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ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: "I fell in love
with Perseus instantly."

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"When I was around seven,

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"I asked if I could take him
on a lead to Thurloe Square."

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"Both Mum and Granny said yes."

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"How trusting parents were
in those days!"

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"So I became a regular spectacle,

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"walking Perseus like a dog

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"across the old zebra crossing...

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"..that led to the train station...

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"..and the only bit of greenery
Julian and I knew."

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MUSIC: Memory from Cats

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Cats have always had a special place
in the life of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

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It was the family cat, Perseus,
and the poems of TS Eliot

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that inspired the hit musical

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loved by audiences
round the world.

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What's going on here?
What is happening here?

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He's a big thug, this cat.

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And like all thugs, he becomes a
pussycat when anybody is near him.

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Andrew has turned 70.

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And to mark the occasion,
he's written a memoir.

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# Memory

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# All alone in the moonlight

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# I can smile at the old days

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# I was beautiful then

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# I remember the time
I knew what happiness was

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# Let the memory

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# Live again. #

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Andrew Lloyd Webber's autobiography
is a candid account of his childhood

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and the early influences that led to
a string of hit musicals.

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From make-believe shows he created
with brother Julian...

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"Ten glorious hit musicals."
"Ten glorious hit musicals."

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..to the legendary hits
he wrote with Tim Rice.

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And that was when Argentina
happened.

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And I remember saying to Tim,
"I think I've got a way in."

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# All through my wild days

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# My mad existence

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# I kept my promise

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# Don't keep your distance... #

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MUSIC: Phantom of the Opera Overture

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Phantom of the Opera
is celebrating a birthday too.

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It's been running for 30 years,

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making it the longest-running
Broadway musical of all time.

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With two big birthdays to mark, this
is a perfect moment to look back.

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So, what prompted you
to write this book?

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I have to say, I'm terribly boring.

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I mean, I really...

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I wrote, in truth, in my preface,
that Andrew Lloyd Webber

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is the most boring person
that I've ever written about.

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So were you unmask...

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Was it a kind of confessional,
then, as well?

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Yes, it's a sort of confessional.

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I mean, because I think
one of the things is

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that one's career is not always up.

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I mean, there are many bumps
along the way. But I...

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Explain yourself.
I'm explaining myself

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by saying that I know
quite a few things that

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probably I shouldn't really
ever print.

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But, luckily, I've been able to be,
I think,

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as truthful as I can remember.

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The problem is memory, isn't it,
you know?

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Not the song, my brain.

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I hope I've got things right.

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70 years ago, bomb-damaged
and down-at-heel,

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London was slowly recovering
from the Blitz.

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Andrew's mother, Jean,
taught the piano

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at the Royal College of Music
in South Kensington,

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and it was here that she met
a young composer called William.

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They married in 1942.

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Lloyd Webber sounds like some posh
derivation of some sort.

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There is no posh derivation at all.

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It was that my father became known
as a composer as "Lloyd Webber"

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and it just stuck
as the family name.

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Well, the story of your childhood,
the first sentence in your book is,

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"Before me there was Mimi."

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Yes, Mimi, a monkey.

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Mimi didn't like me, apparently.

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Apparently attacked
my mother's tummy.

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Therefore, I'm able to say
that she was the first person

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to take a huge dislike to me.
And she had to be got rid of.

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When was she got rid of?

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Well, presumably before I was born.

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My mother used to go around
South Kensington, where we lived,

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round the back of
South Kensington station,

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with this monkey on her shoulder.

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And goodness knows
what everybody thought.

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After Mimi came Andrew,
who was born in 1948.

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The family lived in a mansion flat
in Harrington Court,

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which they shared with
Jean's mother, Granny Molly.

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Here she is on the roof with Mimi.

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Granny basically kept the family.
I mean, she paid for everything

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out of the little bit of money
that she had,

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because my dad didn't earn any money
from anything much. I mean,

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he was professor of composition at
the Royal College of Music,

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but he wasn't earning
a lot of money.

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So I think she really, more or less,
kept everything afloat.

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So this is home?

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This, on the top floor,
somewhere in the middle up there,

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just towards the end, there,
was our flat.

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On the top floor, what it then was,

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because they've put these
rather smart-looking penthouse,

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I suppose they probably call them,
on the top of it.

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But it was... It's very different to
what it was then.

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So it looks like that's it.

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Yes, it would be.
And it had a balcony.

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Outside of the place looks exactly
the same, apart from the top of it.

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I'm quite pleased to see,
now that bus has moved,

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that the greengrocer that used to be
there is still there.

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Oh, that's funny. So that's the one,

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that must be the one family business
that's survived.

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And it was pretty much
all of this bit,

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South Kensington station itself...

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There used to be an Italian
restaurant there.

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That's pretty much as it was
when I was a kid.

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In fact, it's almost exactly
the same.

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A few years later, the family at
Harrington Court expanded to six,

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with the arrival of a Siamese cat
called Perseus,

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and a second son called Julian.

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The words Harrington Court
suggest quite a posh environment.

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No.

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There was a lift there
that never worked.

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A completely broken-down old lift,
which stank of pee most of the time.

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You see, in those days,
there were no entry phones,

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so you could just walk
straight in the place.

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And people did.

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We're in already. Right.

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OK, so which floor?

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Well, we were on the fourth floor,

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but I think they've got
an extra floor now on it.

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Five. It wasn't like this.

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It was one of those big, open lifts
that, you know,

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you put your hand out,
you'd get your hand chopped off.

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Well, Julian told me what this lift
was like.

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He said it had a smell.

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Well, I... Yes, you say...

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that he said that.

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I don't remember it, really,
particularly smelling,

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but maybe Julian has a better nose
than I.

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Shall we get out? Shall we get out?

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I don't think this level existed.

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So where do we go from here?
Do you recognise any of this?

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Well, no, I mean,
it's not as I remember at all.

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I don't believe...

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After you. This didn't exist.

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I mean, it couldn't be
more different.

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The roomy mansion flats
have long gone,

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and have been converted into
luxury serviced apartments.

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But in the Lloyd Webbers' day,
it was a place filled with music,

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and under the influence of their
parents both brothers started young.

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Is that the first instrument your
mother placed in your hands, really?

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Well, that... We're not
looking at that, actually.

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Why not? No, we don't really approve
of that.

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Why don't we approve of it? That's
me on the front of Nursery World,

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when my mum insisted on
my playing the violin.

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So she tried to get you
to play the violin?

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Yeah, yeah, she tried to turn me
into a protege, you see?

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And then, thank God,
Julian turned up.

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Thank heavens Julian turned up, yes.

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Now, look, here you are...
That's Julian and me. ..with Julian.

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You see, that was the only
really outside space we had.

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So Julian's taken with, I suppose
it would be a quarter-sized cello.

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I mean, God help us if we'd got
Britain's Got Talent in those days

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with my mother around.

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CELLO SCALES

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I was four when I got a cello.

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He says three in the book.

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That's a little exaggeration,
you know.

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Because you can't do much with
a cello at three, to be honest.

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I saw this cello in a concert
I was taken to at Festival Hall,

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and I asked if I could play that,

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thinking that I'd be allowed
to give up the piano

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if I took up a different instrument.

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So, yeah, I was four
when I saw the cello.

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And I really loved playing it.
I enjoyed it.

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I never went near the piano
unless I was forced to,

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but I just used to like
sitting with a cello

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and trying to get a decent sound
out of it,

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which took a few years,
I must say.

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Andrew did take up the piano,
somewhat reluctantly.

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His piano teacher, mother Jean,
was a strict disciplinarian

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when it came to her children's
music lessons.

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But Andrew had other ideas.

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She had to give up on me
pretty early because...

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I did learn the piano with her, but,

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anyway, she soon realised that I had
another interest in my life,

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which was... Well, it was,
in those days, ruined buildings.

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I remember I took a trip
up to Doncaster,

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and then from there I made my way
across to Hull,

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and up to Beverley
where the marvellous minster is.

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And then I made my way up
through Whitby

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and up then to Newcastle,

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and then back to London again,

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00:11:06,700 --> 00:11:09,060
over a school half-term.

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00:11:09,060 --> 00:11:11,700
And, you know, there was me
with my little suitcase,

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and I was only, like, 14.

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00:11:13,780 --> 00:11:18,700
I mean, staying in, you know, B&Bs,
and nobody batted an eyelid.

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I mean, I don't think
you'd let a kid go round today.

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As well as trips alone,

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00:11:25,740 --> 00:11:28,980
Andrew dragged his family
into his burgeoning interest

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00:11:28,980 --> 00:11:31,820
in England's national heritage.

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And we... Every holiday,
I used to take him

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to see these places.
We got stuck in lanes and fields,

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00:11:39,740 --> 00:11:43,740
and I think I got to know every
ancient ruin in the country.

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If you open this Pandora-like box
here,

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you'll discover my early
literary efforts.

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He wasn't just a seasoned
traveller at the age of 14,

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00:11:55,940 --> 00:11:58,460
but the writer of a travel journal.

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00:11:58,460 --> 00:12:01,460
The descriptions of the old
buildings are neatly typed up

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00:12:01,460 --> 00:12:03,820
and the photographs pasted in.

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00:12:03,820 --> 00:12:05,900
And, yes, he's kept them
to this day.

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00:12:05,900 --> 00:12:08,580
Can I hold it? You can, yes, yes.

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00:12:08,580 --> 00:12:12,580
"A survey of the ruined castles
open to the public in Glamorgan."

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00:12:12,580 --> 00:12:15,100
You see, this...
"The author of".

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00:12:15,100 --> 00:12:17,500
I love the way
you're good at promotion.

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00:12:17,500 --> 00:12:20,100
The author of Ancient Monuments
in England and Wales,

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00:12:20,100 --> 00:12:21,860
Ancient Monuments
in the Home Counties,

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00:12:21,860 --> 00:12:23,620
and Roman Remains
in England and Wales.

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00:12:23,620 --> 00:12:25,060
People would like to know that!

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00:12:25,060 --> 00:12:28,100
I'm sure. Then, you've got
Welsh border castles.

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00:12:28,100 --> 00:12:30,460
This is a pretty thick tome.

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00:12:30,460 --> 00:12:32,420
A hefty one. Look at this -

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00:12:32,420 --> 00:12:34,660
this is big stuff here.

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00:12:34,660 --> 00:12:36,820
But that's not all he was up to.

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A love for another kind of
architecture was blossoming -

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00:12:39,940 --> 00:12:42,100
the theatre.

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00:12:42,100 --> 00:12:45,140
I mean, I remember going around
the bombsites and, you know,

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00:12:45,140 --> 00:12:48,460
going to school and seeing
bombed buildings and things,

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00:12:48,460 --> 00:12:50,580
even in the late '50s.

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00:12:50,580 --> 00:12:52,860
I mean, I remember getting into
the Bedford in Camden Town

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00:12:52,860 --> 00:12:56,340
and there was a hole in the roof.
I've got the pictures I took of it.

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00:12:56,340 --> 00:12:59,580
And it made a really profound
impression on me.

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00:12:59,580 --> 00:13:03,220
EXPLOSION, AIR-RAID SIREN

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00:13:03,220 --> 00:13:06,420
Dozens of theatres were damaged
or lost during the Blitz.

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00:13:06,420 --> 00:13:08,100
But unlike the Bedford,

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00:13:08,100 --> 00:13:11,540
London's most popular theatre
escaped unscathed.

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00:13:11,540 --> 00:13:13,380
Come up and see me sometime.

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00:13:13,380 --> 00:13:15,340
I'm Dame Clod.

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00:13:15,340 --> 00:13:18,900
Like any kid, I think I was taken
to the Palladium pantomime

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00:13:18,900 --> 00:13:20,860
and thought it was wonderful.

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00:13:20,860 --> 00:13:23,420
And I think, again, sort of,

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00:13:23,420 --> 00:13:25,980
the feeling of that sort of
Victorian building...

241
00:13:25,980 --> 00:13:28,420
The whole thing just captivated me.

242
00:13:28,420 --> 00:13:33,460
MUSIC: Wouldn't it Be Loverly?
from My Fair Lady

243
00:13:40,820 --> 00:13:44,620
# All I want is a room somewhere

244
00:13:44,620 --> 00:13:48,940
# Far away from the cold night air

245
00:13:48,940 --> 00:13:52,660
# With one enormous chair

246
00:13:52,660 --> 00:13:56,660
# Now, wouldn't it be loverly? #

247
00:13:56,660 --> 00:13:58,900
My Fair Lady came to London,

248
00:13:58,900 --> 00:14:01,580
and of course everybody had
to go and see My Fair Lady,

249
00:14:01,580 --> 00:14:04,260
so I was taken to a matinee.

250
00:14:04,260 --> 00:14:09,420
I loved it and I said to...
It was my granny who took me to it,

251
00:14:09,660 --> 00:14:12,340
I said, "I'd very much like
to hear something else."

252
00:14:12,340 --> 00:14:14,980
And it was the same time
that Gigi was coming out,

253
00:14:14,980 --> 00:14:19,300
so I was slunk in, because I think
Gigi was an A certificate.

254
00:14:19,300 --> 00:14:22,900
And that wonderful overture,
which is just extraordinary.

255
00:14:22,900 --> 00:14:25,100
# That since the world began

256
00:14:25,100 --> 00:14:26,660
# No woman or a man

257
00:14:26,660 --> 00:14:29,980
# Has ever been as happy as we are

258
00:14:29,980 --> 00:14:33,420
# Tonight! #

259
00:14:35,380 --> 00:14:38,700
But also, almost exactly
at the same time,

260
00:14:38,700 --> 00:14:42,660
West Side Story came to London,
and I was taken to that too.

261
00:14:42,660 --> 00:14:45,380
I thought, "Well, this is
the most fantastic world."

262
00:14:45,380 --> 00:14:47,220
# Immigrant goes to America

263
00:14:47,220 --> 00:14:49,420
# Many hellos in America

264
00:14:49,420 --> 00:14:51,500
# Nobody knows in America

265
00:14:51,500 --> 00:14:54,300
# Puerto Rico's in America! #

266
00:14:56,900 --> 00:15:00,380
Trips to see these new
American musicals

267
00:15:00,380 --> 00:15:04,700
cemented a passion for melody
in Andrew Lloyd Webber -

268
00:15:04,700 --> 00:15:06,740
something he shared with his father.

269
00:15:09,620 --> 00:15:13,020
William was a professor at
the Royal College of Music,

270
00:15:13,020 --> 00:15:15,700
but his secret love
was writing melodies -

271
00:15:15,700 --> 00:15:17,060
like this one.

272
00:15:29,700 --> 00:15:30,820
Dad always remembers

273
00:15:30,820 --> 00:15:34,620
being played Some Enchanted Evening
for the first time.

274
00:15:34,620 --> 00:15:37,420
And Dad played it to me
because he saw me

275
00:15:37,420 --> 00:15:40,260
getting so obsessed with musicals
and everything.

276
00:15:40,260 --> 00:15:43,140
Go on, sing Some Enchanted Evening.
I don't think we really want that.

277
00:15:43,140 --> 00:15:44,940
Yes, we do. Well, we can play it...

278
00:15:44,940 --> 00:15:47,780
# La da da da-da dum... #

279
00:15:47,780 --> 00:15:52,900
CRACKLY VINYL RECORDING:
# Some enchanted evening

280
00:15:53,060 --> 00:15:57,140
# You may meet a stranger

281
00:15:57,140 --> 00:16:02,340
# You'll meet a stranger
across a crowded room... #

282
00:16:05,420 --> 00:16:06,860
It's that...

283
00:16:06,860 --> 00:16:08,940
PLAYS "SOME ENCHANTED EVENING"
MELODY

284
00:16:08,940 --> 00:16:10,460
Rogers loved the tritone.

285
00:16:12,740 --> 00:16:14,780
And he does it in a...

286
00:16:17,220 --> 00:16:21,340
Doesn't he? But, Rogers, I mean,
that outpouring of melody.

