He's a funny sort of spectre

My first introduction to musical theater was a mix tape my dad made with songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and Cats. Yep, an Andrew Lloyd Webber mix. And I love Lloyd Webber. Not so much some his more recent work; I couldn't get into Beautiful Game at all, and am not even slightly familiar with Woman in White (well, I know the book, which is awesome and you should go read right now) or Bombay Dreams. But even some of his more obscure pieces--Song and Dance/Tell Me On a Sunday, Aspects of Love, Whistle Down the Wind--I own and enjoy.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is something of a guilty pleasure. Theatre geeks tend to look down on him--the spectacle of Phantom of the Opera, the strange concept of Cats. For theatre cred, you're supposed to swoon over Rent and Sondheim and Spring Awakening and In the Heights. I'm hot and cold on that sort of thing; love Sondheim (who seems to be OK with Lloyd Webber, at least judging from the video they did for Cameron Mackintosh's birthday), never got into Rent, totally have no interest in Spring Awakening, want to see In the Heights. Love the old musicals, too--movie musicals, stage musicals. And for some reason, all of those are OK; even the crappy early movie musicals with laughable plots. Hey, the dancing is fun!

But I grew up on Lloyd Webber and just can't feel bad for liking his stuff. I even enjoy Cats. There. I said it. The dancing is phenomenal, and the music is fun. The stupid operetta thing in Act II is a bit much, but that's OK.

This all is coming up because I was listening to Phantom of the Opera the other night. It was the first musical I ever really became obsessed with (followed eventually by Les Mis). Like a lot of other shows of his, I've grown to find some of the set songs ("Music of the Night," "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," and from other shows, songs like "With One Look" and "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina") to be pretty tiresome, but I still really like the show. I can't help it. Especially the "Notes" songs.

And above all, the overture. How can anyone not get a thrill when those first notes are played? I thought the movie version was pretty terrible, but I did love how they did the overture. The raising of the chandelier, the transformation of the theater--love it.



Of course, as much as I love most of his work, I do think it's probably a good thing that Lloyd Webber is focusing more on producing and doing reality television. In some ways, it's all been downhill from Evita. But it's been an enjoyable way down.