Happy Birthday: Andrew Lloyd Webber

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Born: March 22, 1948 in South Kensington, London, England, UK

More than ever before we need to keep high-flying professionals in the UK. We can’t, as we have done in the past, dump on them through penal personal taxation. Of course we know that there have been some shocking excesses in the City of London. But for years we have also had drummed into us that the City of London proudly took over from manufacturing as the UK’s main source of income. New Labour rejoiced in the fruits of the excesses of the bankers. Of course, with hindsight, their bonuses were obscene. But New Labour gratefully taxed them.

The regrets in the theatre have always been the shows that you know ought to have worked, but for one reason of another haven’t. I suppose if I had one regret it’s that I would have loved to have had a long-term partner like Rodgers had with either Hart or Hammerstein. I was really hoping that the Tim Rice relationship would have gone on, but I’m obsessed with theatre and for Tim it’s something that he does enjoy doing, is very good at, but it isn’t his whole life as it is with me.

What strikes me is that there’s a very fine line between success and failure. Just one ingredient can make the difference. A really good example of that is design and ‘Love Never Lies’. The London production didn’t have any consistency of style, so it would go from say, art nouveau to art deco, to straightforward, old-fashioned showbiz. The Australian production had its own language. It was at one with the piece.

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