287
00:16:21,340 --> 00:16:24,620
I'm sorry, what anybody may say,
that to me...

288
00:16:24,620 --> 00:16:27,980
Melody is, I think, the thing
that really, really gets me.

289
00:16:27,980 --> 00:16:30,660
And I'm afraid that I was
as taken by my father

290
00:16:30,660 --> 00:16:33,900
with Some Enchanted Evening.
Which I think, I still think,

291
00:16:33,900 --> 00:16:36,460
is the greatest song ever written
for a musical.

292
00:16:36,460 --> 00:16:38,940
MUSIC: Some Enchanted Evening

293
00:16:59,780 --> 00:17:03,140
While American musicals dominated
London's West End,

294
00:17:03,140 --> 00:17:05,740
it was television that brought them
into the sitting-room

295
00:17:05,740 --> 00:17:07,340
at Harrington Court.

296
00:17:07,340 --> 00:17:10,900
Ironically for me, television is
how I saw these theatres.

297
00:17:10,900 --> 00:17:12,780
Sunday Night at
the London Palladium, yes.

298
00:17:12,780 --> 00:17:14,700
I mean, you saw
shots of the audience

299
00:17:14,700 --> 00:17:17,740
and then the famous
London Palladium revolve,

300
00:17:17,740 --> 00:17:19,780
which used to go
at the end of the programme

301
00:17:19,780 --> 00:17:21,540
with everybody waving goodbye.

302
00:17:21,540 --> 00:17:23,900
I mean, of course, that made
a huge impression.

303
00:17:29,460 --> 00:17:32,180
Andrew brought the magic and glamour
of the Palladium

304
00:17:32,180 --> 00:17:34,780
into the living room
of the Harrington Road flat.

305
00:17:40,060 --> 00:17:43,700
With the help of Julian,
he built a miniature theatre,

306
00:17:43,700 --> 00:17:48,540
for which he wrote
no less than ten hit musicals.

307
00:17:48,540 --> 00:17:51,940
"Ten GLORIOUS hit musicals."
Ten glorious hit musicals.

308
00:17:51,940 --> 00:17:54,740
I don't think anybody ever has come
up with that kind of collection.

309
00:17:54,740 --> 00:17:57,780
I mean, really, following The Land
of Twart with The Queen of Sheba,

310
00:17:57,780 --> 00:18:00,220
I mean... It hasn't been done.

311
00:18:00,220 --> 00:18:03,820
He called it
the Pavilion Empire Variety,

312
00:18:03,820 --> 00:18:06,500
and even typed up theatre programmes

313
00:18:06,500 --> 00:18:09,500
to accompany the - ahem -
productions.

314
00:18:09,500 --> 00:18:13,420
I mean, it was a sort of Victorian
variety house, basically.

315
00:18:13,420 --> 00:18:15,860
With the most massive stage
you've ever seen,

316
00:18:15,860 --> 00:18:18,460
compared to the actual auditorium.

317
00:18:18,460 --> 00:18:19,940
And it was put together with...?

318
00:18:19,940 --> 00:18:23,900
It was sort of toy bricks, and it
had a kind of tea tray of a roof.

319
00:18:23,900 --> 00:18:26,180
And it was then all painted...
It was very gold,

320
00:18:26,180 --> 00:18:30,060
and there were lots of wallpaper
samples I got from Sanderson's.

321
00:18:30,060 --> 00:18:31,540
Mostly wallpaper that looked as if

322
00:18:31,540 --> 00:18:33,100
it should be
in an Indian restaurant.

323
00:18:33,100 --> 00:18:38,060
How much space did it take up?
Oh... From about here to the end...

324
00:18:38,060 --> 00:18:39,540
It was the whole nursery.

325
00:18:39,540 --> 00:18:42,420
I mean, it wasn't half measures.

326
00:18:42,420 --> 00:18:44,620
Nobody else could get in there.

327
00:18:44,620 --> 00:18:47,940
Lovely make-believe soldiers filled
up the audience so that, you know,

328
00:18:47,940 --> 00:18:50,100
box office never, never,
ever wavered.

329
00:18:50,100 --> 00:18:54,460
My career has absolutely
taken a dump since those days.

330
00:19:02,340 --> 00:19:03,980
Oh! Let's have a look.

331
00:19:03,980 --> 00:19:06,980
Yeah, this is definitely
a level up from where we were.

332
00:19:08,220 --> 00:19:12,740
We would have been a floor
below this, as it used to be.

333
00:19:12,740 --> 00:19:14,740
Because I remember
one could look straight into

334
00:19:14,740 --> 00:19:16,420
the windows of the hotel over there.

335
00:19:16,420 --> 00:19:18,820
Do you know, I'd never
been in the hotel in my life,

336
00:19:18,820 --> 00:19:21,780
until we went for
this programme today.

337
00:19:21,780 --> 00:19:24,420
Never been in it.
There's a rather nice view

338
00:19:24,420 --> 00:19:27,420
of the Natural History Museum
from up here, isn't there? Yes.

339
00:19:27,420 --> 00:19:29,580
And the old Imperial Institute.

340
00:19:29,580 --> 00:19:32,620
Incredible view, because actually
you can see St Paul's Cathedral.

341
00:19:32,620 --> 00:19:35,180
Yeah. Now that's something
I never knew before.

342
00:19:35,180 --> 00:19:37,500
If we'd got up on our roof,
we could have done that.

343
00:19:37,500 --> 00:19:41,300
But it's... It'd have been
rather nice if we'd had this view.

344
00:19:41,300 --> 00:19:43,700
That's been pedestrianised,
but I would imagine...

345
00:19:43,700 --> 00:19:45,300
That's all been pedestrianised,

346
00:19:45,300 --> 00:19:47,580
that was where the cat
used to walk with me.

347
00:19:47,580 --> 00:19:49,900
There used to be a pedestrian
crossing down there...

348
00:19:49,900 --> 00:19:52,100
Ah, that's it there, yeah.
And then we'd walk down past

349
00:19:52,100 --> 00:19:53,580
where the underground sign is,

350
00:19:53,580 --> 00:19:57,380
down Thurloe Place,
and Thurloe Square is just beyond.

351
00:19:57,380 --> 00:19:59,020
So that's where Perseus...

352
00:19:59,020 --> 00:20:01,100
So that is the route
that Perseus would take.

353
00:20:06,460 --> 00:20:10,060
Taking Perseus for walks
round Kensington Gardens,

354
00:20:10,060 --> 00:20:14,060
trips to the theatre,
and building one of your own,

355
00:20:14,060 --> 00:20:16,900
sounds like an idyllic childhood.

356
00:20:16,900 --> 00:20:18,700
And in some ways, it was.

357
00:20:20,820 --> 00:20:24,540
But life at Harrington Court
was about to change

358
00:20:24,540 --> 00:20:27,860
when eight-year-old Julian
brought home a fellow pupil

359
00:20:27,860 --> 00:20:30,980
from the Royal College of Music,
where he was studying.

360
00:20:32,420 --> 00:20:33,780
I got to know John Lill.

361
00:20:33,780 --> 00:20:36,700
We were playing in
the junior department orchestra

362
00:20:36,700 --> 00:20:40,340
and I got talking to him
and mentioned him to my mother.

363
00:20:40,340 --> 00:20:43,340
And he was the big star student.
He was seven years older than me.

364
00:20:44,660 --> 00:20:47,780
And we invited...
I invited him back.

365
00:20:47,780 --> 00:20:50,260
He said, "My mother wants
to invite you for lunch."

366
00:20:52,460 --> 00:20:55,460
And I was a bit shy,
a bit reluctant.

367
00:20:57,860 --> 00:21:00,580
But, in the end, I said,
"OK, that would be very nice indeed,

368
00:21:00,580 --> 00:21:02,460
"thank you." And that's when
I met the family.

369
00:21:06,260 --> 00:21:10,180
Julian's mother, Jean,
took a special interest in John.

370
00:21:13,180 --> 00:21:18,020
She'd dedicated her life to teaching
music and helping young talent,

371
00:21:18,020 --> 00:21:21,300
a passion born out of
a childhood tragedy.

372
00:21:23,020 --> 00:21:27,180
She was a very serious-minded
classical musician.

373
00:21:27,180 --> 00:21:30,780
And all her training was that,
and all her interest was that.

374
00:21:30,780 --> 00:21:32,620
And she had, really,
it has to be said,

375
00:21:32,620 --> 00:21:36,340
a kind of obsession
about young male talent.

376
00:21:36,340 --> 00:21:40,020
And I think it came because of
the very premature death

377
00:21:40,020 --> 00:21:43,780
of her elder brother,
who was drowned at sea.

378
00:21:43,780 --> 00:21:47,260
PIANO MUSIC PLAYS

379
00:21:50,380 --> 00:21:55,420
The brother was called Alistair,
and he died aged 18.

380
00:21:55,420 --> 00:21:57,940
And I think that when John Lill
came along,

381
00:21:57,940 --> 00:21:59,620
this was like a godsend to her,

382
00:21:59,620 --> 00:22:01,260
because here was someone, you know,

383
00:22:01,260 --> 00:22:05,220
who was a fabulous pianist and from
a very, very poor background,

384
00:22:05,220 --> 00:22:09,020
and absolutely in the mould of the
kind of person she wanted to help.

385
00:22:09,020 --> 00:22:11,020
ORCHESTRA PLAYS

386
00:22:27,420 --> 00:22:32,380
Jean's help even extended to
moving John into the family home.

387
00:22:32,580 --> 00:22:37,540
She lavished a huge amount of
attention and care and concern

388
00:22:37,540 --> 00:22:40,900
about my playing.
And she'd move the earth to help me.

389
00:22:40,900 --> 00:22:46,020
It was extremely...generous of her
and, well,

390
00:22:46,020 --> 00:22:48,620
I was often embarrassed by
the degree of kindness

391
00:22:48,620 --> 00:22:50,860
she and her husband showed.

392
00:22:50,860 --> 00:22:56,140
And my mother really sort of took
him in and he became like her son.

393
00:22:56,540 --> 00:22:59,820
I mean, she really, really, really
just lived for John Lill.

394
00:22:59,820 --> 00:23:02,340
Did you feel slightly sort of
left out of things?

395
00:23:02,340 --> 00:23:05,700
Well, I did, I did feel that we had
an older brother now

396
00:23:05,700 --> 00:23:10,180
who was not really ours.
I mean, I liked John a lot, but...

397
00:23:10,180 --> 00:23:14,260
No, I sort of felt that,
certainly in my mother's eyes,

398
00:23:14,260 --> 00:23:17,060
that he was the one
and he was the favourite.

399
00:23:22,580 --> 00:23:26,860
"Towards the close of the Easter
holidays, I was deeply depressed.

400
00:23:26,860 --> 00:23:28,100
"Mum's John Lill obsession

401
00:23:28,100 --> 00:23:30,900
"was making her increasingly moody
and erratic."

402
00:23:36,500 --> 00:23:40,380
"Home was a cauldron of overwrought
emotion and jealousy.

403
00:23:40,380 --> 00:23:42,900
"My adolescent hormones
told me I'd had enough."

404
00:23:45,900 --> 00:23:48,940
"One morning, I headed for
the underground station.

405
00:23:48,940 --> 00:23:50,500
"I bought a one-way ticket."

406
00:23:52,340 --> 00:23:56,100
I'd taken the old underground out
to as far as it went to in Essex

407
00:23:56,100 --> 00:24:00,540
and, I think it was Ongar station,
I saw a bus going to Lavenham.

408
00:24:00,540 --> 00:24:02,180
And I thought, this is the end,

409
00:24:02,180 --> 00:24:04,500
I'm really going
to go into a hedge somewhere

410
00:24:04,500 --> 00:24:07,260
and just take all these pills
I'd collected up.

411
00:24:14,500 --> 00:24:17,700
"The ancient bus trundled through
the Essex countryside,

412
00:24:17,700 --> 00:24:20,220
"and as we hit Suffolk,
the sun came out."

413
00:24:21,780 --> 00:24:24,140
"By the time we arrived at Lavenham,

414
00:24:24,140 --> 00:24:27,620
"an overcast morning had turned into
a glorious spring day."

415
00:24:32,260 --> 00:24:36,460
"Lavenham. I'd never seen such an
unspoiled English village before."

416
00:24:39,180 --> 00:24:42,540
"But it was the church that did it.
All I remember now

417
00:24:42,540 --> 00:24:45,660
"is sitting inside
for what must have been two hours

418
00:24:45,660 --> 00:24:48,060
"and saying,
'Thank God for Lavenham.' "

419
00:24:51,100 --> 00:24:54,660
So I changed my mind very, very
quickly, and all was well.

420
00:24:54,660 --> 00:24:56,020
And you wrote about... Yes.

421
00:24:56,020 --> 00:24:58,260
..what was, could have been
a suicide attempt?

422
00:24:58,260 --> 00:25:00,660
Well, it was.
It was a suicide attempt.

423
00:25:00,660 --> 00:25:03,300
I remember reading the letter
he wrote his mother,

424
00:25:03,300 --> 00:25:06,140
that he was going
to put an end to his life.

425
00:25:06,140 --> 00:25:08,780
And it wasn't very pleasant reading,
especially for her,

426
00:25:08,780 --> 00:25:10,380
as you can imagine.

427
00:25:10,380 --> 00:25:12,940
Andrew learned to live
with his adopted brother,

428
00:25:12,940 --> 00:25:14,700
and grew to like him.

429
00:25:14,700 --> 00:25:17,140
But mother Jean
was right about one thing -

430
00:25:17,140 --> 00:25:21,060
John Lill was unquestionably
talented, and went on to win

431
00:25:21,060 --> 00:25:25,620
the International Tchaikovsky Prize
for piano at just 26.

432
00:25:26,860 --> 00:25:30,220
ENTHUSIASTIC APPLAUSE

433
00:25:36,460 --> 00:25:39,980
During these trying teenage years,
Andrew needed an escape.

434
00:25:45,660 --> 00:25:47,540
And he found one.

435
00:25:50,860 --> 00:25:56,020
In Weymouth Street in Marylebone,
home to his mum's sister, Auntie Vi.

436
00:26:04,860 --> 00:26:07,100
You could not invent Auntie Vi.

437
00:26:07,100 --> 00:26:10,340
Central Casting could not come up
with Auntie Vi.

438
00:26:10,340 --> 00:26:14,020
She was possibly,
without any question or doubt,

439
00:26:14,020 --> 00:26:18,660
the funniest and also the rudest
person I've ever met in my life.

440
00:26:18,660 --> 00:26:20,700
And I absolutely adored her.

441
00:26:20,700 --> 00:26:24,980
And you've even dedicated the book
to Auntie Vi. Yes, hard not to.

442
00:26:24,980 --> 00:26:27,580
Hard not to dedicate a book
to somebody who once said,

443
00:26:27,580 --> 00:26:30,180
"Too many cocks spoil the breath."

444
00:26:30,180 --> 00:26:35,100
Auntie Vi gained minor notoriety
writing a series of cookbooks.

445
00:26:35,340 --> 00:26:40,500
One was so risque she published it
under a male pen-name, Rodney Spoke.

446
00:26:41,980 --> 00:26:45,020
It was inspired by
the comedy of the time.

447
00:26:45,020 --> 00:26:47,700
What can we do for you? Well,
actually, I'm looking for a pet.

448
00:26:47,700 --> 00:26:48,900
Oh...

449
00:26:50,460 --> 00:26:52,980
There's Cyril, he's half and half,
you know.

450
00:26:52,980 --> 00:26:54,980
LAUGHTER

451
00:26:58,540 --> 00:27:01,460
Half King Charles spaniel,
half fox terrier.

452
00:27:01,460 --> 00:27:03,540
We call him a Fox Cocker.

453
00:27:05,220 --> 00:27:07,820
She decided that she wanted to write
a gay cookbook.

