1986 Documentary about Andrew Lloyd Webber

[Elibal]

Posted: 3/9/16 at 3:14pm

This was uploaded few months ago and I stumbled upon it by chance. In it ALW adresses several topics like plagiarism and I think it is quite interesting because it contains old footage so I'm posting it here just in case someone's interested. I just wish I could understand what they say when they start playing the piano.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQs3xyHnwdo

Updated On: 3/9/16 at 03:14 PM

[Gingersnap2]

Posted: 3/9/16 at 4:25pm

I remember this airing on the local PBS station not long after Phantom opened on Broadway.  I don't think I watched the entire thing at the time as I taped it and the quality of the tape turned out awful.

I didn't realize it was on-line, but I look forward to checking it out later.

[temms]

Posted: 3/9/16 at 5:48pm

I taped this off A&E way back in the day and pretty much wore the tape out. Some great stuff - great "Evita" footage (most of 'Peron's Latest Flame' with the original staging) as well as some footage of "Cricket" and "Song And Dance" that I haven't seen anywhere else. But it's very fun and worth watching. Great interviews with Frank Rich, and my favorite moment has to be Tim Rice singing "Kansas Morning", an early draft lyric of "I Don't Know How To Love Him". Friends and I used to sing it on each others' answering machines because that's how cool we were in the '90s. 

[jo]

Posted: 3/9/16 at 8:16pm

I have always enjoyed the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber over the years  and I have been lucky to have seen most of the theatrical stagings ( original productions and revivals) except for the last few ones.  So, thank you very much for drawing attention to this very informative documentary.

 

It ends with Phantom of the Opera...but he did mention that he was working on one project called Aspects of Love at that time. I wish there were a sequel to this documentary covering the other works he wrote and what he thinks of the state of musical theatre now.

 

Interesting that when the recent thread on ALW's best cast recordings was brought up here, I did cite 5 of his works ( Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love, and Sunset Boulevard), the first two being mentioned by Frank Rich as very interesting in this documentary, although he also makes reference to Phantom of the Opera.  Except for Aspects of Love, the other four represented what he does best -- to compose music for DRAMATIC MUSICALS!  Aspects was fascinating because of the very lyrical and hauntingly romantic score ( although the book did not cater to most). In the documentary, he mentions writing music when he was nine years old and staging his musical compositions in a toy theatre. Later on, in an interview for the accompanying book on the making of the musical, he mentions that one of those ended up ( enhanced, of course) as the song " Chanson d'Enfance" in ASPECTS.

 

I did not see the original staging of EVITA, but I had seen Elaine Paige in a concert in England, so I did get to hear her renditions of "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" and "Memory".  I have seen Michael Ball in Aspects of Love in both London and Broadway and have also seen him in concert singing songs from many ALW musicals. In fact, he did release the title song from Sunset Boulevard ahead of the OLC, at the behest of Lloyd-Webber. He has also sung ALW songs identified with female leads ( Memory, With One Look, As If We Never Said Goodbye, Tell Me on a Sunday)...and of course the song that defined his music career, Love Changes Everything from Aspects of Love.  A great song from Whistle Down the Wind was also sung by Michael called Unsettled Scores in the concept album. And two of Webber's best duets ( All I Ask of You and Seeing is Believing) have also been identified with him.

 

Good memories - thanks again!

 

 

Updated On: 3/9/16 at 08:16 PM

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 3/9/16 at 8:57pm

The actress who is briefly seen playing Eva Peron in the "Latest Flame" clip is the fabulous Kathryn Evans. She played Norma (brilliantly) in the West End revival of Sunset.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/10/16 at 12:04am

I loved this! There's so much great footage here. I wish there were more of these from later years that included Aspects of Love of some of the later shows.

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 3/10/16 at 12:45am

Re: the "Song & Dance" footage: The Wayne Sleep and Sarah Brightman clips come from the commercial VHS release of "Song & Dance," and the Marti Webb clip in-between them comes from the original "Tell Me On A Sunday" TV special. Both of these are on YouTube.

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 3/12/16 at 12:22pm

https://youtu.be/c_hRC5auJLA

I love ALWs music too, but he comes to close to other people's work.

Doesn't this sound like Love Never Does?