Andrew Lloyd Webber

Rating:
Summary: Candid and Colourful
Review: Michael Walsh has constructed an elegant portrait of a unique composer. Andrew Lloyd Webber is revealed with warmth, humour and respect, and Walsh maintains an objective detachment throughout the text. His book is replete with fascinating details that chronicle Webber's early life to his stellar position within musical theatre. The prose is neither forced nor facile, and the reader is constantly delighted by an array of colourful anecdotes. One worth citing involved the development of Webber's most successful musical. The following excerpt from Chapter 7 epitomizes both Walsh's style and Webber's genius:

'In 1980, Andrew had an idea for a new musical based on Tim Rice's obsessive loathing of bank managers. It was to be called 'Rats', but when Webber approached Barclays for a loan to finance the project, he was refused. Little wonder. Arnold Schwarzenegger heard of Webber's difficulty, and at a meeting in London, the two discussed Arnold's alternative proposal. He had just read some poems about cats by 'some four-eyed scribbler' he'd never heard of, but because he'd once had one of the 'delicious little critters' in a sweet and sour dish at Grauman's Chinese Restaurant in Hollywood, Arnold offered to bankroll a musical based on the animals. The rest is history.'

Andrew Lloyd Webber has produced a body of work that will entertain audiences for centuries to come. So, too, will Walsh's wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: Great info; okay writer....
Review: My first impression of this book was that Michael Walsh must only be a fan of The Phantom of the Opera. It honestly seems to be the only show that he doesn't have an unkind word for. However, once you get past the comments that might be offensive to serious fans, you find a great wealth of material on the inside life of Lord Lloyd Webber. Everything is covered in this book, from the origins of his nickname (Bumper) to Jean's pet monkeys and days in "Bohemian" Lloyd Webberdom, to the recent revivals and productions of his shows. Even the musical structures of some songs from each show are analyzed. This is only the beginning; there is lots of great information that any fan will find infinitely interesting. Now if only Mr. Walsh would lighten up....

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL!
Review: Okay, so there is very limited published information about Andrew Lloyd Webber, although ther eis plenty about his shows, there is little about the man himself. This is why this book is a great buy.

I find Walsh gets himself into a repeated pattern with each chapter, and the sypnosis of each story becomes very tiresome and the the musical analysis (ie, a key signature and time signature) is not really worth doing. Any five year old can open Lloyd Webbers music and find out the key and time signature. I wanted more detail about the music.

The book I brought was the reprinted one with information about Sunset, Whistle and the movie of Evita, although it was already worth the reprint and these chapters are no where near as enthused or informative as the previous chapters. Very disappointing, but still a great buy and well worth getting.

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL!
Review: Okay, so there is very limited published information about Andrew Lloyd Webber, although ther eis plenty about his shows, there is little about the man himself. This is why this book is a great buy.

I find Walsh gets himself into a repeated pattern with each chapter, and the sypnosis of each story becomes very tiresome and the the musical analysis (ie, a key signature and time signature) is not really worth doing. Any five year old can open Lloyd Webbers music and find out the key and time signature. I wanted more detail about the music.

The book I brought was the reprinted one with information about Sunset, Whistle and the movie of Evita, although it was already worth the reprint and these chapters are no where near as enthused or informative as the previous chapters. Very disappointing, but still a great buy and well worth getting.

Rating:
Summary: Everything you could want to know about Andrew Lloyd Webber!
Review: This book contains lots of very interesting information about the composer, including detailed song-by-song analysis of each of his shows, including lesser known ones and even flops like "Jeeves." For the most part, the author likes the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and it is a refreshing change to read the opinion of a critic (he is a music critic for Time Magazine) who has good things to say about the composer. This book was invaluable to me in doing Lloyd Webber

Rating:
Summary: A must-have book for all fans of Lloyd Webber and his work.
Review: This is a must-have for Lloyd Webber fans; it truly is an in-depth account of his life and work. Packed full of information and many photographs, it was an interesting read. It has been claimed that Walsh concentrates too much on the chapter featuring "Phantom of the Opera", but I for one cannot blame him! Walsh has reason to, as he states "Phantom" was the first musical where Lloyd Webber developed his more mature style and a strong sense of key association than in his previous musicals. (He also admits it was after viewing "Phantom" he had the notion to write the book in the first place.)

The only reason why I would not give this book the full five stars is the fact it may be somewhat frustrating to read for musicologists and music students who wish to study Lloyd Webber's style in depth. Walsh tantalizes the reader with only brief excursions into analysis of the music; e.g. very brief descriptions of the keys and rhythms the songs are in, with no printed musical examples on how Lloyd Webber constructs the fabric of his scores.

However, in all, I would certainly recommend this book.

E.A. Bucchianeri, author of "A Compendium of Essays: Purcell, Hogarth and Handel, Beethoven, Liszt, Debussy, and Andrew Lloyd Webber" and "Handel's Path to Covent Garden: A Rocky Journey"

Rating:
Summary: A must-have book for all fans of Lloyd Webber and his work.
Review: This is a must-have for Lloyd Webber fans; it truly is an in-depth account of his life and work. Packed full of information and many photographs, it was an interesting read. It has been claimed that Walsh concentrates too much on the chapter featuring "Phantom of the Opera", but I for one cannot blame him! Walsh has reason to, as he states "Phantom" was the first musical where Lloyd Webber developed his more mature style and a strong sense of key association than in his previous musicals. (He also admits it was after viewing "Phantom" he had the notion to write the book in the first place.)

The only reason why I would not give this book the full five stars is the fact it may be somewhat frustrating to read for musicologists and music students who wish to study Lloyd Webber's style in depth. Walsh tantalizes the reader with only brief excursions into analysis of the music; e.g. very brief descriptions of the keys and rhythms the songs are in, with no printed musical examples on how Lloyd Webber constructs the fabric of his scores.

However, in all, I would certainly recommend this book.

E.A. Bucchianeri, author of "A Compendium of Essays: Purcell, Hogarth and Handel, Beethoven, Liszt, Debussy, and Andrew Lloyd Webber" and "Handel's Path to Covent Garden: A Rocky Journey"