christine Daaé.

Who played the Phantom in the original 1986 London production, winning both the Olivier and the Tony?

Lloyd Webber wrote Christine for his then wife Sarah Brightman, who played her in London and on Broadway.

Who wrote the lyrics for The Phantom of the Opera, with additional material by Richard Stilgoe?

Harold Prince, who had also staged Evita, directed the production at Her Majesty's Theatre.

In which year did The Phantom of the Opera overtake Cats as the longest-running show in Broadway history?

It went on to play its 10,000th Broadway performance in February 2012, the first production ever to do so.

How many performances had Phantom of the Opera played when Broadway closed it in April 2023?

That total remains the most in Broadway history.

Which lot number is the famous chandelier in the auction prologue of The Phantom of the Opera?

The auctioneer describes it as connected to "the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera, a mystery never fully explained".

Which Pink Floyd member accused Lloyd Webber of lifting the Phantom's riff from "Echoes"?

He called it "probably actionable" but never went to court; the Puccini estate did sue over "The Music of the Night" and settled.

"Love Changes Everything", from Aspects of Love (1989), became the signature song of which performer?

It spent 14 weeks in the UK singles chart, peaking at number 2.

For which event did Lloyd Webber write 'Amigos Para Siempre', sung by Brightman and Carreras?

Don Black provided the lyrics for the song, whose title means "friends for life".

Sunset Boulevard is based on a 1950 film by which director?

The plot follows Norma Desmond, a faded silent-screen star in her decaying Los Angeles mansion.

Which star sued Lloyd Webber when the Broadway Sunset Boulevard role went to Glenn Close?

Faye Dunaway was later hired for Los Angeles and also dismissed, but that is another lawsuit.

How much had Sunset Boulevard failed to recoup when it closed on Broadway in 1997?

The 2024 Broadway revival fared better with critics, winning three Tonys including Best Revival.

Whistle Down the Wind (1998), with lyrics by Jim Steinman, produced a UK number one for which boy band?

"No Matter What" topped the chart for three weeks.

In 2002 Lloyd Webber turned producer for Bombay Dreams, a musical with music by which Indian composer?

It ran two years at the Apollo Victoria in London but managed only 284 performances on Broadway.

The Woman in White (2004), with lyrics by David Zippel, is based on an 1860 novel by which author?

It also borrows from Dickens's short story "The Signal-Man".

Which BBC talent show found Connie Fisher for Lloyd Webber's Sound of Music revival?

The same format later found a Joseph (Lee Mead), a Nancy (Jodie Prenger) and a Dorothy (Danielle Hope).

In 2007, what did Lloyd Webber's cat Otto famously do?

The lost work was The Phantom of Manhattan; the sequel eventually opened in 2010 as Love Never Dies.

Love Never Dies, the Phantom sequel, is set in 1907 at Phantasma, a new attraction where?

It was loosely adapted from Frederick Forsyth's 1999 novel The Phantom of Manhattan.

Where did Lloyd Webber's 2009 UK Eurovision entry, sung by Jade Ewen, finish?

He accompanied her on piano during the performance in Moscow; the song was co-written with Diane Warren.

Who wrote the book for Lloyd Webber's 2015 musical School of Rock?

Children aged nine to fifteen were auditioned in cooperation with the real School of Rock music programme.

In 2017 Lloyd Webber became the first since 1953 to have how many musicals running on Broadway at once?

His heroes Rodgers and Hammerstein had last managed the feat.

When Lloyd Webber completed his EGOT in 2018, he became which numbered person to win all four?

Tim Rice and John Legend joined the club the same night.

Lloyd Webber wrote the song "Beautiful Ghosts" for the 2019 Cats film with which pop star?

He later called the film "ridiculous" and said watching it made him get a dog.

Lloyd Webber's 2021 Cinderella has a book by which writer-director?

He said he was "prepared to be arrested" to open it to full houses during the pandemic.

Which London football club has Lloyd Webber supported all his life?

His brother Julian supports them too, and the composer breeds racehorses at his Watership Down Stud.

Lloyd Webber's mother, Jean Johnstone, was a professional musician playing which instruments?

His father William was a composer and organist, and his younger brother Julian became a world-famous cellist.

Which musical about a Mongol conqueror was the teenage Lloyd Webber working on in 1963?

He had started piano and violin at three, composed by six, and staged shows in a toy theatre built at his aunt Viola's suggestion.

Which Rolling Stones song did Lloyd Webber call 'the best record of the Sixties'?

He credited Dusty Springfield's 'Son of a Preacher Man' with teaching him 'the power of a perfect pop song'.

Lloyd Webber abandoned a history degree at which Oxford college to enrol at the Royal College of Music?

He had been a Queen's Scholar at Westminster School from 1960 to 1965 and lasted just one term at Oxford.

Which soldier ancestor, a major general at Waterloo, did Lloyd Webber discover on Who Do You Think You Are?

Maitland was his mother's great-great-uncle.

Lloyd Webber's anthem 'Make a Joyful Noise' was written for which 2023 event?

He was one of twelve composers commissioned, and the piece was performed during the enthronement of Queen Camilla.

Lloyd Webber's musical announced in 2024 adapts which 2006 film?

Bruno Major writes the lyrics, Chris Terrio the book, and Jamie Lloyd directs after his acclaimed Sunset Boulevard revivals.

In 2025 Lloyd Webber reunited with Tim Rice for songs in a Christmas whodunit about which detective?

Sherlock Holmes and The 12 Days of Christmas, by the Penny Dreadfuls' Humphrey Ker and David Reed, premiered at the Birmingham Rep.

Lloyd Webber and his wife Madeleine founded a stud farm in 1992 named after which local landmark?

They later bought Kiltinan Castle Stud in Tipperary and rode in the King's procession at Royal Ascot in 2023.

In 2019 the Sunday Times Rich List named Lloyd Webber the UK's richest musician, overtaking whom?

His fortune was put at £820 million; he lives at Sydmonton Court in Hampshire and owns much of nearby Watership Down.

Which Picasso from Lloyd Webber's collection sold for £34.7 million in 2010 after a Nazi-era claim?

An earlier 2006 sale was pulled after a claim the previous owner was forced to sell under duress in Nazi Germany.

Lloyd Webber's collection of which school of painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 2003?

He also bought Eugene von Guerard's View of Geelong for A$1.98 million in 1996 and sold it to the Geelong Gallery a decade later.

In which year did Lloyd Webber retire from the House of Lords, citing his busy schedule?

He had voted only 33 times by the end of 2015 and drew fire for flying in on his private plane for a 2015 tax-credits vote.

Which chivalric honour was Lloyd Webber given on St George's Day 2024?

He had been knighted in 1992 and made a life peer in 1997; his title is hyphenated even though his surname is not.