454
00:27:07,820 --> 00:27:10,100
Now, I suppose...
You see, at that time,

455
00:27:10,100 --> 00:27:12,780
you had Kenneth Williams
and you had all that Polari

456
00:27:12,780 --> 00:27:16,300
and all of that, Round The Horne,
and it was all really quite funny.

457
00:27:16,300 --> 00:27:19,700
Recipes on offer included coq-up,

458
00:27:19,700 --> 00:27:21,340
ducky a l'orange,

459
00:27:21,340 --> 00:27:23,140
seedy queen cakes,

460
00:27:23,140 --> 00:27:25,500
and poof pastry.

461
00:27:25,500 --> 00:27:27,740
It is screamingly funny,

462
00:27:27,740 --> 00:27:31,860
and she was very much the one
who kind of freed me, I guess.

463
00:27:31,860 --> 00:27:35,780
# Food, glorious food... #

464
00:27:35,780 --> 00:27:40,500
Astonishingly, Andrew was just 17
when he went in search of an agent.

465
00:27:43,020 --> 00:27:46,420
Such was his determination
to make it as a musical composer,

466
00:27:46,420 --> 00:27:47,900
he soon found one.

467
00:27:49,340 --> 00:27:53,540
Desmond Elliott not only took Andrew
on but had a musical project too.

468
00:27:56,180 --> 00:28:00,660
Called The Likes Of Us, it was about
the children's charity Barnardo's,

469
00:28:00,660 --> 00:28:05,340
and was an attempt to cash in on
the current hit of the time, Oliver.

470
00:28:05,340 --> 00:28:07,100
MUSIC: Consider Yourself
from Oliver

471
00:28:07,100 --> 00:28:10,100
Now all Andrew needed
was a lyricist.

472
00:28:10,100 --> 00:28:12,220
I'm going to read you your letter.

473
00:28:13,620 --> 00:28:16,060
"Dear Andrew, I have been given
your address

474
00:28:16,060 --> 00:28:18,700
"by Desmond Elliott
of Arlington Books,

475
00:28:18,700 --> 00:28:21,580
"who I believe has told you of
my existence.

476
00:28:21,580 --> 00:28:25,540
"Mr Elliott told me that you were
looking for a with-it writer

477
00:28:25,540 --> 00:28:27,300
"of lyrics for your songs.

478
00:28:27,300 --> 00:28:31,140
"I wondered if you'd consider it
worth your while meeting me.

479
00:28:31,140 --> 00:28:34,340
"I may fall far short
of your requirements,

480
00:28:34,340 --> 00:28:37,460
"but anyway it would be interesting
to meet up.

481
00:28:37,460 --> 00:28:39,740
"Hoping to hear from you,
yours, Tim Rice."

482
00:28:39,740 --> 00:28:43,140
Well, Andrew was already working on
this musical called The Likes Of Us,

483
00:28:43,140 --> 00:28:45,180
which was about the life of
Dr Barnardo,

484
00:28:45,180 --> 00:28:48,460
and it had some great tunes in it,
but it was very derivative,

485
00:28:48,460 --> 00:28:51,420
not melodically, but style of...

486
00:28:51,420 --> 00:28:54,020
a cross between Lionel Bart,
primarily,

487
00:28:54,020 --> 00:28:55,900
I would say, and Richard Rogers.

488
00:28:55,900 --> 00:28:57,540
And it kind of went...

489
00:28:57,540 --> 00:28:59,340
HE PLAYS JAUNTY TUNE

490
00:29:01,780 --> 00:29:03,780
It was one of that sort of...

491
00:29:03,780 --> 00:29:05,740
It was a real Broadway number,
but...

492
00:29:05,740 --> 00:29:07,540
# Da da da-da... #

493
00:29:07,540 --> 00:29:09,500
But I was rather pleased with that.

494
00:29:09,500 --> 00:29:12,820
There was one which we used in
the Barnardo song, which went...

495
00:29:12,820 --> 00:29:14,940
SIMPLE TUNE PLAYED SMOOTHLY

496
00:29:17,980 --> 00:29:20,420
This was done
as a kind of a Russ Conway...

497
00:29:20,420 --> 00:29:22,580
TUNE REPEATED WITH MORE COMPLEXITY

498
00:29:25,820 --> 00:29:29,980
Like that, you know?
And so, I, we...

499
00:29:29,980 --> 00:29:31,820
There were quite a few in there.

500
00:29:31,820 --> 00:29:36,140
And I knew by then,
academic career was not for me.

501
00:29:36,140 --> 00:29:39,940
# In your life you can see
Just how sad you can be

502
00:29:39,940 --> 00:29:43,860
# If you stay by yourself
all alone... #

503
00:29:43,860 --> 00:29:46,500
In the autumn of 1965,
Andrew Lloyd Webber

504
00:29:46,500 --> 00:29:50,740
started at Magdalen College,
Oxford, to study history.

505
00:29:50,740 --> 00:29:53,420
He was there just one term,

506
00:29:53,420 --> 00:29:56,380
spending most of it
agonising over the prospect

507
00:29:56,380 --> 00:29:59,500
of three years away from Tim
and his music.

508
00:29:59,500 --> 00:30:03,940
In December, Andrew called his
father to say he was returning home.

509
00:30:03,940 --> 00:30:07,380
# ..You can never make it alone... #

510
00:30:07,380 --> 00:30:09,300
It was rather a difficult time,

511
00:30:09,300 --> 00:30:13,260
and I think lots of other people
were more disappointed than I was,

512
00:30:13,260 --> 00:30:15,420
because I felt that, with Andrew,

513
00:30:15,420 --> 00:30:17,580
that it would be quite hopeless

514
00:30:17,580 --> 00:30:20,140
if you tried to make him do
something he didn't want to do.

515
00:30:21,260 --> 00:30:24,940
It would only just come back on him
and oneself.

516
00:30:24,940 --> 00:30:28,540
So I played it
as coolly as possible.

517
00:30:28,540 --> 00:30:31,700
There followed quite a serious
family row afterwards,

518
00:30:31,700 --> 00:30:35,420
with both my mother and grandmother
saying, this is absolutely terrible,

519
00:30:35,420 --> 00:30:38,300
he's ruined his life,
what a ridiculous thing to do,

520
00:30:38,300 --> 00:30:41,660
he's never going to make any money
out of music - ha-ha!

521
00:30:41,660 --> 00:30:45,420
And, you know, my father was saying,
well, look,

522
00:30:45,420 --> 00:30:49,660
that's where his interests lie,
he's talented, he can write tunes,

523
00:30:49,660 --> 00:30:51,660
you've got to let him do it.

524
00:30:56,100 --> 00:30:59,580
Andrew returned to the crowded
hothouse atmosphere

525
00:30:59,580 --> 00:31:01,060
of Harrington Court.

526
00:31:01,060 --> 00:31:04,900
With John Lill and Granny Molly
still living there, space was tight.

527
00:31:07,100 --> 00:31:10,180
The family decided to rent the flat
next door.

528
00:31:10,180 --> 00:31:12,420
There was a spare bedroom going,

529
00:31:12,420 --> 00:31:14,660
so it made sense for Tim
to move in too.

530
00:31:16,660 --> 00:31:19,700
So, that's your dad.
Yes, that's my dad.

531
00:31:19,700 --> 00:31:23,020
That looks like Julian.
That's John Lill. That must be me.

532
00:31:23,020 --> 00:31:27,020
And that's my mother. You seem to be
a bit stuck for space, don't you?

533
00:31:27,020 --> 00:31:28,700
Yes. I just don't know where...

534
00:31:28,700 --> 00:31:32,380
It looks rather cramped! I think
it must have been our kitchen.

535
00:31:32,380 --> 00:31:36,340
That's Julian with his hand on,
sort of pushing John Lill away.

536
00:31:36,340 --> 00:31:38,220
Yes.

537
00:31:38,220 --> 00:31:40,860
I took that. I don't know
what we were doing.

538
00:31:40,860 --> 00:31:43,500
We were just having a fight
or something.

539
00:31:43,500 --> 00:31:45,100
It's a great picture.

540
00:31:45,100 --> 00:31:47,140
It was just a bit chaotic.

541
00:31:47,140 --> 00:31:49,940
And it took me a while to get used
to people padding around

542
00:31:49,940 --> 00:31:53,180
with no shoes on and, you know...

543
00:31:53,180 --> 00:31:55,060
It was just... It was fun.

544
00:31:55,060 --> 00:31:57,860
It was a bit like living in
a student flat with grown-ups,

545
00:31:57,860 --> 00:31:59,740
which was weird.

546
00:31:59,740 --> 00:32:02,460
But it was a bit of a madhouse,
to tell you the truth.

547
00:32:02,460 --> 00:32:05,380
But I felt very sorry
for nearby neighbours.

548
00:32:05,380 --> 00:32:07,060
But they didn't seem to complain.

549
00:32:07,060 --> 00:32:10,420
Perhaps they'd all been
driven deaf - who knows?

550
00:32:10,420 --> 00:32:12,020
It was completely bohemian.

551
00:32:13,980 --> 00:32:16,580
There were lots of
girlfriends around,

552
00:32:16,580 --> 00:32:19,420
in various states of undress,
you know?

553
00:32:19,420 --> 00:32:22,220
And our grandmother
in the middle of all this.

554
00:32:22,220 --> 00:32:23,860
It was bizarre.

555
00:32:27,260 --> 00:32:29,420
With such a racket going on,

556
00:32:29,420 --> 00:32:31,780
it's a miracle that Andrew and Tim
emerged

557
00:32:31,780 --> 00:32:33,820
with their first musical success.

558
00:32:33,820 --> 00:32:36,500
Did you do any work here,
during that period?

559
00:32:36,500 --> 00:32:40,180
Yeah, I'd do a bit of writing here.
I mean, we had the piano,

560
00:32:40,180 --> 00:32:42,220
which we sort of shared.

561
00:32:42,220 --> 00:32:46,780
But, yes, I would have done
quite a bit of Joseph here.

562
00:32:46,780 --> 00:32:51,060
And...so the original sketches of
Joseph and everything would have,

563
00:32:51,060 --> 00:32:54,020
without doubt, have been done here
at Harrington Court.

564
00:32:54,020 --> 00:32:57,900
# May I return
May I return

565
00:32:57,900 --> 00:33:01,860
# To the beginning? #

566
00:33:01,860 --> 00:33:05,540
In the spring of 1967,
Andrew and Tim were approached

567
00:33:05,540 --> 00:33:07,780
by a local music teacher
to write something

568
00:33:07,780 --> 00:33:10,420
for a concert at Colet Court School.

569
00:33:10,420 --> 00:33:13,060
They'd spent a year writing
The Likes Of Us,

570
00:33:13,060 --> 00:33:14,740
but it was going nowhere.

571
00:33:14,740 --> 00:33:18,300
# We are still waiting... #

572
00:33:18,300 --> 00:33:22,180
Writing for a bunch of school kids
was hardly the dream,

573
00:33:22,180 --> 00:33:23,780
but they agreed.

574
00:33:23,780 --> 00:33:26,060
# Any dream will do. #

575
00:33:28,300 --> 00:33:30,940
Tim thought it was a bit of
a come-down, to put it mildly,

576
00:33:30,940 --> 00:33:34,180
because our West End debut
was not going to be.

577
00:33:34,180 --> 00:33:36,500
And to then do something in a school

578
00:33:36,500 --> 00:33:41,300
was not exactly what we thought was
going to be our launch on the world.

579
00:33:41,300 --> 00:33:44,380
# Such a dazzling coat
of many colours

580
00:33:44,380 --> 00:33:48,500
# How I love my coat
of many colours... #

581
00:33:48,500 --> 00:33:51,700
Stuck for inspiration, they turned
to a children's book

582
00:33:51,700 --> 00:33:55,060
of Bible stories,
and decided on Tim's favourite -

583
00:33:55,060 --> 00:34:00,180
the revenge and forgiveness story of
Joseph and his coat of many colours.

584
00:34:00,380 --> 00:34:02,060
Well, originally, Joseph -

585
00:34:02,060 --> 00:34:05,140
talk about starting on the button -
started as...

586
00:34:05,140 --> 00:34:07,500
# Way, way back,
many centuries ago. #

587
00:34:07,500 --> 00:34:10,980
It just even started like that -
straight in with the children.

588
00:34:10,980 --> 00:34:14,140
And then eventually we wrote,
I did the big fanfare...

589
00:34:20,780 --> 00:34:23,780
But of the coat of many colours,
you know... # Joseph...

590
00:34:23,780 --> 00:34:25,860
# He was Jacob's favourite son

591
00:34:25,860 --> 00:34:29,860
# Of all the family,
Joseph was the special one... #

592
00:34:29,860 --> 00:34:33,220
That's, again, Tim getting into
the story immediately,

593
00:34:33,220 --> 00:34:36,140
knowing that he had to engage
those children

594
00:34:36,140 --> 00:34:38,580
and we couldn't have any fat
anywhere.

595
00:34:38,580 --> 00:34:42,220
# Jacob, Jacob, Jacob

596
00:34:42,220 --> 00:34:46,740
# Jacob and sons. #

597
00:34:46,740 --> 00:34:49,940
And Andrew kept coming up
with wonderful tunes.

598
00:34:49,940 --> 00:34:51,780
I'd say, "We need a tune
for the coat,"

599
00:34:51,780 --> 00:34:53,780
and Andrew writes
this wonderful tune.

600
00:34:53,780 --> 00:34:56,460
It was a pleasure to stick words
onto them.

601
00:34:56,460 --> 00:34:59,100
And writing allegedly funny words,

602
00:34:59,100 --> 00:35:01,540
I've always found much easier

603
00:35:01,540 --> 00:35:04,380
and much quicker
than writing romantic words.

604
00:35:04,380 --> 00:35:08,340
And there weren't any romantic songs
as such in Joseph,

605
00:35:08,340 --> 00:35:11,100
but there were a couple
of fairly serious songs.

606
00:35:11,100 --> 00:35:13,260
But we did have
Close Every Door To Me.

607
00:35:15,380 --> 00:35:20,620
# Hide all the world from me
Bar all my windows... #

608
00:35:24,140 --> 00:35:25,980
I've always...

609
00:35:28,980 --> 00:35:32,100
I've always felt, you know,
that that is the heart of Joseph.

610
00:35:32,100 --> 00:35:35,380
And, despite everything else
that's going on around it,

611
00:35:35,380 --> 00:35:39,340
all the fun and everything, that's
the central moment of it, I think.

612
00:35:45,220 --> 00:35:49,860
The 1st of March 1968
was dull, grey and wet -

613
00:35:49,860 --> 00:35:51,900
the day Joseph was first performed.

614
00:35:54,140 --> 00:35:58,820
The audience loved it
and demanded a repeat performance.

615
00:35:58,820 --> 00:36:02,740
Among the parents was a Sunday Times
journalist who was so impressed,

616
00:36:02,740 --> 00:36:05,700
he gave Joseph a glowing review.

617
00:36:05,700 --> 00:36:07,580
And Derek Jewell reviewed it.

618
00:36:07,580 --> 00:36:10,780
Yeah, he was great...
He said, "It was fresh as paint,

619
00:36:10,780 --> 00:36:14,700
"irresistibly melodic,
clever beyond mere wittiness."

620
00:36:14,700 --> 00:36:18,020
His son was at the school
and he'd come along,

621
00:36:18,020 --> 00:36:21,780
and he was so taken with it,
he reviewed it in the Sunday Times,

622
00:36:21,780 --> 00:36:26,980
which meant that we had record
companies and music publishers

623
00:36:27,140 --> 00:36:29,220
keen to find out about it.

624
00:36:29,220 --> 00:36:33,940
One year later, in 1969,
Joseph was released as an album.

625
00:36:33,940 --> 00:36:36,340
# I closed my eyes

626
00:36:37,980 --> 00:36:41,260
# Drew back the curtain... #

627
00:36:41,260 --> 00:36:44,620
It did poor business, but proved
to be the calling card

628
00:36:44,620 --> 00:36:49,020
that attracted the attention of an
agent producer called David Land.

