Andrew Lloyd Webber
It was in the 70s that Andrew Lloyd Webber had his first hit
(with Tim Rice) with Jesus Christ Superstar. The
show was produced on Broadway and the music available on
record before
it was ever staged in London; an insight into the future marketing
phenomena. Throughout the 1980s Lloyd Webber scored one successful
musical after another. Evita opened in the West End
in 1978 and made a star of Elaine Page. In 1981 Cats
opened at the New London Theatre choreographed by Gillian Lynne
and staged by
Trevor Nunn.
In 1984 Starlight Express designed by John Napier
turned the Apollo Theatre into a roller ring at great expense-
it was
the biggest budget musical to date.
In the 1980s set design and costume became hugely important.
Lloyd Webber’s musicals were big budget affairs and immensely
popular. He continued his success with Phantom of the Opera
in 1987 and Aspects of Love in 1989. Lloyd Webber has
continued to bring musicals to the British stage in capacity
of producer, most recently Bombay Dreams written by
Meera Syal with music composed by A.R.Rahman. The show is written
in the style of a
Bollywood movie.
Bombay Dreams has so far cost 4.5million pounds.
If one musical caught the spirit of the 1970s it was the cult
hit the Rocky Horror Show. Written by actor Richard
O’Brien, it opened in the experimental space of the Royal
Court Upstairs
in 1973. Within 18 months it was an international smash hit
and a film. Combining the styles of Hammer-horror films, science
fiction movies, comics and rock and roll, the Rocky Horror
Show tells the story of two bemused, clean-cut American
kids trying to escape the mad transvestite Frank N Furter. Before long audiences were dressing in the same
Gothic style as the actors - black PVC, suspenders, wild hair
and glam-rock make-up – leaving auditoriums covered in
damp rice, and joining in the songs and dances like the ‘Time
Warp’.
1930s and 1940s
