With One Look I’ll Be May

Abstract

This chapter looks in greater detail at the career of Andrew Lloyd Webber, who commands many styles, freely moving from one to another within a single score. The Phantom Of the Opera (1986) dabbles in pastiche of vintage opera forms, yet its title song is disco. Evita (1978) opens with a choral requiem, which is dissonantly modern, but then Che Guevarra turns around and addresses the audience in rock. The through-sung scores set soothing melody right next to jagged recitative. Ultimately, Lloyd Webber's music is a paradox, and this is one reason why he has detractors. After Jesus Christ Superstar (1971) and Evita, Lloyd Webber’s subsequent projects attracted intense interest. Many people regarded Cats (1982) as a folly. But Cats proved irresistible then and after, in part because it turned pop opera joyful after the hieratic ceremonies of its two founding titles. Superstar is not a comedy and Evita's “comedy” is actually bitter irony; but Cats is all for fun, tempered only by the occasional solemnity.