Cats- Growltiger's Song / Puccini riffs??

ALW has often been accused of stealing from Puccini, mostly by detractors and Sondheim-philes. "Memory" is another song which many call Puccini-esque. Personally, I think he's been "inspired" by Puccini. Adam, I hear you. I like the Growltiger duet and I was miffed that they cut it from the DVD.

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I always thought Puccini possessed Lloyd Webber when he wrote "The Heart is Slow to Learn"...

Composers working from beyond the grave... it has happened...

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You are correct JBSinger... a phrase from "Music of the Night" - "Turn your face away from the garish light of day, Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light" is almost note for note the same as a snippet of a love theme found in Act II of "Fanciulla del West". There is belief among some that the Puccini estate sued Lloyd Weber for plagarism and won - but that is just urban legend.

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The Girl of the Golden West is a direct steal. I've seen two productions at City Opera, and the motif is right there for all to hear. It may even be the same key.

I have always thought Un Bel Di was used as a definite idea (to coin a phrase)for Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, the Oscar- winning song from the 50s.

Of course, if you write a solid melody and then hit the audience over the head with it, it will sound like Puccini. A bus-and-truck Puccini maybe, but still Puccini.

Come To Me, Bend To Me is used in Phantom as an homage to Alan Jay Lerner who was the original bookwriter/lyricist and died before real work began. The Lerner-Loewe estates knew this.

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I think the person he borrows tunes from the most is... himself.

He took a tune from his original show in Joseph and placed it in JCS.
He took two tunes from The Likes of Us and put it in By Jeeves and Woman/White.
He took a snip of Half a Moment (By Jeeves) and placed into As If We Never Said Goodbye (Sunset).
He took English Girls from Song and Dance and reembalmed it into Tire Tracks and Broken Hearts (Whistle/Wind).
He even took a small snip from Requiem and placed it into Woman in White.
Not to mention he took a part of the Beautiful Game Overture and put it into the Phantom movie for the Journey to the Graveyard sequence.
I'm sure there are other examples.

I guess he just inspires himself.

Adam