Andrew Lloyd Webber

Musical theatre is a very difficult profession in which to make a living. Most composers of musicals only create one good musical and are unable to create any more. Not Andrew Lloyd Webber! He is not like any of those composers. Andrew Lloyd Webber is a successful composer due to his variety of appeal to diverse audiences. Andrew Lloyd Webber is an English composer who used rock-based compositions to revitalize British and American musical theatre in the late 20th century. Lloyd Webber has had many great hits during his career. He has won numerous awards for his works. Due to his talent, Andrew Lloyd Webber has been asked by many professional soloists and groups to compose music for them. These qualities of Andrew Lloyd Webber prove that he is a truly successful composer. Andrew Lloyd Webber has composed a lot of fantastic musicals. Critics have even appreciated Andrew Lloyd Webber, which isn’t a very common thing to happen. David Lister remarks that Lloyd Webber received this compliment due to his composition, The Beautiful Game. It is not the only show Lloyd Webber has that has been popular. Andrew Lloyd Webber composed Cats, A Chorus Line, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and The Phantom of the Opera. Cats has by far been his most loved musical because of its long running of high audience attendance. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Cats is the longest running musical in American Theatre history on Broadway. Andrew Lloyd Webber surpassed his own A Chorus Line with Cats, which put on more than 6,000 shows on Broadway. Cats is also the only show to break 7,000 shows on London’s West End with 7,301. Andrew Lloyd Webber has also shown that he is a successful composer by the abundance of trophies in his trophy room. His latest work, The Beautiful Game, received the title “Best Musical” by the Critics’ Circle claims Lister. “It was great to get that,” says Lloyd Webber, “there were about 30 shows that opened around the same time that The Beautiful Game opened”. In 1997, Lloyd Webber won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for “Best Original Song”, “You Must Love Me”, from Evita. He has also won a total of six Grammy’s, five Laurence Oliver awards, four Tony’s, four Drama Desk Awards, and since he is only the second composer ever to have three different shows running in two countries, he received the American Society of Composers, Authors, & Publishers’ Triple Play Award for Creative Achievement by Bnoi B’rith in New York. These numerous awards are one reason why Andrew Lloyd Webber is a great composer. Lloyd Webber has been asked by countless famous professional artists and groups as well as organizations to compose songs for them. Menet's Jellicle Haven states that over 150 artists have performed Lloyd Webber’s song, “Memory”, from Cats. Menet goes on to say that a few of those entertainers that performed “Memory” include Barbara Streisand, Johnny Mathis, and Judy Collins, to The Boston Pops and Liberace. Barry Manilow actually placed the song in the top 40 in the United States. A techno/dance version topped the European charts when Natalie Grant, a European singer, sang it last year. Evita was another big success of Lloyd Webber in which had many big names stared in. Madonna portrayed Evita Peron, and Antonio Banderas was cast as Che, the narrator. Antonio Banderas also performed as the Phantom during the Phantom of the Opera portion at Lloyd Webber’s 50th birthday gala at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Not only has Andrew Lloyd Webber composed music personally for artists and groups, but he also composed music for the 1998 Winter Olympics held in Japan. Lloyd Webber’s song, “When Children Rule the World”, was sung by Japanese Singer Ryoko Moriyama and 150 Nagano children during the opening ceremonies in front of 50,000 people including Emperor Akihito. With all of these professional artists asking Andrew Lloyd Webber to compose music for them or them performing his music shows that Lloyd Webber must be a good composer who’s music loved by many people. Each one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals