Andrew Lloyd Webber has big plans to bring Eurovision glory back to Britain and to revive his most iconic hero in Phantom II
First, though, must come the juiciest news of all: his radical plan for a sequel to what is (with more than 80 million tickets sold and £3.5 billion grossed) the most successful musical in the world: The Phantom of the Opera. Lloyd Webber, 60, has been intermittently sketching out plans for Phantom II for years now, but it was only this summer that he premiered the first act to a private audience at his country pile. Earlier had come the compelling story that Otto, his cat, deleted the entire score by falling asleep inside Lloyd Webber’s digital piano. This is a painful subject, but not because of the score: “Otto? He was squidged in the road …”
Lloyd Webber briefly winces, then gathers himself: “Yes, he sort of did do that but, you know, these stories grow and grow and he didn’t cause lasting damage. It was only on one of those clavinovas that you can record on as you go along.”
Otto my have been squidged, but not Phantom II. Nine weeks ago there was a sing-through of the second act and then, ten days ago, the decision was made: “We put the whole thing together with the work we had done on both acts. There is nothing to delay us. The button is pushed.”
Phantom: Love Never Dies, as the sequel is to be called, is set in New York a decade after the first Parisian instalment. That ended when the misunderstood, facially disfigured musical genius of the title lost his beloved Christine (and his mask), but evaded the baying French mob pursuing him and slipped away into the night. Lloyd Webber says: “It is set on Coney Island. He started in one of the freak shows there but, by the time we meet him, being the Phantom he has become the most powerful operator in Coney. He’s pulling the strings and running the island.”
Traditionally Lloyd Webber’s shows, indeed all big successful musicals, open in London or on Broadway and then, after a year or so, secondary productions open in other territories. Given that Phantom II, which will open at the end of 2009, is set in New York, isn’t he minded to forgo an opening in the West End (where he owns seven theatres) in favour of Broadway? Before fully answering, he issues caveats – these are early days, none of it may be do-able … – and then continues: “We are tempted to see whether we can open very quickly in the three main areas where Phantom has been embraced, which are America, London and the Far East. So we have been into the feasibility of rehearsing three companies at once, and opening very fast in the three territories. The one that really interests me [in the Far East] would be China … I think to open Love Never Dies in Shanghai would be an enormous thing for China.”
A near-simultaneous opening of a major musical in three continents would be a first. But who will play the Phantom, and who will play Christine? Not even counting understudies, Lloyd Webber will need three of each. This he will not divulge, but he does say that he is “pretty clear who our Phantom is going to be”. John Barrowman (as rumoured) or perhaps a return for Michael Crawford? Lloyd Webber discounts both. And Sarah Brightman is out of the question to reprise Christine. For one thing (this is my ungentlemanly interjection) the actresses who play her will need to be about 28. But with three premiere shows, who will be credited with “creating” the roles, as the first actors to play in productions always are? “That’s an interesting question,” he mulls.
Lloyd Webber’s passion for musicals is clearly undimmed – the critics can be sniffy, but his wildly popular hits include Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Evita and Aspects of Love. The current production of Sunset Boulevard at the Comedy Theatre, the first in the West End since Lloyd Webber’s own one closed 11 years ago, has been warmly received. Directed by Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood it’s from a small, talented cast that plays the musical instruments as well as singing and acting. Lloyd Webber, though, is a little worried for it, because in his experience the lead role of Norma Desmond, a fading, loopy silent cinema star, only clicks with audiences when played by someone they have themselves seen on screen. “If the audience didn’t vaguely associate it with the movies, then subliminally people didn’t quite get it,” he says. “This is only a theory of mine and I hope this production disproves it.”
I ask if the long-mooted film of Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard is in development, albeit delayed by the Hollywood writer’s strike? “No,” he says. “the film has been delayed entirely because Paramount, which owns the original film, is not keen on it being made. Many people have wanted to play the role [of Norma] – the latest is Barbra Streisand.”
Glenn Close? “Glenn has absolutely wanted to play it, Meryl [Streep] has wanted to play it and none of us can get past this wall. I don’t think they get the idea of a musical at all.”
This Saturday, he will return to our screens as the judge on Eurovision: Your Country Needs You. It will be his fourth BBC prime-time series. (In the first three shows Lloyd Webber talent-scouted for plum roles in West End musicals.) He will also, ultimately, compose the winner’s song, to be performed in the finals in Moscow. He has already conceded that it’s highly unlikely he can reverse Britain’s recent woeful record in the competition, saying: “I’d be staggered if we won – we’re not going to.” He is phlegmatic about the bloc voting system that handicaps entries from Britain. “They say they’ve changed it this year. There is a jury system or something. But it’s been a long time since we put in a sensible, serious entry. All you can do is try to find a good song for the best artist. This will be the first song I’ve written for years outside theatre or film.”
Interspersed with the live competition will be pre-records that follow Lloyd Webber’s campaign to win hearts and minds across Europe before the Eurovision finals in May. As part of this he managed to scoop an interview with Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, who invited Lloyd Webber to his dacha. “I was rather annoyed really, because they said ‘Oh it’s got to be very informal’, so I didn’t bother to wear a tie or anything – and of course he arrived wearing the full lot.”
Sartorially disadvantaged he may have been, but Lloyd Webber nonetheless persuaded Putin to pledge his personal vote in the 2009 Eurovision contest to Great Britain. And he also found a fan. “He introduced me to a couple of friend of his. One of them was a cellist and this cellist guy said: ‘Why don’t you write a piece for the cello?’ and Putin said: ‘But he has, it’s called Variations and I’ve got it in the other house.’ He was either incredibly well briefed or he really did know.”
Before his song and artist go to Moscow or Phantom II opens another new Lloyd Webber production will premiere in February. Entitled Touched … For the Very First Time, it is the first piece of theatre by his daughter Imogen. A solo piece at the Trafalgar Studios in London, it stars Sadie Frost. Much more a proud Lloyd Webber does not know. “She hasn’t even let me seen the investment documents – daddy has no part of it! I’m very pleased for her. ‘Get on with it’ is my view.”
Sunset Boulevard is at the Comedy Theatre, London SW1 (0871 2975454)
