Andrew Lloyd Webber on Musicals and Political Correctness

[Voter]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 2:39pm

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has said political correctness is stopping him from composing another musical.

https://talk.tv/news/20554/the-real-reason-andrew-lloyd-webber-cant-write-another-musical

Andrew Lloyd Webber has said political correctness is stopping him from composing another musical, after he was told he could not compose music about someone from another country.

Speaking to podcast host Chris Difford, the composer said: "If I were to be doing Evita today a lot of people would say 'He's not qualified to do this because he's not Argentine. This is staggering.

“There was a subject I really wanted to do but everybody was saying to me: You can’t, because you’re not from that country.

“That means most shows and operas would not be allowed today because the composer is a different nationality to the subject."

He said it was suggested he compose the music for a 'safe' subject like Pride and Prejudice.

"I said: Why would I want to make a musical out of Pride and Prejudice? I don’t know whether one has to just plough on regardless.

“I’m sure I will find something. I have masses of music bursting out at the moment but they’re like homeless waifs and strays," he continued.

“Right now I’m looking for a story and I’ve been looking for a story for the last 18 months and I can’t find a story that I think is right.

"It might just be that I could go out this afternoon and suddenly think, ‘Wow, there’s the story.’ Without the story I’m nowhere because I’m a musical dramatist at the end of the day and the story is the most important thing."

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 2:49pm

“There was a subject I really wanted to do but everybody was saying to me: You can’t, because you’re not from that country.
 

Unless it's, like, a musical about the love of slavery.....I think he would be fine. Andrew has always been a major hit or major miss for me. I think he will be writing until his final days so perhaps he has another great show in him. Perhaps. 

Updated On: 6/15/23 at 02:49 PM

[Impeach2017]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 2:52pm

He loves to revel in claims of being a victim.  Tiresome, like most of his music.  

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 2:58pm

Yes, the objectively most successful musical theatre composer ever, tell me more about how hard you have it.

[sherie_worshipper]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 4:16pm

He’s right, though.

The current climate is unsustainable in the long run. The greatest works of art wouldn’t exist if the artists had only been allowed to write from their own experience. There’s only so much you can create using only your background (or do we really want a world where every single musical is “A Strange Loop”?). And yes, even minorities deserve to write about different subjects. I’m a Latino artist living in the US and I’m tired of being asked to offer input “from a Latino perspective.” I may be Latino, but my imagination is bigger than that. When did we become so focused on reality? I blame reality TV and social media. Unfortunately, new generations have a profound misunderstanding of the world that came before them and are oblivious to the fact that their views will be rejected in the future too. In the meantime, we’re stuck in this era of political correctness, false morality, censorship of imagination and lack of nuance.

By the way, I’m from Argentina and I love Evita.

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 4:27pm

Alex Kulak2 said: "Yes, the objectively most successful musical theatre composer ever, tell me more about how hard you have it."

Yes, tell us more about how successful people don't have the right to feel unhappy or acknowledge that they have problems and complaints about the world, too.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 4:41pm

Impeach2017 said: "He loves to revel in claims of being a victim. Tiresome, like most of his music."

Yes, almost as tiresome as the complaints from the "haters" about how he is not/never was/never will be a good composer.

 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 4:51pm

I'm intrigued that he apparently stopped writing something because others told he he couldn't write about that country.  He's never struck me as dealing well with others' feedback or restraints. 

And just because someone is told they can't do something doesn't necessarily mean they can't if hey are willing to deal with potential pushback.  But there may be more to that story that led to his choice.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 6:31pm

I believe this as much as I believe that story of the conservative news reporter being kicked out of a restaurant for saying grace. 

The man can literally write whatever he wants and produce it (see: Cinderella, Bad). Yes...we are in a moment where marginalized playwrights should be given the resources to tell the stories they would like to tell on the same level as Lord Lloyd Webber. And yeah...he might not be the right person to musicalize 12 Years a Slave, but no one is going to stop him. He has the power and resources to do whatever he wants. He has the power and resources to not hear the word 'no.' So, perhaps when someone makes the suggestion that the subject matter he's interested in might not be the best fit for him, he hears it as the PC police telling him he can't do something. He absolutely can. And it he gets blowback, he gets blowback. Ah well.

Also, I think he's wrong about EVITA. He'd get more grief from people claiming he's glorifying a fascist than he would be from writing about Argentina. The work by him and Rice is does not exoticize a foreign people...it's a universal story of the dangerous mix of politics, celebrity, populism and the fascism that can arise from such a concoction. It has a bracing musical vocabulary that is distinctly Webber and that does not cannibalize cultural work outside his ken. It's not my favorite musical, but it's my favorite Webber musical and it has stood the test of time. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 6:33pm

Speaking for myself, but if something like Evita were to happen today, I wouldn't mind if there were white creators involved, but would want to know that they did due diligence, whether that's in the form of bringing in other people who have first hand experience, or something else (which I suppose is what Here Lies Love is doing).

