Andrew Lloyd Webber

Name:	Andrew Lloyd Webber
Also Known As:	ALW
Occupation:	composer
Medium:	musical theater
Works:	so, so many
Official Website(s):	ALW Broadway, The Really Useful Group
Fan Website(s):
On Fanlore:	Related pages

Andrew Lloyd Webber has been a commercially successful and fan-favorite musical theater composer since the 1960s. He is known for many popular shows, including but not limited to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Evita, Sunset Boulevard, and School of Rock.

Reactions

Feelings about Lloyd Webber's musicals vary widely among fans of musical theater despite their popularity. Some people genuinely dislike his music; others genuinely enjoy it. As fan Enjolras77 views it:

ALW musicals to me are like "gateway" shows. They are appealing to a larger group of people, which may bring in a lot of new musical theatre fans. Then many of these fans move on and begin to appreciate other composers and styles of theatre (and many of these same people then bash ALW because they are ashamed to admit they like his work for fear of being criticized for not being sophisticated enough). I think in theatre circles it is perceived as "cooler" to prefer Sondheim to ALW or even to Frank Wildhorn and Boublil/Schonberg, so many people say nasty things about his music, but are secretly closet ALW fans. It is like when I was in college...a lot of my friends wouldn't listen to any band who had a top 40 hit or was on the radio because they had "sold out" or were too commercial. I think this is sort of how ALW shows are viewed..like they are too commercial succesful, too pop-oriented and too pleasing to the masses to really be cool. For me...if it wasn't for ALW and Les Mis back in the late 80's I may not be the fan of musicals that I am today--who appreciates and loves many different composers and their styles.

Fans also have some thoughts about Lloyd Webber's...varied oeuvre.

Andrew Lloyd Webber: *composes beautiful complex musical about a tortured genius who hopelessly falls in love with someone unattainable all while dealing with a horrific deformity and being shunned from society*

also Andrew Lloyd Webber: *composes a musical about cats*

#this is a callout post #but i like cats

Fan Works

While AO3 has several stories based on his works, there is only one story with him as a character.

Fan Art

• #andrewlloydwebber on DeviantArt