629
00:36:49,020 --> 00:36:51,820
He offered the pair
a three-year writing deal.

630
00:36:54,620 --> 00:36:58,500
While the Old Testament story
of Joseph launched Lloyd Webber

631
00:36:58,500 --> 00:37:02,820
and Tim Rice's careers, the New
Testament and a Bob Dylan song

632
00:37:02,820 --> 00:37:06,300
would be the inspiration
for what they would do next.

633
00:37:06,300 --> 00:37:09,340
Bob Dylan, who I was
a very early fan of -

634
00:37:09,340 --> 00:37:12,340
I'd even been to see him
way before he went electric -

635
00:37:12,340 --> 00:37:14,860
and they did With God On Our Side
on television,

636
00:37:14,860 --> 00:37:16,300
and it really, I thought,

637
00:37:16,300 --> 00:37:18,140
"Wow, this is a fantastic song,"

638
00:37:18,140 --> 00:37:20,660
and beautifully sung
and a very powerful lyric.

639
00:37:20,660 --> 00:37:23,780
It had that line, "Did Judas
Iscariot have God on his side?"

640
00:37:23,780 --> 00:37:25,340
A great line.

641
00:37:25,340 --> 00:37:30,580
# Did Judas Iscariot
have God on his side? #

642
00:37:33,460 --> 00:37:37,900
That made me think that you can
write songs about people like Judas.

643
00:37:39,340 --> 00:37:42,540
Tim's fascination with Judas
gave them the way in.

644
00:37:42,540 --> 00:37:47,060
Now they had the story,
Andrew set about writing the music.

645
00:37:47,060 --> 00:37:49,940
Jesus Christ Superstar,
it's constructed

646
00:37:49,940 --> 00:37:53,020
to the very, very last bar.

647
00:37:53,020 --> 00:37:57,980
Only through the construction of
the music and the storytelling

648
00:37:57,980 --> 00:38:00,300
could we engage an audience.

649
00:38:00,300 --> 00:38:03,780
And I think maybe that's my kind of
architectural interest again,

650
00:38:03,780 --> 00:38:08,220
you know, coming through. I think
the construction of a musical,

651
00:38:08,220 --> 00:38:12,220
the actual architecture of a musical
is the most important thing.

652
00:38:12,220 --> 00:38:15,740
When we got to the moment of
the money lenders in the temple,

653
00:38:15,740 --> 00:38:17,740
and we have, you know...

654
00:38:17,740 --> 00:38:20,460
HE HUMS THE MELODY

655
00:38:23,860 --> 00:38:27,980
It's in 7/8 time, so it's... One,
two, three, four, one, two, three...

656
00:38:30,060 --> 00:38:32,580
And it's very deliberate,
because if it had been...

657
00:38:36,420 --> 00:38:38,420
How boring would that be?

658
00:38:38,420 --> 00:38:40,900
Right. So it was very...

659
00:38:40,900 --> 00:38:44,140
What it does is it immediately
gets it going...

660
00:38:44,140 --> 00:38:48,380
And I love using time signatures

661
00:38:48,380 --> 00:38:51,900
like seven and five and things
in places,

662
00:38:51,900 --> 00:38:54,740
because it just keeps
something dramatic.

663
00:38:54,740 --> 00:38:58,620
# Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ

664
00:38:58,620 --> 00:39:02,900
# Who are you, what have you
sacrificed? #

665
00:39:02,900 --> 00:39:07,180
Like Joseph, Jesus Christ Superstar
started life as an album.

666
00:39:07,180 --> 00:39:10,220
But at first, it didn't take off.

667
00:39:10,220 --> 00:39:11,980
It wasn't a big hit, that's true.

668
00:39:11,980 --> 00:39:13,820
We didn't get a hit single
in England.

669
00:39:13,820 --> 00:39:16,300
We got to number 39 or something.

670
00:39:16,300 --> 00:39:18,420
I was slightly surprised, actually,

671
00:39:18,420 --> 00:39:20,340
because it sounded good
on the radio.

672
00:39:20,340 --> 00:39:23,780
But in America, whoosh!
You know, it was extraordinary.

673
00:39:23,780 --> 00:39:27,300
# Tell me what you think
about your friends at the top

674
00:39:27,300 --> 00:39:30,780
# Who'd you think, besides yourself,
was the pick of the crop? #

675
00:39:30,780 --> 00:39:32,940
The success of the album in the US

676
00:39:32,940 --> 00:39:36,220
led to a summons from
the pop promoter Robert Stigwood -

677
00:39:36,220 --> 00:39:38,820
the man behind the careers
of Eric Clapton,

678
00:39:38,820 --> 00:39:40,540
the Bee Gees and David Bowie.

679
00:39:42,580 --> 00:39:47,300
On the table was both a Broadway
AND a movie deal for Superstar.

680
00:39:47,300 --> 00:39:49,740
They could hardly say no.

681
00:39:49,740 --> 00:39:53,580
INTRO PLAYS

682
00:39:57,060 --> 00:40:01,940
Jesus Christ Superstar opened
on Broadway in October 1971.

683
00:40:07,580 --> 00:40:10,820
But while the angels that adorned
both the album and posters

684
00:40:10,820 --> 00:40:14,820
would become the first mega-logo
in musical theatre history,

685
00:40:14,820 --> 00:40:17,380
the Broadway audience
were turned off,

686
00:40:17,380 --> 00:40:20,980
as Christians took offence
and accused the show of blasphemy.

687
00:40:20,980 --> 00:40:24,100
I think what annoyed them,
funnily enough,

688
00:40:24,100 --> 00:40:26,340
was the concept of rock music,

689
00:40:26,340 --> 00:40:31,340
which was associated with drugs
and sex and all these evil things -

690
00:40:31,340 --> 00:40:35,060
that being associated with Jesus
was the problem,

691
00:40:35,060 --> 00:40:36,460
not so much what it said.

692
00:40:39,740 --> 00:40:42,780
When the show opened in London
the following year,

693
00:40:42,780 --> 00:40:44,500
there were no protests,

694
00:40:44,500 --> 00:40:47,860
and despite the cool reception
of the album in the UK,

695
00:40:47,860 --> 00:40:50,100
the stage version was a massive hit.

696
00:40:52,940 --> 00:40:54,780
Everyone loved it.

697
00:40:54,780 --> 00:40:57,820
Even the composer Shostakovich
loved it.

698
00:40:57,820 --> 00:41:01,140
He saw the show two nights running,
and confessed that,

699
00:41:01,140 --> 00:41:05,220
but for Joseph Stalin, he would
have written similar work.

700
00:41:06,340 --> 00:41:08,980
MUSIC: Superstar

701
00:41:31,100 --> 00:41:35,460
The movie of Superstar started
filming, and Andrew got married.

702
00:41:35,460 --> 00:41:38,260
He'd met Sarah Hugill
when she was 16.

703
00:41:38,260 --> 00:41:43,100
She turned 18 in 1972,
the year they chose to tie the knot.

704
00:41:44,860 --> 00:41:48,980
# Oh, what a circus
Oh, what a show... #

705
00:41:48,980 --> 00:41:51,980
As Prime Minister,
I want to speak to you

706
00:41:51,980 --> 00:41:55,500
simply and plainly
about the grave emergency

707
00:41:55,500 --> 00:41:57,020
now facing our country.

708
00:41:58,340 --> 00:42:02,180
The idea for their next project
was born during the early '70s,

709
00:42:02,180 --> 00:42:04,500
when the IRA stalked the mainland

710
00:42:04,500 --> 00:42:08,300
and Britain was crippled
by strikes and economic meltdown.

711
00:42:09,460 --> 00:42:14,580
Britain in 1974, it was not
a particularly nice place to be.

712
00:42:14,780 --> 00:42:17,460
I mean, we'd just come out of
the three-day week,

713
00:42:17,460 --> 00:42:21,340
then the stock market
sort of absolutely collapsed,

714
00:42:21,340 --> 00:42:25,620
and the IRA were blowing up London
and cities all around the place.

715
00:42:25,620 --> 00:42:30,420
It was a time that I don't believe
people really think happened.

716
00:42:32,140 --> 00:42:34,260
Tim Rice was driving one day.

717
00:42:34,260 --> 00:42:38,500
On the car radio was programme about
the actress Eva Peron.

718
00:42:38,500 --> 00:42:42,900
Eva Peron, in that old cinema
cliche, went from rags to riches.

719
00:42:42,900 --> 00:42:47,540
The man she captured, Peron,
became the boss of Argentina.

720
00:42:47,540 --> 00:42:50,340
And not content merely to be
his wife,

721
00:42:50,340 --> 00:42:54,020
Eva Peron manoeuvred her way past
an oligarchy which hated her

722
00:42:54,020 --> 00:42:58,260
to become the most powerful woman
Latin America has ever known.

723
00:42:58,260 --> 00:43:00,780
And I'd got a vague idea
who she was,

724
00:43:00,780 --> 00:43:03,740
I remembered her from
my stamp collection as a kid.

725
00:43:03,740 --> 00:43:08,460
And I heard this radio programme and
I thought, "This is a great story."

726
00:43:13,580 --> 00:43:17,180
The parallels between
the trade union-led revolution

727
00:43:17,180 --> 00:43:21,620
that swept Peron to power in 1946
and the industrial unrest

728
00:43:21,620 --> 00:43:25,900
that gripped '70s Britain
struck a chord.

729
00:43:25,900 --> 00:43:30,980
The thought that an extremist could
get power in a democracy was

730
00:43:31,980 --> 00:43:36,820
very, very much uppermost,
certainly in MY mind,

731
00:43:36,820 --> 00:43:41,500
and I thought of Evita as a really
interesting cautionary tale.

732
00:43:42,540 --> 00:43:47,820
I thought, I've got to find some
angle on this, musically,

733
00:43:48,220 --> 00:43:50,460
that means that I can say to Tim,

734
00:43:50,460 --> 00:43:53,100
"Yes, I think I know
how I can do this."

735
00:43:53,100 --> 00:43:55,460
And I thought about it
for a long time,

736
00:43:55,460 --> 00:43:58,420
and I remembered,
just after I left school,

737
00:43:58,420 --> 00:44:01,660
I went to see Judy Garland
in The Talk Of The Town,

738
00:44:01,660 --> 00:44:05,140
and it was pretty much
the last thing she ever did,

739
00:44:05,140 --> 00:44:08,780
I think it might even have been the
last performance she ever gave.

740
00:44:08,780 --> 00:44:11,180
Anyway, she was drunk,
she was out of it, you know,

741
00:44:11,180 --> 00:44:12,940
the audience turned on her.

742
00:44:12,940 --> 00:44:15,260
And she tried to sing
Over The Rainbow,

743
00:44:15,260 --> 00:44:19,260
and it was like seeing a little bird
crushed in front of you.

744
00:44:19,260 --> 00:44:21,180
It was just awful.

745
00:44:21,180 --> 00:44:25,740
And I thought, if I can find
a melody or situation

746
00:44:25,740 --> 00:44:30,860
where I could create an anthem for
Eva Peron that could turn on her,

747
00:44:31,780 --> 00:44:36,140
and I could use it in a completely
different way,

748
00:44:36,140 --> 00:44:38,820
then I'm on the case.

749
00:44:38,820 --> 00:44:42,660
And I remember, in Bristol, it was,
that I was writing, I wrote...

750
00:44:42,660 --> 00:44:45,300
And that is when Argentina happened.

751
00:44:47,300 --> 00:44:51,580
I remember saying to Tim,
"I think I've got a way in."

752
00:44:51,580 --> 00:44:54,060
# All through my wild days

753
00:44:54,060 --> 00:44:57,100
# My mad existence... #

754
00:44:57,100 --> 00:45:00,580
Like Joseph
and Jesus Christ Superstar,

755
00:45:00,580 --> 00:45:03,580
they started by releasing
a concept album.

756
00:45:03,580 --> 00:45:05,900
Julie Covington sang the title song.

757
00:45:07,300 --> 00:45:10,260
We never thought that Don't Cry For
Me Argentina had a hope as a single,

758
00:45:10,260 --> 00:45:11,700
because it was five minutes long,

759
00:45:11,700 --> 00:45:14,340
Julie Covington was not
an automatic record seller.

760
00:45:14,340 --> 00:45:17,620
But the single came out
and was a massive success,

761
00:45:17,620 --> 00:45:19,660
um, to our surprise.

762
00:45:19,660 --> 00:45:24,860
# And as for fortune
and as for fame... #

763
00:45:25,060 --> 00:45:28,340
As Evita rose up the charts,
Lloyd Webber sent a copy

764
00:45:28,340 --> 00:45:32,380
to the only director he felt was up
to the job of staging the story -

765
00:45:32,380 --> 00:45:34,700
the legendary Hal Prince.

766
00:45:34,700 --> 00:45:38,540
I've always thought that unusual
settings, unusual subjects,

767
00:45:38,540 --> 00:45:42,140
the sort of thing that people say,
"Wait a minute, is that a musical?"

768
00:45:42,140 --> 00:45:47,300
and then you give them that and
it's unexpected and they respond.

769
00:45:48,660 --> 00:45:53,340
# Don't cry for me, Argentina... #

770
00:45:54,540 --> 00:45:56,860
Nicknamed the Prince of Broadway,

771
00:45:56,860 --> 00:45:59,380
Hal Prince boasted a string
of credits

772
00:45:59,380 --> 00:46:03,660
that included West Side Story,
Fiddler on the Roof, and Cabaret.

773
00:46:04,940 --> 00:46:07,980
Hal assumed they'd already found
their lead actress,

774
00:46:07,980 --> 00:46:10,740
after the success
of Julie Covington's hit single.

775
00:46:12,220 --> 00:46:16,100
We thought she'd be perfect to play
Eva, but she didn't want to do it.

776
00:46:16,100 --> 00:46:18,100
Which actually, in the end,
was a plus,

777
00:46:18,100 --> 00:46:20,780
because we then got
enormous publicity,

778
00:46:20,780 --> 00:46:25,460
the press love disaster, so it was,
you know, "Julie turns down Evita."

779
00:46:25,460 --> 00:46:28,700
You know, implying that the show was
going to be a total disaster.

780
00:46:28,700 --> 00:46:30,780
And how did you find Elaine?

781
00:46:30,780 --> 00:46:33,580
Well, the normal procedure
of auditions.

782
00:46:33,580 --> 00:46:36,540
We had huge...

783
00:46:36,540 --> 00:46:41,540
..interest in it. And literally
hundreds of ladies came along,

784
00:46:41,700 --> 00:46:43,540
some of them quite well-known.

785
00:46:47,220 --> 00:46:51,420
The audition period for me for Evita
was LONG and tedious.

786
00:46:51,420 --> 00:46:54,620
I must have auditioned eight, nine,
I don't know, ten times.

787
00:46:56,700 --> 00:46:59,780
Everybody - the world and his wife -
auditioned for this role.

788
00:46:59,780 --> 00:47:02,780
You know, many of them were very
good but, you know, it's difficult.

789
00:47:02,780 --> 00:47:05,860
And of course we... They all sang
Don't Cry For Me Argentina.

790
00:47:05,860 --> 00:47:09,620
Faye Dunaway, Liza Minnelli,
Barbra Streisand,

791
00:47:09,620 --> 00:47:11,780
all these names were being
bandied about.

792
00:47:11,780 --> 00:47:16,020
# Peron, Peron, Peron, Peron
Evita, Evita... #

793
00:47:16,020 --> 00:47:20,540
Elaine Paige made the final
shortlist of three.

794
00:47:20,540 --> 00:47:23,700
She just got through on merit,
like the cup final.

795
00:47:23,700 --> 00:47:28,060
She got through all the rounds
and saw off the opposition.

796
00:47:29,660 --> 00:47:34,300
My doorbell went about midnight and,
to my surprise, it was my agent.

797
00:47:35,740 --> 00:47:37,580
"The role of..."

798
00:47:37,580 --> 00:47:39,860
"Yes, yes, yes, get on with it,
Libby!"

