Webber Fears Musicals Future

Oh please......This from the man who brought us "CATS."

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
Article Link

haha,
"Theatre impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber has criticised new musicals as uninteresting. The composer, whose hits have included Cats...said today's musicals were all about the 'feel-good factor.'"
what? Sir you wrote a non-narrative show about singing, dancing cats!!!

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The bleakness from Evita is fine, given that it was well written.

The Woman in White may have had a happy ending.

But it was dull.

Perhaps Lord Lloyd-Webber would like to focus on his own musicals as of late?

Evita's actually not all THAT well written. Compositionally I think Webber didn't know how to write for a voice then. He wrote vocal parts very instrumentally, which makes it hard to sing. Also I've never been sure which way the audience is supposed to feel about her. It sort of makes her out to be this greedy opportunist.

I agree that there is some hypocracy, considering this is the man who not only wrote Cats, but don't forget Starlight Express and By Jeeves, both of which are pretty frivolous musicals.
However, I think he is also trying to say that there is a problem in musical theater today because there are very few serious works out there. Many shows do focus on the "feel-good factor," because frankly it creates a better musical. Starlight ran for 17 years in London, and Cats for about the same time on both the West End and Bway. How long did The Beautiful Game or Aspects of Love last? But it is a shame that it is so hard to find engaging theater now, and instead we are filled with shows like the Drowsy chaperone and Mamma Mia.I think that he also pointing out how hard it is to run a profit in London. He owns a lot of these theaters, and apparently it is very hard to run a profit in London.
Though almost every composer has written frivolous musicals, I think they all would like to see at least some serious works out there.

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ALW is not talking about the state of the art or even Broadway.

He is talking about the financial state of the theaters in London specifically. If you read the article, he states only 3 shows in London are making money despite good attendance. A significant number of London's theaters need maintenance and repair that are not going to be able to be recouped with the current cost structures.

I think the beauty of EVITA is that it's non-committal; It does not take sides. In the end, it's left up to the audience's intepretation. Many people view (and have viewed) Eva Peron as either a patron saint of the poor or a power-hungry opportunist. There is no middle ground.

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Updated On: 8/2/06 at 02:44 PM

The American Musical makes an interesting comment that audiences, post 9-11, look for light musicals as an escape. I think it's a logical explanation.

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I was wondering exactly who he was going to blame for "Woman in White" doing so poorly-

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