Andrew Lloyd Webber : his life and works / [Michael Walsh]

Michael Walsh examines Lloyd Webber's personal motivations and professional methods and recounts his enduring influence on the development of the popular musical. Walsh covers the famous shows as well as Lloyd Webber's lesser-known works, such as Requiem and Jeeves, his only outright flop, which, nevertheless, in 1996 was revived successfully both in England and the United States as By Jeeves. This updated and enlarged version of the book takes the reader to the opening of Sunset Boulevard, through the long-running negotiations for the movie version of Evita, and right up to Lloyd Webber's latest musical, Whistle Down the Wind.

Going behind the scenes, Walsh tells of a middle-class boy who dropped out of Oxford and became an international superstar. He also relates Lloyd Webber's mercurial relationships with the press, his colleagues, and his collaborators, including lyricist Tim Rice, directors Trevor Nunn and Hal Prince, and leading ladies Elaine Paige, Sarah Brightman (his second wife), and Glenn Close. Finally, he charts Lloyd Weber's latest milestones - including a third marriage and a lordship - and his transition from composer to impresario to international business entrepreneur.