799
00:47:39,860 --> 00:47:41,500
"..Eva Peron is..."

800
00:47:41,500 --> 00:47:43,260
"Yes, yes, just tell me!"

801
00:47:43,260 --> 00:47:44,460
"..yours."

802
00:47:44,460 --> 00:47:47,900
# Evita. #

803
00:47:47,900 --> 00:47:49,740
OK. Here we go.

804
00:47:49,740 --> 00:47:54,780
# Don't cry for me, Argentina... #

805
00:47:56,620 --> 00:47:59,980
Evita opened in London in June 1978,

806
00:47:59,980 --> 00:48:03,940
but the cautionary tale about
economic crisis and the fragility of

807
00:48:03,940 --> 00:48:08,420
democracy failed to resonate when
it opened on Broadway a year later.

808
00:48:10,500 --> 00:48:14,340
"Stench is a stench on any scale."
That's the first sentence.

809
00:48:14,340 --> 00:48:15,980
And they go on...

810
00:48:15,980 --> 00:48:18,780
"If you want to fill the coffers
of these two amoral,

811
00:48:18,780 --> 00:48:23,300
"barely talented whippersnappers" -
this refers to you and Tim -

812
00:48:23,300 --> 00:48:25,820
"and their knowing
or duped accomplices,

813
00:48:25,820 --> 00:48:29,180
"by all means see this
artfully produced monument

814
00:48:29,180 --> 00:48:31,180
"to human indecency."

815
00:48:32,460 --> 00:48:34,540
Well, that's not a very good review,
really, is it?

816
00:48:36,100 --> 00:48:37,900
Well, he's an idiot. What can I say?

817
00:48:39,620 --> 00:48:44,780
The Americans had no clue of the
context in which Evita was written.

818
00:48:45,820 --> 00:48:50,900
I mean, Britain nearly fell apart,
and people forget that.

819
00:48:50,900 --> 00:48:52,540
But we opened in September,

820
00:48:52,540 --> 00:48:55,820
and it was that Christmas
that Russia invaded Afghanistan.

821
00:48:55,820 --> 00:48:59,300
And you started to hear people
talking about politics again

822
00:48:59,300 --> 00:49:02,700
in America. But something happened
in the zeitgeist,

823
00:49:02,700 --> 00:49:06,180
and by the time the Tonys happened,
eight months later,

824
00:49:06,180 --> 00:49:09,180
I mean, Evita was
the toast of the town.

825
00:49:09,180 --> 00:49:13,180
# Don't cry for me, Argentina... #

826
00:49:13,180 --> 00:49:16,100
Evita garnered award after award,

827
00:49:16,100 --> 00:49:19,900
including an Olivier
for Best Musical in 1978.

828
00:49:19,900 --> 00:49:21,940
Now, the winner is...

829
00:49:21,940 --> 00:49:23,780
Oh, my nerves!

830
00:49:23,780 --> 00:49:25,220
..Evita.

831
00:49:25,220 --> 00:49:28,220
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

832
00:49:30,860 --> 00:49:33,220
The ceremony was badly organised,

833
00:49:33,220 --> 00:49:37,140
and during his acceptance speech,
Lloyd Webber quipped that Hal Prince

834
00:49:37,140 --> 00:49:39,940
would have made a much better job
of the Oliviers

835
00:49:39,940 --> 00:49:41,700
than that year's producer.

836
00:49:41,700 --> 00:49:45,540
Unbeknownst to Andrew, the producer
was Cameron Mackintosh who,

837
00:49:45,540 --> 00:49:48,020
up to this point, he'd never met.

838
00:49:48,020 --> 00:49:51,420
I was furious!
And I went after him...

839
00:49:51,420 --> 00:49:55,100
"I'm going to kill him." And I bump
into David Land, who's the wonderful

840
00:49:55,100 --> 00:49:58,980
agent who had Tim and Andrew
under his wing, and I said,

841
00:49:58,980 --> 00:50:02,020
"David, where's Andrew,
where's Andrew?!"

842
00:50:02,020 --> 00:50:05,300
He said, "You're looking for
Andrew?" "Yes, I want to kill him."

843
00:50:05,300 --> 00:50:06,900
"I want to kill him!"

844
00:50:06,900 --> 00:50:09,860
And he went, "No, no, no, no, no,
don't do that."

845
00:50:09,860 --> 00:50:13,260
I said, "Why not?" He said, "Because
you'll make a few bob out of him."

846
00:50:14,580 --> 00:50:18,700
MUSIC: Theme Tune
to Thomas The Tank Engine

847
00:50:18,700 --> 00:50:21,900
David Land's advice to Cameron
was prophetic.

848
00:50:21,900 --> 00:50:26,380
Just a year earlier, Andrew had
parted company with Robert Stigwood

849
00:50:26,380 --> 00:50:29,900
to take ownership of both
the creative and commercial control

850
00:50:29,900 --> 00:50:31,660
of future productions.

851
00:50:33,100 --> 00:50:35,260
The name of Lloyd Webber's
new company

852
00:50:35,260 --> 00:50:40,140
was inspired by another childhood
passion - Thomas The Tank Engine.

853
00:50:40,140 --> 00:50:43,700
It was called
The Really Useful company.

854
00:50:43,700 --> 00:50:47,700
So Cameron's decision to forgive
Andrew's slight at the Oliviers

855
00:50:47,700 --> 00:50:50,500
was probably the shrewdest
of his career.

856
00:50:52,900 --> 00:50:56,020
I got a sweet letter from Andrew
afterwards

857
00:50:56,020 --> 00:51:00,580
saying, "I'm really sorry."
And then cut to, I think, 1980,

858
00:51:00,580 --> 00:51:02,340
and Andrew said, would I like

859
00:51:02,340 --> 00:51:05,340
to come and have lunch with him
at the Savile Club?

860
00:51:05,340 --> 00:51:08,020
So, we met at one o'clock,

861
00:51:08,020 --> 00:51:12,140
and at half-past six, my secretary
was phoning the Savile Club to say

862
00:51:12,140 --> 00:51:14,780
had this man killed me,
because I'd not gone home!

863
00:51:14,780 --> 00:51:17,140
Because we got on so well
and started to...

864
00:51:17,140 --> 00:51:22,060
I mean, it was hysterical, we just
laughed and laughed and laughed.

865
00:51:24,500 --> 00:51:28,340
It was during the second bottle
of wine that Andrew Lloyd Webber

866
00:51:28,340 --> 00:51:33,340
mentioned TS Eliot's anthology of
poems, the Book Of Practical Cats.

867
00:51:33,420 --> 00:51:36,020
So, at the end of it he said,

868
00:51:36,020 --> 00:51:41,260
"Well, would you come home to my
house and I'd love to play you a few

869
00:51:42,860 --> 00:51:46,180
"of the songs that I've set
from TS Eliot."

870
00:51:51,180 --> 00:51:54,220
Andrew, of course,
always loved cats,

871
00:51:54,220 --> 00:51:57,820
and TS Eliot's playful poems
were favourite bedtime reading

872
00:51:57,820 --> 00:51:59,580
when he was a child.

873
00:52:01,860 --> 00:52:04,260
He would often take Perseus,
the family cat,

874
00:52:04,260 --> 00:52:07,580
on daily walks from their flat
in Harrington Court

875
00:52:07,580 --> 00:52:09,900
to Thurloe Square Gardens nearby.

876
00:52:11,380 --> 00:52:16,220
And this would be... We're exactly
tracing the route Perseus would go.

877
00:52:16,220 --> 00:52:18,300
Exactly tracing it.

878
00:52:18,300 --> 00:52:21,140
A few distractions, you know,
other people's gardens and things,

879
00:52:21,140 --> 00:52:24,580
but this is where he would
most definitely have walked.

880
00:52:28,380 --> 00:52:32,740
Thurloe Square is the only garden
we ever really got to play in.

881
00:52:32,740 --> 00:52:37,420
I remember the square as being
a lot rougher than it is now,

882
00:52:37,420 --> 00:52:41,220
cos I'm pretty sure we used
to ride our bicycles around here,

883
00:52:41,220 --> 00:52:43,260
and we were allowed to do that.

884
00:52:44,940 --> 00:52:48,780
But to use the poems as a basis
for a stage musical,

885
00:52:48,780 --> 00:52:52,180
he required permission
from TS Eliot's widow, Valerie.

886
00:52:53,500 --> 00:52:57,700
He didn't have far to go,
as Valerie lived in Kensington too,

887
00:52:57,700 --> 00:53:01,740
right in the heart of Mungojerrie
and Rumpleteazer territory.

888
00:53:03,460 --> 00:53:05,820
My big away win with Valerie Eliot

889
00:53:05,820 --> 00:53:08,860
was when I sort of took my life
in my hands, really,

890
00:53:08,860 --> 00:53:10,980
and I just said to her, "Look,

891
00:53:10,980 --> 00:53:15,380
"have you seen Hot Gossip
on the Kenny Everett Show?

892
00:53:15,380 --> 00:53:18,300
"Cos I think the cats ought to be
much more like that,

893
00:53:18,300 --> 00:53:20,580
"I don't think they should be
pussycats."

894
00:53:20,580 --> 00:53:23,020
And she just said,
"Tom would have liked that."

895
00:53:28,780 --> 00:53:30,860
Kids, 20-year-olds and things,

896
00:53:30,860 --> 00:53:35,500
were all hugely taken by what Arlene
Phillips was doing with Hot Gossip,

897
00:53:35,500 --> 00:53:38,380
which was considered to be rude and
naughty by Mary Whitehouse,

898
00:53:38,380 --> 00:53:41,420
and once Mary Whitehouse intervened
and made a huge kerfuffle about it,

899
00:53:41,420 --> 00:53:45,260
everybody watched. And what Arlene
really was doing was,

900
00:53:45,260 --> 00:53:49,100
it was sexy, yes, but it was
modern dance that, really,

901
00:53:49,100 --> 00:53:52,620
the majority of us in Britain
hadn't seen in this country.

902
00:53:55,820 --> 00:53:59,860
Valerie Eliot gave her permission,
and at their next meeting,

903
00:53:59,860 --> 00:54:02,460
she brought along some
unpublished work -

904
00:54:02,460 --> 00:54:06,740
a poem that TS Eliot thought
was too sad for children.

905
00:54:08,380 --> 00:54:10,420
Once beautiful and adored,

906
00:54:10,420 --> 00:54:12,860
Grizabella is the sad and lonely cat

907
00:54:12,860 --> 00:54:16,300
who remembers the glamorous days
of her youth.

908
00:54:17,740 --> 00:54:21,380
Grizabella was a story
that made you care.

909
00:54:22,540 --> 00:54:25,220
And I remember going
absolutely cold,

910
00:54:25,220 --> 00:54:27,460
and Cameron was there and I said,

911
00:54:27,460 --> 00:54:30,180
"Cameron, Cameron, we've got
something bigger."

912
00:54:30,180 --> 00:54:33,460
And Cameron saw this and he said,
"We have, haven't we?"

913
00:54:34,580 --> 00:54:36,300
And, oh, God...

914
00:54:36,300 --> 00:54:39,420
I immediately was getting...

915
00:54:39,420 --> 00:54:42,620
HE PLAYS AND HUMS MELODY

916
00:54:42,620 --> 00:54:46,820
# She haunted many a low resort

917
00:54:46,820 --> 00:54:50,420
# From the grimy road
of Tottenham Court... #

918
00:54:50,420 --> 00:54:52,460
It all flowed immediately.

919
00:54:52,460 --> 00:54:54,300
# She flitted about
the no-man's land

920
00:54:54,300 --> 00:54:56,340
# From The Rising Sun
to The Friend At Hand. #

921
00:54:56,340 --> 00:54:59,380
And with that, there was such
a different tone quality

922
00:54:59,380 --> 00:55:00,780
to the whole piece.

923
00:55:00,780 --> 00:55:03,580
It was that moment
that the musical Cats was born.

924
00:55:06,180 --> 00:55:09,980
But some good tunes and a bunch
of verses by a dead poet

925
00:55:09,980 --> 00:55:13,780
failed to persuade any investors
or convince Tim Rice

926
00:55:13,780 --> 00:55:16,300
that his services were required.

927
00:55:16,300 --> 00:55:19,300
Why did Cats not seem to you
to be the right thing for you?

928
00:55:19,300 --> 00:55:21,900
Well, I wasn't needed. I mean,
the lyrics were there already.

929
00:55:21,900 --> 00:55:23,500
So, simple as that.

930
00:55:24,780 --> 00:55:26,460
So, what could I have done?

931
00:55:26,460 --> 00:55:28,780
Chess. Well, I did that, yes.

932
00:55:28,780 --> 00:55:31,940
# Wasn't it good?
Oh, so good

933
00:55:31,940 --> 00:55:35,020
# Wasn't he fine?
Oh, so fine... #

934
00:55:35,020 --> 00:55:38,380
While Tim teamed up with ABBA
to write Chess,

935
00:55:38,380 --> 00:55:41,620
Tim's literary replacement,
TS Eliot,

936
00:55:41,620 --> 00:55:44,620
started to attract
some blue-chip names,

937
00:55:44,620 --> 00:55:48,540
including the Royal Shakespeare
Company's Trevor Nunn,

938
00:55:48,540 --> 00:55:52,860
Judi Dench,
and the choreographer Gillian Lynne.

939
00:55:52,860 --> 00:55:57,820
# I lost my heart
to a starship trooper... #

940
00:55:58,060 --> 00:56:00,500
With no money and not even
a theatre,

941
00:56:00,500 --> 00:56:05,380
the search began for that impossibly
rare breed in 1980s Britain -

942
00:56:05,380 --> 00:56:07,820
dancers who could sing and act.

943
00:56:07,820 --> 00:56:11,940
First stop, Arlene Phillips,
the founder of Hot Gossip.

944
00:56:11,940 --> 00:56:16,660
Arlene suddenly says to me,
"There's a girl in my dance troupe,

945
00:56:16,660 --> 00:56:20,620
"her name's Sarah Brightman, she has
the voice to take on anyone."

946
00:56:20,620 --> 00:56:23,100
I remember she mentioned
Barbra Streisand.

947
00:56:23,100 --> 00:56:26,500
She said, "But that girl is going
to change the course of your life."

948
00:56:26,500 --> 00:56:28,740
And so I thought, "Huh?"

949
00:56:28,740 --> 00:56:31,540
And you'd just got
Starship Trooper out,

950
00:56:31,540 --> 00:56:34,220
which I thought was a great
pop record, but I never thought...

951
00:56:34,220 --> 00:56:36,100
So I thought nothing more of it.

952
00:56:36,100 --> 00:56:39,700
Yes. And then, of course,
Cats came along.

953
00:56:39,700 --> 00:56:43,220
And I remember the first time
we met, I played appallingly,

954
00:56:43,220 --> 00:56:47,460
and you came round to my flat, cos I
couldn't really believe it was you.

955
00:56:47,460 --> 00:56:50,020
You were so lovely. I remember
sitting on your sofa,

956
00:56:50,020 --> 00:56:53,460
looking at you, you were so lovely
and you were really quite nervous.

957
00:56:53,460 --> 00:56:55,540
I was extremely nervous.
And I was nervous too.

958
00:56:55,540 --> 00:56:58,820
I don't normally have people coming
round to my flat with blue hair.

959
00:56:58,820 --> 00:57:01,620
Good morning, everybody.
Can you all come onstage, please?

960
00:57:02,940 --> 00:57:06,540
We'll do a little bit of
cat warm-up! Cat dip.

961
00:57:06,540 --> 00:57:08,860
Sarah clearly impressed,

962
00:57:08,860 --> 00:57:12,300
and secured the role
of a cat called Jemima.

963
00:57:12,300 --> 00:57:14,220
Once the cast was assembled,

964
00:57:14,220 --> 00:57:18,260
the next challenge was for
Gillian Lynne to make them feline.

965
00:57:18,260 --> 00:57:21,140
I gave them a long and difficult
class every day

966
00:57:21,140 --> 00:57:25,900
so that we could find a way
to be cats, cos it's a tough show.

