Biography of Andrew Lloyd Webber and His Contributions to Performing Arts

Bio (2015) informs that on 22^nd March 1948, Webber was born in London. His parents were both involved in music and he and his brother Julian happened to follow suit in concentrating in the music industry. Webber is noted to have already learned how to play various musical instruments like the trumpet, violin, and the piano and others at the age of 3years. It is claimed that his natural calling to focus on music made him change his college history course he had already began pursuing at Magdalen College in Oxford. Hence, he enrolled at the Royal Music College to develop his musical skills in the mid 1960s. Webber’s musical career can be said that it started when he was already 17years a time when Tim Rice, a lyrics writer showed interest of writing Webber’s musical lyrics. When the two agreed, they collaborated for a lengthy period of time. Some of the works the two developed included “The Like of Us”, “Joseph and the Amazing Dreamcoat”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, and “Jeeves” among others. These productions were evolutional and developmental and the more they improved the more successful and popular they became. However, their collaboration successes is mentioned to have ended in 1981but for Webber, it is conveyed was an era or rising further up. In the same year, his initial sole production was the “Cats” which is said to have been liked quite a lot in his city and it run for a period of 20yeas and more. “Starlight Express” was the second one though did not hit as the first one, is said to have remained among the popular songs played even today. “The Phantom of the Opera” is articulated to be Webber’s biggest hit so far and as a result, has realized about 10,000 celebrated performances. Despite the successes, reviews done on Webber’s initial hits were a disaster. Presently, Webber is making various contributions in the world of art and he has written and produced a number of them which are like: the 2000 “Beautiful Game”, the 2002 “Bombay Dreams, the 2004 “The Woman in White”, the 2006 “The Sound of Music”, and the “Love Never Dies produced in 2010. Just like the other reviews, these works were reviewed but also failed. Webber has continued with his developments and in the year 2011, he is noted to have introduced “The Wizard of Oz” as musical theater production.

Webber’s Life and Awards He Has Received

At the personal level, this musician is said to have been three times married and so far his children are five. Just through his musical career, Webber is listed among the 100 wealthiest Britons in Britain. Presently, this fellow owns six theaters in London such as the London Palladiun, the Theatre Royal, and the Drury Lane. In addition to this, Webber also has a company for producing music called Really Useful Group and it is a firm that is documented as the largest in the region (London). Moreover, this musician considered to boost the arts’ industry by founding the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation which is generally for the public good. This is generally to say that Webber offered the public a place to produce, record, and publish musical work. Award winning is another part of Webber’s musical developments. These awards are listed to include 7 Tonys, 3Grammys, 7Oliviers, one Golden Globe, One Oscar Ward, 2International Emmys, a musical theater awards, the Praemium Impariale, and lastly, the Kennedy Center Honors Award. From his successes, Webber is said to have been knighted in the year 1992 and after five years, he developed an honorary peer life (Bio, 2015).

Webber’s Styles of Plays and the Insights these Plays Have Had

When Webber and Rice collaborated together, their productions are noted to have been developed using a mixture of musical styles and these styles included: calypso, rock, country-western, and opera. Their works covered romance (love) like the “Phantom of the Opera”, biblical themes like the Jesus Christ Superstar that informed about Jesus’s last days on earth, the “Aspects of Love” that talks about the lives of a group of friends and their love relations and also in this song, dialogues of the song’s characters are also included (Encyclopedia.com, 2015).

Additional Information

All in all, Webber’s musical success is strongly attached to his unique craftsmanship and stage-ship. These two aspects are said to have made him very likeable to those who enjoy theaters. His melodies are mentioned to have a touch on the blues, country music, opera and rock and roll.  His successes however, did not luck criticisms. These criticisms which are conveyed to be directed towards his contributions to the art’s industry are mentioned as follows: that he is a cheap musical entrepreneur, and also lucks the interesting characteristics required to be really recognized in the industry. Nonetheless, it is documented that his critiques have had to accept that Webber is extremely successful and that his success has been based on his investments made in this industry (Encyclopedia.com, 2015).  

 

References

Bio (2015). Andrew Lloyd Webber: Biography. Retrievedhttp://www.biography.com/people/andrew-lloyd-webber-20825129.

Encyclopedia.com (2015). Andrew Lloyd Webber. Retrieved< http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Andrew_Lloyd_Webber.aspx>.