Andrew Lloyd Webber has never had a successful revival of one of his shows.

[TazTarney]

Posted: 10/3/14 at 8:22pm

Does anyone find that interesting? I guess you MIGHT call The first JCS revival good but that's a tough call. His Love never dies was crap, The Evita revival was complete crap ( except the set) and we all know about the recent JCS revival.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/3/14 at 9:20pm

I think you'll have to define successful. I thought the Joseph...Dreamcoat revival had a healthy run.

[Feste]

Posted: 10/3/14 at 9:25pm

Joseph with Laurie Beechman was a revival. But I think most of his successful shows have had very long runs with high tech demands...

[chernjam]

Posted: 10/3/14 at 10:23pm

Joseph with Michael Damian in 1994 was successful

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/3/14 at 10:25pm

How have Steve's revivals done?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/3/14 at 10:25pm

Define revival. As much I am not a fan, the production of Whistle Down the Wind in London was really great--and that was after the flop production under Hal Prince.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/3/14 at 10:27pm

For that matter, define show.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 12:13am

I guess you MIGHT call The first JCS revival good but that's a tough call.

I'm assuming you mean the 2000 revival.

It's important you make the distinction, because a 1977 one came before it.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 12:18am

I'm confused. Define what you mean by "define".

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 12:21am

He hasn't really had that many revivals in the first place. I count three for Superstar ('77, '00, and '11), the '93 revival of Joseph and the 2012 revival of Evita. The Joseph revival ran over 200 performances and the Evita revival ran over 300 so I would hardly call them total disasters, but no, none have ever been financially successful. The thing about Lloyd Webber's shows is that they really lend themselves to a single style of production, and when you try to do a new take on his shows they just really don't work.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 12:21am

True. How have those Sondheims done? Granted I don't think most are commercial revivals these days. But "A Little Night Music" was successful.

As for ALW, how's the new Phantom tour doing?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 12:21am

True. How have those Sondheims done? Granted I don't think most are commercial revivals these days. But "A Little Night Music" was successful.

As for ALW, how's the new Phantom tour doing?

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 1:38am

Well nonprofits love to revive Sondheim's musicals, but in terms of professional revivals I believe that the 1996 revival of Forum, the 2005 revival of Sweeney Todd and the 2009 revival of A Little Night Music are the only ones that have recouped, not counting the shows that he only provided lyrics for.

Updated On: 10/4/14 at 01:38 AM

[TomSloan]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 7:28am

The Joseph production with Laurie Beechman was not a revival. It was the first time it was ever produced on Broadway. There was a 1975 production done at BAM with Cleavon Little and David Carroll, but it did not transfer.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 8:33am

"I guess you MIGHT call The first JCS revival good"

Well, then if you're referring to the '00 revival, I'm sorry to say that I DON'T call that one a good revival. The '12 revival I enjoyed in spite of a few flaws because that one managed to tell the story without an excess of gimmicks. You don't have to have machine guns and actors wearing jeans and tank tops and neon signs and paparazzi on the road to Golgotha to emphasize the relevance of the story!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 8:48am

What does it matter?

[Hest882]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 10:29am

Well, I"m not sure if it matters that he's never had a successful revival if original runs go on and on and on and on and on...

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 11:18am

I loved the Evita revival. I saw the tour twice.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 12:16pm

You don't have to have machine guns and actors wearing jeans and tank tops and neon signs and paparazzi on the road to Golgotha to emphasize the relevance of the story!

Of course not. Just borrow the set from Jersey Boys and add projections and ticker-tape. *eyeroll*

Updated On: 10/4/14 at 12:16 PM

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 2:07pm

"Of course not. Just borrow the set from Jersey Boys and add projections and ticker-tape. *eyeroll*"

It was still better than that Gale Edwards piece of **** so suck it!

[evic]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 3:07pm

I agree Taz- Evita revival was so wrong in so many ways. Did the director read the lyrics? ALW has had it. He had his time in the 80's. Most of his shows were bad- masked by big sets and big orchestrations. Uh oh....The ****fest Cats may be coming back......

[Theater'sBestFriend]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 5:00pm

That may be your opinion. But the revival of Evita won Oliviers in London, grossed well over $1 million/week on Broadway, and launched a very successful U.S. tour that is still ongoing and garnering great reviews nationally.

Since RUG, Weber and Rice are quite involved in revivals of their work, I would think it's a safe bet that the director Michael Grandage -- formerly the longtime artistic director of Donmar Warehouse in London and director also of gems like Frost/Nixon and Red -- did indeed read the script.

Admittedly, it's a challenge to revive a work that's associated with Hal Prince's iconic directorial concept and LuPone's iconic belting. But that doesn't make it "wrong" to revive it differently. When it was first done, the Cold War was still going on, and the U.S. hadn't yet itself elected a movie star as head of state. I believe it had to be done in a new way, and I liked the different directing choices, which to me made great sense.

That's just my opinion. But I suspect it's why the revival performed as it has. Those are facts.

[TazTarney]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 5:13pm

Thats nice for London but over in AMERICA the evita revival flopped hard. you had a lead u couldn't understand who was screeching all over the place and u had Ricky martin who was pretty much a doormat for the whole show.

The only good thing about that show was the sets, dancing and Rachel potter. everything else was crap.

Here is the thing bout evita: YOU CANT FREAKING DO IT IF U DONT HAVE A FIERCE (sort of) TRIPLE THREAT beltress. The score goes flat when not sung properly ( Take notes, Madonna) and elena couldn't sing it the way Americans wanted it to be heard. she didn't have to be lupone, but her voice should have been much stronger. she also looked too old for the part. Her acting was great but she just wasn't up to the task with the singing. I respect her though. she made it her own, it just wasn't good enough.

[evic]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 5:51pm

Best Friend... nice that it and Elena won awards....but there was not one brilliant staging moment in the revival. The opening was 10 minutes of boredom that was basically taken from the film. Rainbow High, which should be a showstopper, was absurd- she spent the whole number buttoning her clothes. Eva and Everyman touched during the waltz????? (also stolen from the film) Art Of The Possible as a wrestling match????? The last scene of her appearing as a ghost? The reason it grossed so well on Broadway was because of Ricky Martin. Most of the ticket buyers were latino tourists and locals who wanted to see him live. While he has a great voice, he played Everyman like he was in the Mickey Mouse Club-so happy about everything. I am an admirer of Elena-but the role was not suited to her voice. She dances well. But she looked like a dwarf on stage and I never believed that millions of descamisados would love her as a dynamic leader of Argentina- she had very little stage presence or glamour. Her Piaf was brilliant as was her Fosca. She was in a dubious position of following the hurricane that was Patti. And Evita was portrayed as a good woman. In her biographies she acted like an evil witch who stole money from the rich and the Perons were Nazi sympathizers. Cerveris was great as usual. Sets and lights were stunning. The most authentic scene for me was Junin. Glad it is doing well on tour- but I thought it stunk. Who knew that Eva was such a great tango dancer and wore her hair in a flip? Her wigs did her no justice.

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/4/14 at 5:57pm

BestFriend, the Evita revival in London in 2006 ran for less than a year and I do not believe that it recouped.