While his latest musicals have been hit or miss, I really am curious what else ALW might have up his sleeve.  And even if the show itself isn't good, at least there are usually a few good tunes that come out of it.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 6:56pm

I think some of this political correctness has gotten out of hand when it comes to creating art, but if it stops Andrew Lloyd Webber from writing another musical, I'm all for it.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 8:23pm

Literally not a soul would be having an issue with him making Evita today and he acts like he's known for that type of musical across the board which is hilarious. ALW's stuff is flopping because he doesn't work WITH other Creatives. The Creatives work FOR him. Please don't tell me the man who saw a book of poems about Cats and wanted to make a musical about it that his major obstacle in creating new musicals is political correctness. It's laughably amateur and embarrassing for him to say things like this. Andrew Lloyd Webber, very known for all of his cutting edge taboo subject matter. Give me a break. 

[bear88]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 8:28pm

Tell that to David Byrne. I think he’s got a big musical on Broadway about people from another country starting previews two days from now.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 9:15pm

Whenever you see a white man say “political correctness” run, don’t read. Will save you a lot of frustration. 

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 10:49pm

BroadwayNYC2 said: "Whenever you see a white man say “political correctness” run, don’t read. Will save you a lot of frustration."

Evaluating people on the color of their skin? And you wonder why Lloyd Webber made those comments...

And please, a LOT of people would have an issue if Evita was just being written now, and written by two white Brits. As we used to say, "Ain't just a river in Egypt..."

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 10:58pm

David Byrne is not a random white guy. I think one of the points that Webber is making is that he was not well known when he wrote Evita, and if a new all white composer team wrote something like that today, it’s not so incredulous to think that producers would pass up on it or demand that they involved Latinos as the director or choreographer.  I think he’s advocating for writers to do what they want through their lens without being pushed one way or another. If it turns out to be an inaccurate  or even offensive portrayal of blacks or Asians or Hispanics or whites because someone of a different culture wrote it, so be it. That’s still art and many people will still enjoy it and want to see it. 

Updated On: 6/15/23 at 10:58 PM

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 11:24pm

Do... do people not know that Argentina is a predominantly white country? 

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 11:43pm

TheatreFan4 said: "Do... do people not know that Argentina is a predominantly white country?"

But not Anglo-Saxon.

Nah, some white Brits or Yanks writing about a Latin American people and their history (and condemning the lead characters, to boot) would not go over well in today's climate. The word "privilege" would be featured heavily in the discussion. 

[whatever2]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 11:50pm

https://twitter.com/DisabilityStor1/status/1669299493005565954?s=20

[whatever2]

Posted: 6/15/23 at 11:56pm

joevitus said: "TheatreFan4 said: "Do... do people not know that Argentina is a predominantly white country?"

But not Anglo-Saxon.

Nah, some white Brits or Yanks writing about a Latin American people and their history (and condemning the lead characters, to boot) would not go over well in today's climate. The word "privilege" would be featured heavily in the discussion."

i would never say never -- living in weird times -- but this is an extraordinarily blinkered view of Argentina. Just curious: have you ever been there? do you know much about it?

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 6/16/23 at 12:03am

joevitus said: "TheatreFan4 said: "Do... do people not know that Argentina is a predominantly white country?"

But not Anglo-Saxon.

Nah, some white Brits or Yanks writing about a Latin American people and their history (and condemning the lead characters, to boot) would not go over well in today's climate. The word "privilege" would be featured heavily in the discussion."

So I'm not sure how to break it to you, but Evita has been performed around the world for almost 50 years and the outrage? It's pretty minimal. People don't care. 

Like I implore you to think with your brain and not your rolodex of buzzwords. 

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/16/23 at 12:28am

whatever2 said: "joevitus said: "TheatreFan4 said: "Do... do people not know that Argentina is a predominantly white country?"

But not Anglo-Saxon.

Nah, some white Brits or Yanks writing about a Latin American people and their history (and condemning the lead characters, to boot) would not go over well in today's climate. The word "privilege" would be featured heavily in the discussion."

i would never say never -- living in weird times -- but this is an extraordinarily blinkered view of Argentina. Just curious: have you ever been there? do you know much about it?"

I have never been there. I do know a bit about it. But to call the people there white is kinda weird, and not just because of the nebulousness of the designation "white" when it comes to Latin or Hispanic people, where "white" seems to be less about skin-tone than political or cultural affiliation (see George Zimmerman). I mean, would you argue that Spain is "mostly white"? Or Portugal? I guess if pigmentation is you only guide, sure, but that's not how these things break down in discussions of racial/cultural identity.

Consider the uproar if a white American from New York had written, say, In the Heights, let alone a white Brit writing about another culture with its own language and customs. Out of curiosity, do you consider Lin-Manuel Miranda white, and if not, why not? Can you tell me how is he less white most of the Argentinian population?

Racial/cultural identity is now a hotbed issue in a very unique way. I just see no way, if Evita was a new work by relative newcomer white composer today, it wouldn't come under fire. 

[A Director]

Posted: 6/16/23 at 2:32am

Joevitus - What a wonder you are!  If you had lived in 1930s Germany, you would have told Jews, "It's just a star."  In 1955, you would have told Rosa Parks there are plenty of other seats on the bus.  If you were at Stonewall in June 1969, you would have told patrons not to upset people.

[Impeach2017]

Posted: 6/16/23 at 5:17am

When your side stops trying to erase entire cultures, histories, and groups that are contrary to your rigid orthodoxy, then you can complain about all of the horrendous abuse that you suffer as an entitled, straight, white person because some people do not KYA 24/7, like in the "old" days.  

[chewy5000]

Posted: 6/16/23 at 6:27am

Interesting that he ignores all the criticism that Jesus Christ Superstar got from all sides back in the day...