967
00:57:25,900 --> 00:57:31,060
And unless you have people going
flat-out and really, you know,

968
00:57:31,540 --> 00:57:36,340
practically breaking their leg and
really being very daring and brave,

969
00:57:36,340 --> 00:57:39,260
and at the same time
you are being a cat,

970
00:57:39,260 --> 00:57:43,260
which is not the same as
being a human, it's tough.

971
00:57:50,220 --> 00:57:55,260
I remember when you came on,
you played all these tunes for Cats,

972
00:57:55,260 --> 00:57:57,500
and I was thinking,
"How is this going to work?

973
00:57:57,500 --> 00:58:00,180
"There's a director from
the Royal Shakespeare Company,

974
00:58:00,180 --> 00:58:02,060
"there's Andrew playing these..."

975
00:58:02,060 --> 00:58:05,220
I could not envisage at all...

976
00:58:05,220 --> 00:58:08,260
And we still really didn't have
a theatre.

977
00:58:08,260 --> 00:58:10,940
And we looked at all... You know,
we looked at Her Majesty's,

978
00:58:10,940 --> 00:58:14,940
at Drury Lane and everything. Then
one day, at the tender age of 12,

979
00:58:14,940 --> 00:58:17,660
Andrew was doing his second
This Is Your Life...

980
00:58:17,660 --> 00:58:20,300
Tonight, Andrew Lloyd Webber,
this is your life.

981
00:58:20,300 --> 00:58:21,900
Thank you very much.

982
00:58:27,180 --> 00:58:31,540
This Is Your Life was recorded in
the West End's New London Theatre.

983
00:58:31,540 --> 00:58:35,700
Back in the '80s, it was used
as a television studio.

984
00:58:35,700 --> 00:58:39,300
But it wasn't the parade of friends
and relatives that captivated Andrew

985
00:58:39,300 --> 00:58:41,780
that evening. It was the theatre.

986
00:58:41,780 --> 00:58:43,780
He'd found his cats a home.

987
00:58:46,300 --> 00:58:49,580
Problem was, there was no money
to hire it.

988
00:58:49,580 --> 00:58:51,500
We couldn't get the money for it.

989
00:58:51,500 --> 00:58:55,220
There was an incredible meeting,
quite late on in the process.

990
00:58:55,220 --> 00:58:58,380
And Andrew said,
"Well, we haven't got the money,

991
00:58:58,380 --> 00:59:02,700
"so we've all got to go home tonight
and anyone who knows anyone with any

992
00:59:02,700 --> 00:59:04,100
"money, try and get at them."

993
00:59:09,700 --> 00:59:11,860
Desperation set in,

994
00:59:11,860 --> 00:59:14,700
so Lloyd Webber raised
a second mortgage on his house

995
00:59:14,700 --> 00:59:16,420
to secure the theatre.

996
00:59:18,660 --> 00:59:22,740
Two weeks before the first preview,
they moved into the New London,

997
00:59:22,740 --> 00:59:26,140
at which point Judi Dench,
who was playing Grizabella,

998
00:59:26,140 --> 00:59:29,060
snapped her Achilles tendon.

999
00:59:29,060 --> 00:59:31,860
They had to find a replacement,
and fast.

1000
00:59:33,220 --> 00:59:35,180
PIANO PLAYS

1001
00:59:38,340 --> 00:59:40,300
Damn! OK, thank you.

1002
00:59:40,300 --> 00:59:43,540
Luckily, Elaine Paige
happened to be free,

1003
00:59:43,540 --> 00:59:46,380
and agreed to take on
Judi Dench's role.

1004
00:59:47,540 --> 00:59:50,860
But all the mishaps and delays
that had plagued the production

1005
00:59:50,860 --> 00:59:52,620
had taken their toll.

1006
00:59:52,620 --> 00:59:55,540
We'd just seen a run-through
the night before.

1007
00:59:55,540 --> 00:59:58,020
We both said,
"There'll be just ridicule."

1008
00:59:58,020 --> 01:00:01,900
Cameron and I said, "People are just
going to... It's just hopeless."

1009
01:00:01,900 --> 01:00:04,500
So we sat Trevor down and we said,
"We're closing the show."

1010
01:00:04,500 --> 01:00:06,340
And Trevor said, "No, no, no,

1011
01:00:06,340 --> 01:00:09,780
"we'll just carry on rehearsals
tomorrow morning and..."

1012
01:00:09,780 --> 01:00:13,420
And Trevor's quite powerful,
and there's Cameron, you know,

1013
01:00:13,420 --> 01:00:17,660
now the powerful producer, and me,
the so-called powerful composer...

1014
01:00:17,660 --> 01:00:20,060
We just said, "OK."

1015
01:00:20,060 --> 01:00:21,700
And that was that!

1016
01:00:36,140 --> 01:00:39,420
The first preview night
finally arrived,

1017
01:00:39,420 --> 01:00:43,700
and, nervously, Andrew and Cameron
stood in the wings of the New London

1018
01:00:43,700 --> 01:00:46,700
and looked out at the expectant
crowd of theatre critics

1019
01:00:46,700 --> 01:00:48,940
who were sharpening their knives.

1020
01:00:50,300 --> 01:00:52,620
And it was an extraordinary thing,
really,

1021
01:00:52,620 --> 01:00:55,460
cos we were all waiting here
for the cats to go on

1022
01:00:55,460 --> 01:00:57,900
and none of us had a clue,
none of us had a clue

1023
01:00:57,900 --> 01:01:00,140
what the reaction was going to be.

1024
01:01:00,140 --> 01:01:02,780
We bade them good luck
and off they went,

1025
01:01:02,780 --> 01:01:06,460
and we went straight down to
the bar and ordered large drinks,

1026
01:01:06,460 --> 01:01:09,820
because we thought that was it,
it was going to be a disaster.

1027
01:01:13,540 --> 01:01:17,820
We did the overture and, of course,
we revolved the audience

1028
01:01:17,820 --> 01:01:20,460
and, of course, I suppose now,
with hindsight,

1029
01:01:20,460 --> 01:01:22,660
nobody expected that
that would happen - I mean,

1030
01:01:22,660 --> 01:01:25,140
it had never, ever been done before,

1031
01:01:25,140 --> 01:01:28,180
with a whole load of people
actually physically moving

1032
01:01:28,180 --> 01:01:30,220
through a building.

1033
01:01:30,220 --> 01:01:32,820
And they didn't realise
that they were moving either,

1034
01:01:32,820 --> 01:01:36,820
that was the thing. So suddenly,
when the first cat came out,

1035
01:01:36,820 --> 01:01:39,340
we were in a totally different
environment

1036
01:01:39,340 --> 01:01:41,300
to that that we started with.

1037
01:01:41,300 --> 01:01:44,340
# Jellicles would and Jellicles can

1038
01:01:44,340 --> 01:01:46,500
# Jellicles can and Jellicles do

1039
01:01:46,500 --> 01:01:49,660
# Jellicle cats and Jellicles would

1040
01:01:49,660 --> 01:01:51,500
# And Jellicles do... #

1041
01:01:53,700 --> 01:01:55,620
And the overture, I remember,

1042
01:01:55,620 --> 01:02:00,700
was actually greeted with a big
round of applause, and people were,

1043
01:02:00,700 --> 01:02:03,460
I think, genuinely,
utterly blown away.

1044
01:02:06,060 --> 01:02:08,580
And we heard the first cheer.

1045
01:02:08,580 --> 01:02:13,100
And then we listened a bit longer
and we heard this real...

1046
01:02:13,100 --> 01:02:15,700
You could feel the warmth coming,
you know?

1047
01:02:15,700 --> 01:02:19,780
So we crept back up
and the audience was going mad.

1048
01:02:19,780 --> 01:02:22,340
So we rushed straight back
to the bar and had another one...

1049
01:02:23,420 --> 01:02:24,620
To celebrate.

1050
01:02:24,620 --> 01:02:34,340
# Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats

1051
01:02:34,340 --> 01:02:36,580
# Jellicle songs
for Jellicle cats. #

1052
01:02:37,980 --> 01:02:41,340
And at the end, it was just like
everybody rose up,

1053
01:02:41,340 --> 01:02:45,180
the whole theatre, and just
applauded and screamed,

1054
01:02:45,180 --> 01:02:48,060
and it was like,
"God, nobody expected that."

1055
01:02:48,060 --> 01:02:51,380
Already you could tell
the show was going to be a hit.

1056
01:02:51,380 --> 01:02:54,500
What we didn't know,
until a few weeks later,

1057
01:02:54,500 --> 01:02:56,700
was it was going to become
a phenomena.

1058
01:02:57,740 --> 01:03:00,180
# Touch me

1059
01:03:00,180 --> 01:03:05,220
# It's so easy to leave me

1060
01:03:05,220 --> 01:03:10,100
# All alone with the memory

1061
01:03:10,100 --> 01:03:15,340
# Of my days in the sun... #

1062
01:03:16,220 --> 01:03:18,860
The phenomena was not
just box office.

1063
01:03:18,860 --> 01:03:22,940
Within days of the opening, there
were long queues for Cats T-shirts,

1064
01:03:22,940 --> 01:03:25,580
signalling a merchandising sensation

1065
01:03:25,580 --> 01:03:28,540
that musical theatre
had never seen before.

1066
01:03:28,540 --> 01:03:33,460
# A new day

1067
01:03:33,700 --> 01:03:38,940
# Has begun. #

1068
01:03:47,900 --> 01:03:52,260
On October the 7th, 1982,
Cats opened on Broadway.

1069
01:03:52,260 --> 01:03:53,980
It was a huge hit.

1070
01:03:55,380 --> 01:03:58,220
But success was tinged with sadness.

1071
01:04:03,380 --> 01:04:06,980
Back home, Mum rang to say
Dad's operation had gone well.

1072
01:04:09,820 --> 01:04:12,340
I bought dad a Walkman
plus a few cassettes,

1073
01:04:12,340 --> 01:04:14,900
including Rachmaninov's
First Piano Concerto.

1074
01:04:20,060 --> 01:04:21,460
Dad donned the headphones

1075
01:04:21,460 --> 01:04:23,860
and was thoroughly enjoying
the first movement,

1076
01:04:23,860 --> 01:04:27,180
when he suddenly said,
"Andrew, what key is this in?"

1077
01:04:28,540 --> 01:04:29,900
I said, "G flat minor."

1078
01:04:30,980 --> 01:04:32,380
Dad shook his head.

1079
01:04:32,380 --> 01:04:34,820
"Have you still not learned
the difference

1080
01:04:34,820 --> 01:04:36,460
"between G flat and F sharp?"

1081
01:04:37,860 --> 01:04:40,820
These were the last words
I remember him saying to me.

1082
01:04:44,580 --> 01:04:46,900
William died the next day.

1083
01:04:46,900 --> 01:04:49,500
He was only 67.

1084
01:04:49,500 --> 01:04:54,500
But his legacy was to be the guiding
spirit of Andrew's next project.

1085
01:04:57,580 --> 01:05:02,660
# Pie Jesu

1086
01:05:02,820 --> 01:05:08,140
# Pie Jesu... #

1087
01:05:10,100 --> 01:05:13,980
In the winter of 1982,
Andrew's life began to unravel.

1088
01:05:13,980 --> 01:05:16,420
He was grieving for his father...

1089
01:05:19,540 --> 01:05:22,660
..and then fell in love
with one of his Cats.

1090
01:05:25,220 --> 01:05:27,860
Then I began writing
the Requiem Mass

1091
01:05:27,860 --> 01:05:30,740
and, of course, you were beginning
to really, really...

1092
01:05:30,740 --> 01:05:33,380
I would lock you in your room,
do you remember that?

1093
01:05:33,380 --> 01:05:37,820
I do. "Just keep at it," I said,
"it's all there, it really is."

1094
01:05:37,820 --> 01:05:40,660
It's the one piece, you know,
that I'd love to go over again,

1095
01:05:40,660 --> 01:05:42,900
because I don't think
I got it completely right.

1096
01:05:42,900 --> 01:05:45,460
And you were very, very passionate
about the piece.

1097
01:05:45,460 --> 01:05:48,820
Um, and I think that's what
shines through,

1098
01:05:48,820 --> 01:05:52,020
through moments of it,
and especially the Pie Jesu.

1099
01:05:57,540 --> 01:06:00,380
You know, the thing that I always
think when I look back at it is

1100
01:06:00,380 --> 01:06:04,420
how extraordinary that Pie Jesu,
which I never thought of, you know,

1101
01:06:04,420 --> 01:06:08,700
as anything that would ever be
a stand-alone... Piece, yes.

1102
01:06:08,700 --> 01:06:10,860
And, of course, that's really
the piece

1103
01:06:10,860 --> 01:06:12,740
everybody remembers from it now.

1104
01:06:12,740 --> 01:06:17,980
# Qui tollis peccata mundi

1105
01:06:19,860 --> 01:06:25,100
# Dona eis requiem... #

1106
01:06:28,460 --> 01:06:33,060
Pie Jesu reached number one in the
UK charts, and its income alone

1107
01:06:33,060 --> 01:06:36,100
could have kept the composer
living relatively comfortably

1108
01:06:36,100 --> 01:06:37,780
for the rest of his life.

1109
01:06:39,620 --> 01:06:40,940
The melody...

1110
01:06:48,500 --> 01:06:51,860
I mean, I was on my own turf
with that, but I didn't...

1111
01:06:53,380 --> 01:06:56,620
Anyway, it would have been lovely
sung by the Everly Brothers.

1112
01:06:56,620 --> 01:06:59,260
I mean, could you imagine...

1113
01:06:59,260 --> 01:07:01,460
..their harmonies on that?

1114
01:07:04,500 --> 01:07:06,140
I mean, that absolutely fits...

1115
01:07:12,300 --> 01:07:14,300
Can you imagine Don and Phil
doing that?

1116
01:07:14,300 --> 01:07:16,100
That really would have been
something.

1117
01:07:20,100 --> 01:07:24,140
In November 1983,
Andrew divorced Sarah Hugill,

1118
01:07:24,140 --> 01:07:26,260
his wife of nearly 12 years,

1119
01:07:26,260 --> 01:07:31,500
and married Sarah Brightman on the
afternoon of March the 27th, 1984...

1120
01:07:34,020 --> 01:07:38,860
..the very same day that
Starlight Express opened in London.

1121
01:07:38,860 --> 01:07:42,060
# Starlight Express

1122
01:07:42,060 --> 01:07:44,140
# You must confess

1123
01:07:44,140 --> 01:07:48,220
# Are you real? Yes or no? #

1124
01:07:48,220 --> 01:07:50,860
Performed entirely on roller skates,

1125
01:07:50,860 --> 01:07:54,500
it's the story about a child's dream
in which his toy train set

1126
01:07:54,500 --> 01:07:56,140
comes to life.

1127
01:07:56,140 --> 01:07:58,220
# There are dark days ahead... #

1128
01:07:58,220 --> 01:07:59,780
With the opening of Starlight,

1129
01:07:59,780 --> 01:08:03,460
Lloyd Webber now held the record
of three shows on Broadway

1130
01:08:03,460 --> 01:08:05,020
and four in London.

1131
01:08:05,020 --> 01:08:08,700
But his marriage to Sarah Brightman
would be the catalyst

1132
01:08:08,700 --> 01:08:11,780
for his next show - a project
that would eclipse

1133
01:08:11,780 --> 01:08:14,020
everything he'd written before.

1134
01:08:14,020 --> 01:08:16,260
I was sitting in the bath one day,

1135
01:08:16,260 --> 01:08:18,660
one morning, and Andrew says,

1136
01:08:18,660 --> 01:08:22,900
"Cameron, what do you think about us
doing Phantom of the Opera?"

1137
01:08:30,740 --> 01:08:33,700
Andrew came across a copy of
the French novel while

1138
01:08:33,700 --> 01:08:37,180
working with Sarah on Requiem.
He thought his new wife

1139
01:08:37,180 --> 01:08:40,100
would be perfect in the lead role
of Christine.

