Is it really possible to like all the shows he's written? I ask this because unlike the Rodgers & Hammerstein oeuvre the Lloyd-Webber musicals mploy a myriad of musical styles, as if he were a chameleon. He can switch between rock, traditional Broadway style and pseudo-classical styles in his music and yet still be his distinctive self when he writes his musicals.
I say this because I get the sense that people form their impressions of him just by listening to and watching one show rather than listening to all the shows to get a broader perspective.
I'm thinking I could one day try and own the major cast albums of his shows but I'm feeling reluctant to carry the burden of doing so. I'm also a little concerned because Aspects of Love and Sunset Boulevard may turn out to put people in a pessimistic mood.

I like just about everything I've heard of ALW's. You're right-there is a diversity of style that you don't usually find with composers. It helps he's had a career that spans, how many-5 decades?

I also think there are people who will express hatred for the man no matter what he produces. They've decided that to admit the guy can write is to be a sellout. They're so busy worrying about other people's opinion that they refuse to admit they have ALW's greatest hits hardwired into their iPods.

I think that's actually one of the criticisms of him. He's very good at pastiching other people's styles (Latin music in Evita, Italian opera in Phantom, Jim Steinman in Whistle, and so on) but doesn't really have a style of his own. To the extent that there is a Lloyd Webber style, it can be summed up as "syrupy ballad".

I think that's an unfair criticism, but he does leave himself open to it.

And I definitely agree that owning all his cast albums is a worthy ambition if you want to get an all round picture of him as a composer, precisely because he does write in such a variety of styles and generally pulls it off.

I have at least one recording of each of his shows, basically all the major ones. Some of them are definately worth owning.

Aspects: The OBC is worth owning. There's a lot of boring recitative, but the main song numbers are generally fine, some of the great.

TBG: There are some few nice tunes but the lyrics are trash. Most of the music is also blah to embarassing.

By Jeeves: It's nice, but about 1/2 of a decent score. Northing sensational, for completists.

Cats: I have the OLC and OBC. A musicals enthusiats ought to have at least one recording of this, I guess. The one is as good as the other, imo.

Evita: Naw, HERE you have some great stuff! The Concept recording is awesome, as is the OBC. Both are essential. The OLC and Soundtrack are nice, but not necessary.

JCS: I guess most people would recommend the Concept Album. I don't like the fade outs, but it's essential, anyway. I have the Soundtrack, but don't like it much. I'd recommend the studio thing with Balsamo, Varla and Alice Cooper, haha, it feels verey theatrical. Which is something I prefer.

Joseph: Is a great show. I have only the recording with Jason Donovan, and don't feel the need for another recording.

The Likes Of Us: Now, this is REALLY for completists. There are some good songs, but the recording suffers very much from the narration not being separate from the song tracks.

POTO: I only own the OLC, with is important for historical reasons. I think the Canadian recordings gives a more enjoyable experience of the show, though, since most of the unmotivated snippets of recitative is weeded away.

Song & Dance: I reaaly love the OLC. The least pretentious of the ALW shows, and a lot of fun. The Sarah Brightman recording is slightly reworked to also include the Unexpected Song text for the When You Want To Fall In Love Tune. Either one is ok. The OBC has Bernadette Peters, but isn't very good. The one with Denise van Outen is incredibly bad, "updated" as it is.

StEx: it is embarassing in any of its incarnations, but the OLC is at times delicious cheese. The "new" recording, whoch is the other one I have, is awful in every respect. The three added songs are perhaps the worst trio of songs in the history of musical theatre.

Sunset Boulevard: I think the show is a bore fest, but it is decent compared to other ALW shows. The World Premiere recording is incredibly badly executed. But it has LuPone as Norma, which some people think is awesome. Personally I prefer Glenn Close in the American premiere recording, which is also a better listening experience. At any rate, I don't think SB is a musical everybody needs to have a recording of, much less two.

WDTW: Hate it. One or two ok songs, but mostly ugly.

TWIW: Hate it. Worst lyrics next after TBG, and nothing of interrest happens. Long, pointless ballads and no real focus. Badly recorded, as one cannot skip to the nice parts, everything's wowen into each other.

I havent heard everything alw done but generaly speaking the more I hear off him the more Id like the tunes and songs.

Newest favorites are songs like "music off the night" and "Getsheman" (or whatever its called, I like to call the song "Why Should I die?")

I could recomend the Australian recordings that exist.

The Cats one is the best, and most complete, English recording of the show, and is still the same as the show that tours now.

Evita, I don't know if it has ever been released other than original LP, but it is fantastic, and Eva is senstional, with a very good mix of venom and compassion.

Starlight Express is lovely, albeit lacking some of the best songs (Lotta Locomotion, One Rock and Roll Too Many). It is the same as the german show, so no Belle, but it does have both of Caboose's solos.

Superstar, I have the 92 concert cast, and it's fantastic. Very rock, and Herrod's song is much better than any other version. I want the original cast with Jon English as Judus, but I can't find it.

There isn't an OBC recording of Aspects. There was only a London cast album of the show.

Thank you for helping me make sense of this. I know I could occasionally toy with the idea but I don't really think I could shoulder the impossibly heavy burden of owning all the major shows and listening to them occasionally.

Sunset Boulevard is not strong, it has a moving story and a very moving story, but it is a weakling. BUT I think everybody ought to have the American recording with Glenn Close, if only because of the great performances of Glenn Close, George Hearn, Judi Kuhn and Alan Campbell. Also the orchestrations might be the greatest ever written be Andrew Lloyd Webber. I saw Sunset Boulevard in London last spring, and it is the greatest theatrical experience I've ever witnessed.

