Andrew Lloyd Webber: Megamusicals, Hits, and Spectacular Flops

In 2007 his pet cat Otto jumped onto a digital piano and deleted the entire score for the Phantom of the Opera sequel. The irony is almost too perfect for the man who composed Cats, who later hated the 2019 film so much he went out and bought a dog. This is the wildly unpredictable life of Andrew Lloyd Webber.We unpack how a child prodigy reinvented the modern musical and re-engineered the entire theatrical industry. From a fiercely musical London family to record-breaking franchises, plagiarism lawsuits, reality TV, the House of Lords, and profound personal grief, we trace the relentless roller coaster behind melodies embedded in our cultural DNA.How Joseph and Jesus Christ Superstar bypassed Broadway gatekeepers by releasing concept albums to the public firstWhy Cats, a plotless show about junkyard cats, invented the theater-as-global-franchise model that made him a billionaireThe spectacular flops, from Jeeves to Starlight Express, and how Starlight still runs in a custom-built theater in Bochum, GermanyThe plagiarism accusations from Roger Waters and Puccini's estate, and the defense that it is treatment, not theftHis EGOT, the Order of the Garter, and candid struggles with alcoholism, cancer, and the loss of his son Nicholas