1140
01:08:40,100 --> 01:08:43,860
I remember reading it and it ending
up with Christine's ring

1141
01:08:43,860 --> 01:08:46,700
being on the Phantom's finger
and I thought, "Oh, my God,

1142
01:08:46,700 --> 01:08:49,540
"it's a high romance." It's
a romance. It is a high romance.

1143
01:08:53,820 --> 01:08:58,860
And it was a huge risk
for a composer to say,

1144
01:08:58,900 --> 01:09:01,780
"I've written a show,

1145
01:09:01,780 --> 01:09:04,220
"but my wife's going to star in it."

1146
01:09:04,220 --> 01:09:07,820
And I think Sarah
was the remarkable catalyst,

1147
01:09:07,820 --> 01:09:11,620
the fact that she and Andrew had
this extraordinary relationship,

1148
01:09:11,620 --> 01:09:16,180
all touched on the ingredients that
were necessary to explode this

1149
01:09:16,180 --> 01:09:18,580
and give him a reason
for writing it.

1150
01:09:22,420 --> 01:09:24,540
The story of Phantom is about

1151
01:09:24,540 --> 01:09:29,100
a beautiful soprano called
Christine, who becomes the obsession

1152
01:09:29,100 --> 01:09:33,860
of a mysterious, disfigured composer
who haunts the labyrinth

1153
01:09:33,860 --> 01:09:37,020
of passageways beneath
the Paris Opera.

1154
01:09:37,020 --> 01:09:39,340
And so, I mean, there I was,

1155
01:09:39,340 --> 01:09:42,180
faced with the possibility of
writing the kind of melodies

1156
01:09:42,180 --> 01:09:45,020
I've always wanted to do. So, I
mean, out comes All I Ask Of You...

1157
01:09:48,260 --> 01:09:49,660
I mean...

1158
01:09:54,980 --> 01:09:58,020
I mean, it's wonderful.
I'm doing all the sort of...

1159
01:09:58,020 --> 01:09:59,980
..all those kind of harmonies.

1160
01:09:59,980 --> 01:10:01,940
And I just let myself go.

1161
01:10:01,940 --> 01:10:06,940
# All I ask for is one love

1162
01:10:06,940 --> 01:10:10,180
# One lifetime... #

1163
01:10:10,180 --> 01:10:13,580
And then, you see, I had this idea
that wouldn't it be great

1164
01:10:13,580 --> 01:10:15,820
if we started
in an old, old opera house

1165
01:10:15,820 --> 01:10:18,020
which was deserted for some reason,

1166
01:10:18,020 --> 01:10:19,980
and they were auctioning
off the contents

1167
01:10:19,980 --> 01:10:22,580
and one of the items
was a chandelier...?

1168
01:10:24,420 --> 01:10:27,420
MUSIC: Overture
from Phantom Of The Opera

1169
01:10:30,940 --> 01:10:35,180
So, what if it's in pieces on
the stage and it reassembles

1170
01:10:35,180 --> 01:10:37,820
and rises up over the audience?

1171
01:10:45,540 --> 01:10:47,460
And I just thought, "Oh, yeah!"

1172
01:10:47,460 --> 01:10:48,980
And that's, of course, when I got...

1173
01:10:48,980 --> 01:10:52,500
PLAYS MAIN MOTIF

1174
01:10:52,500 --> 01:10:54,540
I thought,
"We're off to the races now."

1175
01:10:54,540 --> 01:10:56,540
PLAYS MAIN THEME

1176
01:10:57,900 --> 01:10:59,460
And so on.

1177
01:10:59,460 --> 01:11:02,860
And it still is a moment,
I have to say, every time I see it,

1178
01:11:02,860 --> 01:11:05,260
it still is the moment I think
that I'm never going to top

1179
01:11:05,260 --> 01:11:07,020
that as a theatrical idea.

1180
01:11:11,940 --> 01:11:14,300
Lloyd Webber started
working on Phantom

1181
01:11:14,300 --> 01:11:16,820
with the Starlight writer
Richard Stilgoe.

1182
01:11:16,820 --> 01:11:18,660
But after months of rewrites,

1183
01:11:18,660 --> 01:11:22,020
the pair agreed that Andrew
should find another lyricist.

1184
01:11:29,860 --> 01:11:33,540
His name was Charles Hart
and he was only 25.

1185
01:11:34,660 --> 01:11:37,340
It was a cauldron, really,
of tension,

1186
01:11:37,340 --> 01:11:39,180
because there was so much at stake.

1187
01:11:39,180 --> 01:11:41,820
But at the same time,
it became apparent to me

1188
01:11:41,820 --> 01:11:43,620
as I worked on it that I had,

1189
01:11:43,620 --> 01:11:46,660
of all the people involved
in it, the least to lose.

1190
01:11:46,660 --> 01:11:48,980
Because the worst thing
that could happen to me

1191
01:11:48,980 --> 01:11:50,820
would be I would go back
to signing on,

1192
01:11:50,820 --> 01:11:52,540
which is what I was
doing at the time.

1193
01:11:53,980 --> 01:11:56,860
While Lloyd Webber took a big risk
with the lyricist,

1194
01:11:56,860 --> 01:12:01,900
he entrusted the staging of Phantom
to a safe pair of hands -

1195
01:12:02,140 --> 01:12:04,300
the Evita director, Hal Prince.

1196
01:12:05,580 --> 01:12:09,180
The problem was, Hal had
no Phantom to direct.

1197
01:12:10,780 --> 01:12:14,180
Andrew called from London and said,
"I've got an idea,

1198
01:12:14,180 --> 01:12:17,580
"and I think it's a terrific one."

1199
01:12:17,580 --> 01:12:20,420
And he said, "Michael Crawford."

1200
01:12:20,420 --> 01:12:23,580
And I said, "Michael Crawford?
Can he do this sort of thing?"

1201
01:12:23,580 --> 01:12:25,700
He said, "Get on a plane
and fly over

1202
01:12:25,700 --> 01:12:27,540
"and we'll have him sing for us."

1203
01:12:27,540 --> 01:12:29,340
So I did, immediately.

1204
01:12:29,340 --> 01:12:32,700
And so he sang a little for us and
you thought, my God, he's terrific.

1205
01:12:32,700 --> 01:12:33,780
That's it.

1206
01:12:34,980 --> 01:12:36,780
Frank!

1207
01:12:36,780 --> 01:12:40,660
The decision to cast
Michael Crawford was a bold move.

1208
01:12:42,380 --> 01:12:45,540
In the '80s, he was best known
to UK audiences

1209
01:12:45,540 --> 01:12:50,540
as the hapless Frank Spencer
in Some Mothers Do Have 'Em.

1210
01:12:50,700 --> 01:12:53,060
The question was
how to make him say yes.

1211
01:12:53,060 --> 01:12:55,180
It didn't take a lot of persuading,

1212
01:12:55,180 --> 01:12:58,140
because when I played him
the overture, which I'd recorded,

1213
01:12:58,140 --> 01:13:01,220
and told him about
the chandelier idea, he was in.

1214
01:13:01,220 --> 01:13:05,900
# Night-time sharpens

1215
01:13:05,900 --> 01:13:10,580
# Heightens each sensation

1216
01:13:10,580 --> 01:13:13,980
# Darkness wakes

1217
01:13:13,980 --> 01:13:18,740
# And stirs imagination... #

1218
01:13:18,740 --> 01:13:22,100
The whole point of
The Phantom of the Opera

1219
01:13:22,100 --> 01:13:25,380
is that Christine is obsessed
by the Phantom.

1220
01:13:25,380 --> 01:13:28,460
It's a relationship that is there,
made through music.

1221
01:13:28,460 --> 01:13:32,900
And also, she finds him incredibly,
incredibly charismatic.

1222
01:13:38,620 --> 01:13:41,420
There's nothing very likeable
about him, really. He's a...

1223
01:13:42,940 --> 01:13:47,700
He's an... You know, an egocentric
who kills people,

1224
01:13:47,700 --> 01:13:49,700
mesmerises,
virtually date-rapes women,

1225
01:13:49,700 --> 01:13:53,460
and in the end his only saving grace
really is his sense of decor.

1226
01:13:53,460 --> 01:13:55,660
You know? His pad is amazing.

1227
01:14:03,180 --> 01:14:05,820
Amazing as the Phantom's pad was,

1228
01:14:05,820 --> 01:14:08,700
the sinister opulence of
the Paris Opera House,

1229
01:14:08,700 --> 01:14:11,340
populated by swinging chandeliers,

1230
01:14:11,340 --> 01:14:14,700
floating gondoliers
and a grand staircase,

1231
01:14:14,700 --> 01:14:17,820
presented a whole host
of technical challenges.

1232
01:14:19,220 --> 01:14:21,220
As a set, it's quite simple.

1233
01:14:21,220 --> 01:14:23,500
It's a black box
with bits and pieces in it.

1234
01:14:23,500 --> 01:14:25,500
But those bits and pieces moved...
Had to move...

1235
01:14:25,500 --> 01:14:26,660
..quite complicatedly.

1236
01:14:26,660 --> 01:14:28,980
Yes, at the time,
because of course, nowadays,

1237
01:14:28,980 --> 01:14:31,140
with technical things that we have,
it's easier.

1238
01:14:31,140 --> 01:14:33,460
But then...
Because the dress rehearsals

1239
01:14:33,460 --> 01:14:35,500
were quite hairy, weren't they?

1240
01:14:35,500 --> 01:14:39,300
Well, because of the sets,
and it was the chandelier...

1241
01:14:39,300 --> 01:14:40,900
Yes. ..which was the main fear.

1242
01:14:40,900 --> 01:14:43,140
And the costumes,
the costumes were wonderful,

1243
01:14:43,140 --> 01:14:45,260
but, of course, they were complex.

1244
01:14:45,260 --> 01:14:47,500
They were very real
and they had to...

1245
01:14:47,500 --> 01:14:49,940
Everything had to move, it was all
moving parts, all the time.

1246
01:14:49,940 --> 01:14:52,380
Everything. That's the thing
about the whole production...

1247
01:14:52,380 --> 01:14:56,260
And it was very voluptuous,
so it had to move seamlessly.

1248
01:14:56,260 --> 01:14:59,460
And I think that was where...
That was the problem,

1249
01:14:59,460 --> 01:15:01,100
was getting it to do all of that.

1250
01:15:09,620 --> 01:15:12,700
September the 27th, 1986,

1251
01:15:12,700 --> 01:15:15,900
was the night when the infamous
Phantom dress rehearsal

1252
01:15:15,900 --> 01:15:17,940
entered into West End mythology.

1253
01:15:19,140 --> 01:15:20,540
The chandelier got stuck.

1254
01:15:21,980 --> 01:15:24,220
Many took this as an ill omen.

1255
01:15:24,220 --> 01:15:25,660
But on the opening night,

1256
01:15:25,660 --> 01:15:30,540
the set moved like clockwork
and Phantom became a musical legend

1257
01:15:30,540 --> 01:15:33,260
and a once in a generation
smash hit.

1258
01:15:38,860 --> 01:15:42,500
# Let your soul take you

1259
01:15:42,500 --> 01:15:47,740
# Where you long to be

1260
01:15:53,060 --> 01:15:58,140
# Only then can you belong
to me... #

1261
01:16:05,380 --> 01:16:08,140
It was a nuclear explosion...

1262
01:16:09,300 --> 01:16:13,580
..of heightened emotion.

1263
01:16:13,580 --> 01:16:15,660
But if it hadn't had that,

1264
01:16:15,660 --> 01:16:18,340
if he hadn't found a way of
channelling all things,

1265
01:16:18,340 --> 01:16:21,660
both in his private life
and his creative life, into that,

1266
01:16:21,660 --> 01:16:25,180
I don't think the show, however
beautiful, however well staged,

1267
01:16:25,180 --> 01:16:27,020
would have ever had the life it did.

1268
01:16:40,100 --> 01:16:43,460
Three, two, one...

1269
01:16:50,780 --> 01:16:54,060
Fast forward three decades
to January 2018.

1270
01:16:58,620 --> 01:17:01,780
Phantom has reigned
on Broadway for 30 years,

1271
01:17:01,780 --> 01:17:04,740
and Andrew and Cameron
are in town to throw a party.

1272
01:17:08,460 --> 01:17:10,460
As birthday celebrations go,

1273
01:17:10,460 --> 01:17:11,820
they don't come much bigger

1274
01:17:11,820 --> 01:17:13,820
than lighting up
the Empire State Building.

1275
01:17:17,340 --> 01:17:21,140
Many award-winning and critically
acclaimed shows followed -

1276
01:17:21,140 --> 01:17:24,500
Aspects of love,
The Woman in White,

1277
01:17:24,500 --> 01:17:26,220
Sunset Boulevard,

1278
01:17:26,220 --> 01:17:28,340
and Love Never Dies -

1279
01:17:28,340 --> 01:17:30,820
but none would match
the success of Phantom.

1280
01:17:33,620 --> 01:17:36,260
Andrew's relationship
with Sarah Brightman

1281
01:17:36,260 --> 01:17:37,900
didn't last the course.

1282
01:17:37,900 --> 01:17:40,420
It ended after publicity
over her affair

1283
01:17:40,420 --> 01:17:42,340
with the Phantom keyboard player.

1284
01:17:43,780 --> 01:17:45,140
A few years later,

1285
01:17:45,140 --> 01:17:49,420
he spotted the woman who would
become his lifelong partner on TV.

1286
01:17:50,700 --> 01:17:52,940
She was a professional rider.

1287
01:17:52,940 --> 01:17:54,780
She was a three-day eventer.

1288
01:17:54,780 --> 01:17:58,220
And I remember once seeing a race
before the Grand National,

1289
01:17:58,220 --> 01:18:01,460
and I remembered this girl
in the pouring rain underneath

1290
01:18:01,460 --> 01:18:03,700
the old Becher's Brook fence,

1291
01:18:03,700 --> 01:18:06,540
which was about three times
her size,

1292
01:18:06,540 --> 01:18:09,140
being very funny and saying,
"Where's my hair and make-up?"

1293
01:18:13,180 --> 01:18:17,300
Andrew and Madeleine have been
together now for nearly 30 years,

1294
01:18:17,300 --> 01:18:18,740
and since their marriage,

1295
01:18:18,740 --> 01:18:21,380
Madeleine has played
an increasingly active role

1296
01:18:21,380 --> 01:18:23,740
in the running of
The Really Useful Company.

1297
01:18:25,100 --> 01:18:29,300
All in all, it would seem
that he's led a charmed existence.

1298
01:18:29,300 --> 01:18:32,020
But the last few years
have proved challenging.

1299
01:18:33,620 --> 01:18:35,780
I think I got very depressed
when, recently,

1300
01:18:35,780 --> 01:18:37,420
when I really was pretty ill.

1301
01:18:37,420 --> 01:18:40,060
I mean, I had...

1302
01:18:40,060 --> 01:18:42,460
I don't want to bore anybody
with it,

1303
01:18:42,460 --> 01:18:44,580
but after I got cancer, I then...

1304
01:18:44,580 --> 01:18:46,940
That was fine, and that was cured.

1305
01:18:46,940 --> 01:18:50,220
But I then had issues with my back.

1306
01:18:50,220 --> 01:18:55,380
# Stephen Ward,
your friendly osteopath

1307
01:18:55,820 --> 01:18:59,540
# I can fix your lower back
for you... #

1308
01:18:59,540 --> 01:19:01,780
The timing couldn't have been worse.

1309
01:19:01,780 --> 01:19:04,700
Andrew was working on
the musical Stephen Ward,

1310
01:19:04,700 --> 01:19:06,820
a miscarriage of justice story

1311
01:19:06,820 --> 01:19:09,580
about the man who became
a public scapegoat

1312
01:19:09,580 --> 01:19:13,180
during the Profumo affair in 1963.