The thing about Andrew Lloyd-Webber is that he never found a long-term collaborator, so that is another reason for the inconsistency in his shows.

In my opinion, Lloyd-Webber is only ever as good as the lyricists and source material he chooses to work with.

Tim Rice has a dry British wit, and a finely tuned sense of irony which is a good foil for Lloyd-Webber's more schmaltzy tendencies as a composer. What really distinguishes "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita" is not simply Lloyd-Webber's catchy tunes, but Rice's intellectual ambition in tackling such big themes, as well as his uniquely British sense of humour (something that even surfaces in their kids show, "Joseph"). I find what's most interesting about the three shows ALW did with Rice is the way in which ALW's lush, romantic melodies blend with Rice's cynical, sarcastic lyrics.

I have similar feelings for "Sunset Boulevard", which Lloyd-Webber did with Christopher Hampton and Don Black.... the majority of Hampton's work is devoted to exploring the dark side of the human condition, and he has preserved the multi-layered satire and cynicism of Billy Wilder's classic film surprisingly well. There's a similar dynamic between the romanticism of the score and the cynicism of the lyrics at work in "Sunset Boulevard" as in the work ALW did with Rice. A lot of the songs which seem to be sappy power ballads when listened to out of context ("A Perfect Year", "With One Look" and "As If We Never Said Goodbye") are actually tragically ironic in context, and quite chilling in their depiction of the main character's delusion.

Jim Steinman is not a lyricist with a highly developed sense of irony. But he has a flamboyant, campy flair for melodramatic sensationalism that can be a lot of fun if you are in the right frame of mind for it, and can just roll with the sheer delirious silliness of it all... if you liked his work with Meat Loaf then chances are you'll find some redeeming songs in "Whistle Down The Wind", which seems to take place in the same larger-than-life, 50s B-movie rock fantasyland as Steinman's more famous works, and ALW rises to the occasion with some of his most explosive music in some time ("A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste" is probably the most epic of all ALW's many epic ballads).

Charles Hart, like Jim Steinman, has a tendency towards melodrama, sensationalism and sentimentality in his lyrics for "Phantom Of The Opera" and "Aspects Of Love"... but Steinman and Hart's brand of melodrama never comes across as half-cocked, they don't restrain themselves, they let loose with all guns blazing...

...unlike David Zippel, ALW's lyricist for "The Woman In White". This adaptation of Wilkie Collins' gothic mystery novel fails because it never seems to have the courage of it's convictions in the way that "Phantom Of The Opera", "Aspects Of Love" and "Whistle Down The Wind" did... this heady gothic material was crying out for lyrics with more flair and over the top stylistic flourishes - but instead ALW responds to Zippel's bland, milquetoast words with one of his most restrained scores.

Hard to say anything about "Love Never Dies" since the full recording hasn't been officially released - but the songs leaked out feature similarly milquetoast lyrics by Glenn Slater. Again, one feels that material this melodramatic needed someone who could go in with all guns blazing, at least then it would have some value as camp.

ALW took the lyrics for "Cats" from the mighty TS Elliot's book of poetry... but as a result the show has little in the way of plot or character development, and is dependent on visual spectacle.

"Starlight Express" is likewise dependent on visual spectacle - since the plot and characterisation is so thin and the lyrics (wether by Richard Stilgoe or Don Black) are so chimp-simple.

Most of Don Black's work (aside from "Sunset Boulevard" - but how much of that was Black and how much Hampton?) I've found never rises above the level of "get's the job done", and frequently falls far below it. "Song & Dance", I feel, just gets the job done as a musical.

"By Jeeves" and "The Beautiful Game" were collaborations with writers who don't normally do musicals. It shows in their amateurish, hit and miss wordsmanship. Alan Ackybourn and Ben Elton both have interesting ideas, the "book" portion of both musicals contain some real gems, some of their lyrics aren't bad at all and overall their hearts were in the right place... but still, the lyrics are so patchy one knows it's the work of an amateur, rather than a professional.

The show serves the same purpose as the poems; satire of society. There is far more character in the music, choreography and costumes than in the lyrics. It's basically a ballet with singing thrown in.


Don Black's fault. The original is far better. Stilgoe's lyrics that remain in Phantom are the best in the show. Similarly, I've heard some of his lyrics for "All I Ask of You" (in which they argue) and "Think of Me" (Called "What Has Time DOne To Me") and they are much more engaging.

I recommend getting some non English cast recordings!!!

Jesus Christ Superstar / Utrecht 2005
Evita / Pia Douwes 1995
Sunset Blvd / Simone Kleinsma 2008 - with five songs recorded by Pia Douwes on a bonus cd.

Phantom Of The Opera - Vienna 1989
Phantom Of The Opera - Polish cast recording - the best Phantom recording ever made.
Cats - Hamburg 1986

I have almost all major English, Dutch and German recording of his musicals, except for By Jeeves which never got to me when I tried to watch the DVD, still waiting to judge it finally after I've gotten the chance to see it in a theatre though. So it is possible to like/love all his musicals, including Love Never Dies which has Webber's most beautiful score ever.

The very unofficial (and easy to get) Sunset Blvd with Elaine Paige is also a great find, and the quality is not bad at all. For those who want something else than LuPatti and Glenn.