{"id":162672,"date":"2018-05-05T02:40:30","date_gmt":"2018-05-05T06:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=162672"},"modified":"2018-05-05T02:40:30","modified_gmt":"2018-05-05T06:40:30","slug":"andrew-lloyd-webber-weighs-in-on-tony-awards-favourite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/05\/andrew-lloyd-webber-weighs-in-on-tony-awards-favourite\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Lloyd Webber weighs in on Tony Awards favourite"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Andrew<\/a>
Andrew Lloyd Webber has written some of the most successful stage musicals of all time. (Photo<\/a>: Andrew Lloyd Webber\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Andrew Lloyd Webber has written some of the most successful stage musicals of all time. So, when he weighs in on the year’s Tony contenders, announced earlier this week, it’s time to listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m very interested that ‘The Band’s Visit’ has been celebrated,\u201d commented the composer of the best-musical winners \u201cCats,\u201d \u201cThe Phantom of the Opera\u201d and \u201cSunset Boulevard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Band’s Visit,\u201d from composer David Yazbek, is based on an Israeli film about an Egyptian police band lost in a small Israeli town. The musical this week was among year’s top Tony nominees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found it very exciting,\u201d Lloyd Webber said Thursday. \u201cI loved the score. I hope that does well.\u201d The six-time Tony winner said he’s seen all the shows on Broadway: \u201cIt’s an intriguing season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyd Webber himself is part of the latest Tonys mix. He and actress Chita Rivera each will receive 2018 awards for Lifetime Achievement.<\/p>\n

Lloyd Webber was at the Hollywood Pantages theatre this week to promote the Los Angeles premiere of his Broadway and London hit \u201cSchool of Rock \u2014 The Musical,\u201d based on the 2003 movie that starred Jack Black as a down-and-out musician who stumbles into a gig as a prep-school teacher.<\/p>\n

Lloyd Webber said he originally only planned to produce the project, but found the show’s pop-rock sensibility so appealing that he ended up as the show’s composer.<\/p>\n

The contemporary style is different from the classic Broadway bombast of Lloyd Webber’s \u201cEvita,\u201d \u201cPhantom\u201d and \u201cBoulevard.\u201d But, Lloyd Webber reminded, his Broadway debut was the rock-opera smash \u201cJesus Christ Superstar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s that so many of my musicals have hung around for such a long time, that people maybe forget,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I enjoy writing in many different ways and styles.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for his next show, Lloyd Webber seemed eager to discuss it \u2014 but just can’t. He said its fate is currently in the hands of higher powers \u2014 in this case, rights holders.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’ve got to remember musicals are incredibly collaborative,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut I’m only one cog in the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s the same story with one of his passion projects: a film version of his musical adaptation of the 1950 film-noir classic \u201cSunset Boulevard.\u201d Paramount first announced it was in the works \u2014\u2014 way back in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation with ‘Boulevard’ is that I don’t control it,\u201d Lloyd Webber said. \u201cGlenn Close desperately wants to make it, as I do. But we haven’t had a green-light from the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyd Webber, who turned 70 in March, has written a recently published autobiography that ends with \u201cPhantom\u201d and covers the first part of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t intend to do the second,\u201d the composer said. \u201cAs much as I enjoyed writing it, I must get on and work.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Andrew Lloyd Webber has written some of the most successful stage musicals of all time. So, when …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":162673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[17178,50612],"class_list":["post-162672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-andrew-lloyd-webber","tag-tony-awards-favourite","mauthors-mike-cidoni-lennox","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}