1313
01:19:13,180 --> 01:19:14,860
# 1963! #

1314
01:19:14,860 --> 01:19:16,780
Stephen Ward. Hello.

1315
01:19:16,780 --> 01:19:18,260
Do you mind coming with us, sir?

1316
01:19:18,260 --> 01:19:21,300
I don't see why I should have to
take the rap for your bit of fun.

1317
01:19:21,300 --> 01:19:25,300
# Sometimes that's
what pain can do... #

1318
01:19:25,300 --> 01:19:28,220
Stephen Ward was
an osteopath by profession.

1319
01:19:28,220 --> 01:19:30,860
That was an irony not lost
on Lloyd Webber,

1320
01:19:30,860 --> 01:19:34,100
suffering severe back pain
at the time.

1321
01:19:34,100 --> 01:19:35,780
When I was doing Stephen Ward,
I was...

1322
01:19:35,780 --> 01:19:38,140
I mean, I was doing
the musical on morphine.

1323
01:19:38,140 --> 01:19:42,500
And I advise you not to do
a musical on morphine, actually.

1324
01:19:42,500 --> 01:19:44,220
It's not the most brilliant idea.

1325
01:19:44,220 --> 01:19:46,580
It doesn't actually
help the mind hugely.

1326
01:19:47,820 --> 01:19:50,380
It didn't help
the box office either.

1327
01:19:50,380 --> 01:19:53,340
The reviews were mixed
and the audience didn't come.

1328
01:19:54,380 --> 01:19:59,620
When Stephen Ward opened in December
2013, it ran for just four months.

1329
01:20:01,340 --> 01:20:05,260
I think to myself, "Why did I get
so low?" But it was just the pain.

1330
01:20:05,260 --> 01:20:09,820
And, you know, it was not being
able to move half the time.

1331
01:20:09,820 --> 01:20:12,180
And I just thought, "It's all over."

1332
01:20:12,180 --> 01:20:15,020
And I thought,
"If I can't do my musicals

1333
01:20:15,020 --> 01:20:17,540
"and I can't do any more,
why bother?"

1334
01:20:19,180 --> 01:20:23,780
Despite these dark periods,
Andrew did manage to recover.

1335
01:20:23,780 --> 01:20:25,980
He was full of energy once again

1336
01:20:25,980 --> 01:20:29,100
and rediscovered his passion
for musical theatre.

1337
01:20:31,980 --> 01:20:33,860
# Stick it to the man! #

1338
01:20:33,860 --> 01:20:37,260
His wife, Madeleine, gave him
the idea for a new musical.

1339
01:20:39,300 --> 01:20:42,220
The School of Rock was
Andrew Lloyd Webber's comeback.

1340
01:20:46,940 --> 01:20:50,460
It follows Dewey Finn,
an out-of-work rock guitarist

1341
01:20:50,460 --> 01:20:53,420
who pretends to be a teacher
at a private school.

1342
01:21:00,060 --> 01:21:02,460
That's great.
Well done. Bravo, guys.

1343
01:21:02,460 --> 01:21:06,740
Try something for me. Why don't you
come in, around, for the beginning?

1344
01:21:06,740 --> 01:21:10,820
Just come in. So it's all very,
very cosy, and it's all very smile,

1345
01:21:10,820 --> 01:21:13,220
lots of smiles to each other,
but it's all this,

1346
01:21:13,220 --> 01:21:15,660
and then when you get to
the big moment with the drum solo,

1347
01:21:15,660 --> 01:21:18,100
go back to your marks
and then rock out.

1348
01:21:18,100 --> 01:21:20,660
When we started out
with School of Rock on Broadway,

1349
01:21:20,660 --> 01:21:23,900
the audience didn't think that
the children were playing live.

1350
01:21:23,900 --> 01:21:28,060
But I tell you, every single note
that those children play is live.

1351
01:21:28,060 --> 01:21:31,220
And that's the joy of it,
because, in the end,

1352
01:21:31,220 --> 01:21:35,220
the very simple message of School
of Rock is that music empowers.

1353
01:21:38,580 --> 01:21:41,260
A few miles north
of London's West End

1354
01:21:41,260 --> 01:21:43,460
can be found another school of rock.

1355
01:21:46,340 --> 01:21:48,420
This is Highbury Grove,

1356
01:21:48,420 --> 01:21:51,420
which hosts an extraordinary,
pioneering project

1357
01:21:51,420 --> 01:21:54,020
called the Music in Secondary
Schools Trust.

1358
01:21:55,260 --> 01:21:57,300
Partly funded by Lloyd Webber,

1359
01:21:57,300 --> 01:22:00,260
the school uses music
to teach life skills,

1360
01:22:00,260 --> 01:22:03,740
improve exam results
and combat gang culture.

1361
01:22:06,020 --> 01:22:08,060
# Produced on this road

1362
01:22:08,060 --> 01:22:11,780
# A famous music man
and the one you should know

1363
01:22:11,780 --> 01:22:15,460
# I think of all the cattle
that pass by the place... #

1364
01:22:19,820 --> 01:22:21,860
Great, now... Well done, brilliant.

1365
01:22:21,860 --> 01:22:25,940
Now, it's fun that you're doing it
all on real instruments as well.

1366
01:22:25,940 --> 01:22:29,020
But I always think that
the one thing to remember

1367
01:22:29,020 --> 01:22:33,220
with real instruments is,
you can just play them, you know?

1368
01:22:33,220 --> 01:22:36,540
You don't have to feel
at all inhibited.

1369
01:22:36,540 --> 01:22:38,580
In the end, the one thing
about music is

1370
01:22:38,580 --> 01:22:41,340
that you don't have to be
a professional musician.

1371
01:22:41,340 --> 01:22:44,020
I mean, I don't know if any
of you ever would want to be.

1372
01:22:44,020 --> 01:22:48,940
But music is the one thing that
keeps us all together, I believe.

1373
01:22:48,940 --> 01:22:53,580
And I'm just thrilled to hear you
having such a good time with it all.

1374
01:22:53,580 --> 01:22:56,020
Andrew Lloyd Webber
has never forgotten

1375
01:22:56,020 --> 01:22:59,060
the strong foundation
music gave him as a child,

1376
01:22:59,060 --> 01:23:02,700
and is now determined that
as many children as possible

1377
01:23:02,700 --> 01:23:05,940
get similar opportunities,
in a world where music education

1378
01:23:05,940 --> 01:23:08,420
is seriously under threat.

1379
01:23:08,420 --> 01:23:11,860
What really impressed me, Truda,
about what you were doing here

1380
01:23:11,860 --> 01:23:15,700
at Highbury was not that you were
turning these kids into musicians,

1381
01:23:15,700 --> 01:23:18,340
but that you were using
music to empower them.

1382
01:23:18,340 --> 01:23:21,100
Absolutely. So it's a vehicle
for transformation,

1383
01:23:21,100 --> 01:23:24,180
that what it's teaching young people
is discipline -

1384
01:23:24,180 --> 01:23:26,860
they have to practise,
they have to bring their instrument,

1385
01:23:26,860 --> 01:23:28,100
they have to look after it.

1386
01:23:28,100 --> 01:23:30,380
Every child in this school
has had three years

1387
01:23:30,380 --> 01:23:32,820
of classical music education.
That is amazing.

1388
01:23:32,820 --> 01:23:35,340
Everybody does it,
and when everybody does it,

1389
01:23:35,340 --> 01:23:36,620
kids don't opt out.

1390
01:23:36,620 --> 01:23:39,540
It's normal. It has normalised
for every child

1391
01:23:39,540 --> 01:23:41,460
what classical music is.

1392
01:23:47,540 --> 01:23:49,980
So you have no...
I have no Government funding.

1393
01:23:49,980 --> 01:23:53,340
I've had nothing, and we've
reached 5,000 young people.

1394
01:23:53,340 --> 01:23:56,140
Wow. All through philanthropists

1395
01:23:56,140 --> 01:23:58,980
and people who are
absolutely passionate.

1396
01:23:58,980 --> 01:24:03,420
It is a tragedy, what's happening
currently in our secondary schools.

1397
01:24:03,420 --> 01:24:04,740
Well, I completely agree.

1398
01:24:04,740 --> 01:24:07,700
I mean, I'm lucky, because
it was around me in my family

1399
01:24:07,700 --> 01:24:10,540
and music was around me
and the theatre was around me.

1400
01:24:10,540 --> 01:24:13,420
But you see what happens
when you take kids sometimes

1401
01:24:13,420 --> 01:24:16,220
who've never been near a theatre
for the first time... Yes.

1402
01:24:16,220 --> 01:24:19,700
And I despair that, you know...

1403
01:24:19,700 --> 01:24:22,540
I mean, we just make
a passionate plea that someday,

1404
01:24:22,540 --> 01:24:25,220
sometime, people will understand
just how vital it is.

1405
01:24:25,220 --> 01:24:27,500
And the work you've done here,
Truda, is extraordinary.

1406
01:24:27,500 --> 01:24:30,100
Thank you. Election broadcast. Yes!

1407
01:24:31,900 --> 01:24:35,340
So, now he feels it's time
to give something back.

1408
01:24:35,340 --> 01:24:38,740
And not just through music
education, but to theatre too.

1409
01:24:40,820 --> 01:24:45,860
It's no small irony that Andrew now
owns seven major West End theatres,

1410
01:24:45,860 --> 01:24:49,100
including the London Palladium
and the Cambridge Theatre.

1411
01:24:52,740 --> 01:24:55,820
But his favourite is
the Theatre Royal Drury Lane,

1412
01:24:55,820 --> 01:24:58,420
where he first fell
in love with musicals.

1413
01:25:00,340 --> 01:25:04,460
And his passion for architecture and
theatre has finally come together

1414
01:25:04,460 --> 01:25:06,660
in an ambitious restoration project

1415
01:25:06,660 --> 01:25:09,020
which he's working on
with Simon Thurley.

1416
01:25:10,260 --> 01:25:11,700
What we're walking in today

1417
01:25:11,700 --> 01:25:14,500
is this incredible sort of
Regency palace, really.

1418
01:25:14,500 --> 01:25:16,540
And it was a palace because,
as you know,

1419
01:25:16,540 --> 01:25:20,420
it was designed for the Royal family
to come here to the theatre.

1420
01:25:20,420 --> 01:25:22,740
Drury Lane has been
a working theatre

1421
01:25:22,740 --> 01:25:24,900
since the reign of Charles II,

1422
01:25:24,900 --> 01:25:27,540
but it's also a shrine to some
of the great writers

1423
01:25:27,540 --> 01:25:29,740
whose work has been staged here.

1424
01:25:29,740 --> 01:25:33,820
Well, let's go through
into the great rotunda.

1425
01:25:33,820 --> 01:25:36,860
I mean, wow. That's wow factor.

1426
01:25:39,060 --> 01:25:42,980
I quite like it. It's a sort of
Cenotaph to all these famous actors.

1427
01:25:42,980 --> 01:25:45,620
Yes. You've got these
statues of Garrick,

1428
01:25:45,620 --> 01:25:47,700
and it's a bit odd having
the statue of Shakespeare,

1429
01:25:47,700 --> 01:25:49,700
because obviously, he never
was involved here.

1430
01:25:49,700 --> 01:25:52,580
But you have these
incredible figures,

1431
01:25:52,580 --> 01:25:54,900
all of whom trod the boards
at the Lane.

1432
01:25:54,900 --> 01:25:58,060
Yeah. So where do we go from here?
We go the King's Route, I assume?

1433
01:25:58,060 --> 01:26:00,380
Let's go the... Yeah.
Well, you can go the King's Route.

1434
01:26:00,380 --> 01:26:01,620
Thank you. I will.

1435
01:26:04,500 --> 01:26:08,740
Front of house, the plan is to turn
this beautiful Regency room,

1436
01:26:08,740 --> 01:26:13,620
the grand saloon, into a social
space with a bar and restaurant.

1437
01:26:13,620 --> 01:26:15,660
But most of the money and effort

1438
01:26:15,660 --> 01:26:18,540
will be spent redesigning
the auditorium.

1439
01:26:19,940 --> 01:26:21,340
I don't suppose you remember

1440
01:26:21,340 --> 01:26:24,340
where you are sitting when you
watched... came to see My Fair Lady?

1441
01:26:24,340 --> 01:26:25,620
I think it was the upper circle.

1442
01:26:25,620 --> 01:26:28,060
I'm pretty sure
it was the upper circle.

1443
01:26:28,060 --> 01:26:29,700
And I have to say,

1444
01:26:29,700 --> 01:26:33,100
My Fair Lady looked pretty good,
because it was a great big show.

1445
01:26:40,180 --> 01:26:43,740
So, the whole purpose of
what I want to achieve here

1446
01:26:43,740 --> 01:26:47,140
is to make this an 1,800,
1,900-seater auditorium,

1447
01:26:47,140 --> 01:26:50,380
which is hugely more intimate
than it is today,

1448
01:26:50,380 --> 01:26:54,300
because if you look at this,
this is a vast, great cavern here,

1449
01:26:54,300 --> 01:26:57,700
and there is this gap between
the audience and the stage

1450
01:26:57,700 --> 01:26:59,740
which needs to be removed.

1451
01:26:59,740 --> 01:27:04,820
And the whole circle on both levels
here will come forward,

1452
01:27:04,820 --> 01:27:06,580
so the feeling of the auditorium

1453
01:27:06,580 --> 01:27:10,700
will be infinitely more intimate
than it is today.

1454
01:27:10,700 --> 01:27:13,780
We have got to recognise
it's a working theatre,

1455
01:27:13,780 --> 01:27:16,860
and it's got to be a theatre
that I leave fit for purpose

1456
01:27:16,860 --> 01:27:18,580
for the next couple of
hundred years.

1457
01:27:24,540 --> 01:27:26,540
That's long-term planning for you.

1458
01:27:27,580 --> 01:27:30,020
But it's not so surprising.

1459
01:27:30,020 --> 01:27:31,860
With brother Julian's help,

1460
01:27:31,860 --> 01:27:35,300
he started building his first
theatre in Harrington Court

1461
01:27:35,300 --> 01:27:37,940
over 60 years ago.

1462
01:27:37,940 --> 01:27:40,060
Nothing much has changed since then.

1463
01:27:41,780 --> 01:27:45,220
Andrew's love of melody
and passion for musicals

1464
01:27:45,220 --> 01:27:47,860
has barely wavered since childhood.

1465
01:27:50,020 --> 01:27:52,140
It's a kind of weird moment for me,
actually,

1466
01:27:52,140 --> 01:27:55,060
because I've got all of this
material sitting there...

1467
01:27:56,260 --> 01:27:58,900
..like kind of waifs and strays
looking for a home.

1468
01:27:58,900 --> 01:28:02,380
Yes, I think we've always...
The Lloyd Webber family,

1469
01:28:02,380 --> 01:28:06,420
especially from my mother's side,
has always loved a project.

1470
01:28:06,420 --> 01:28:09,620
If we don't have a project,
we're restless and we're not happy.

1471
01:28:09,620 --> 01:28:11,580
And Andrew...

1472
01:28:11,580 --> 01:28:14,100
..is very much like that.
He needs a subject,

1473
01:28:14,100 --> 01:28:18,260
and he will passionately find
and seek that subject.

1474
01:28:18,260 --> 01:28:21,420
So, Andrew has another show in him.

1475
01:28:21,420 --> 01:28:24,260
I have another show.
And there's a show after that too.

1476
01:28:24,260 --> 01:28:29,260
I just think we need
to keep working.

1477
01:28:29,260 --> 01:28:32,180
Have you got an idea that you're
not telling me about? Yes.

1478
01:28:33,820 --> 01:28:38,620
Absolutely. I can't. It's an idea
that I need to meet with,

1479
01:28:38,620 --> 01:28:41,060
because the character
is very much alive,

1480
01:28:41,060 --> 01:28:43,660
and I would need to talk
to that person.

1481
01:28:45,020 --> 01:28:49,260
MUSIC: Memory from Cats
by Andrew Lloyd Webber