Unmasked: A Memoir by Andrew Lloyd Webber
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
“You have the luck of Croesus on stilts (as my Auntie Vi would have said) if you’ve had the sort of career, ups and downs, warts and all that I have in that wondrous little corner of show business called musical theatre.”
One of the most successful and distinguished artists of our time, Andrew Lloyd Webber has reigned over the musical theatre world for nearly five decades. The winner of numerous awards, including multiple Tonys and an Oscar, Lloyd Webber has enchanted millions worldwide with his music and numerous hit shows, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera – Broadway’s longest running show – and most recently, School of Rock. In Unmasked, written in his own inimitable, quirky voice, the revered, award-winning composer takes stock of his achievements, the twists of fate and circumstance which brought him both success and disappointment, and the passions that inspire and sustain him.
The son of a music professor and a piano teacher, Lloyd Webber reveals his artistic influences, from his idols Rodgers and Hammerstein and the perfection of South Pacific‘s “Some Enchanted Evening”, to the pop and rock music of the 1960s and Puccini’s Tosca, to P. G. Wodehouse and T. S. Eliot. Lloyd Webber recalls his bohemian London youth, reminiscing about the happiest place of his childhood, his homemade Harrington Pavilion – a make-believe world of musical theatre.
A record of several exciting and turbulent decades of British and American musical theatre, Unmasked is ultimately a chronicle of artistic creation. Lloyd Webber looks back at the development of some of his most famous works and illuminates his collaborations with luminaries such as Tim Rice, Cameron Mackintosh, and Trevor Nunn. Taking us behind the scenes of his productions, Lloyd Webber reveals fascinating details about each show, including the creative and logistical challenges and artistic political battles that ensued.
Lloyd Webber shares his recollections of writing songs for a school production that would become his first hit, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; finding the coterie of performers for his classic rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar; developing his first megahit, Evita, which would win seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical; staking his reputation and fortune on the groundbreaking Cats; and making history with The Phantom of the Opera.
I truly do love me some Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, yall.
I have since I was a wee one, and saw many of his productions come to life on stage at the Saegner Theatre in downtown New Orleans. (I will always be grateful for my mom exposing me to musical theater at a young age 🥰🎭)
Being a decades committed fan, I tried to listen to this book a good while ago….and had to quit the first few chapters in.
Full stop honesty: it was SO BORING.
And it is LONG.
I could not fathom sticking it out for the ENTIRE 16+ hours.
What drew me back to it now to give it a second chance?
Well…..I am actually *in* an ALW show right now!
I haven’t been on a musical theater stage since I was 17 years old, yall…and here I am, almost 43 giving it a go one more time at a local community theater as part of the GINORMOUS cast of “Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
If you’ve never seen it, it is an over the top, campy, silly and heartwarming show based on the biblical story of Jacob and his sons–mainly his favored son, Joseph.
Nonstop singing, lots of dancing and BUNCHES of costume changes….the fun level is OUT OF THIS WORLD!
Since I now have a whole DIFFERENT level of appreciation for ALW–learning his music isn’t the easiest thing, yall–I thought it would be the PERFECT time to revist his memoir.
Woo hoo! I made it thru this time!
The book was still a bit dry in the first half…but the second half piqued my interest a bit more.
I don’t know if I just settled in to how he tells his story (long winded, verboise, VERY detailed) or if it really DID get better, but I definitely enjoyed the latter part of the book way more than the beginning.
BTW, speaking of telling his story, he is NOT the one that reads the audio version.
BOOOOOOOOOOOO.
He *does* read the foreword and afterword, but the main narrator is NOT him.
I always find that to be highly disappointing and never do enjoy memoirs as much when this happens. When someone is reading their own words that is telling THEIR life story, it just makes for SUCH a different auditory experience.
Anyway….
Some of the chapters that were most fascinating to me were the ones about the show “Cats”–how the idea came to be (his mother used to read him TS Elliott at bedtime), all the ins and outs of casting, all the creating and composing.
I don’t know if I was intrigued because I have ADORED that show since I was a little girl (I have had the entire soundtrack memorized since I was in the single digits of age) or if it just truly is an interesting origin story….but whatever the reason, I loved those chapters.
I will say the the chapters about Phantom were JUST as attention grabbing for me for the exact same reasons.
A few random tidbits about him I learned that were quite endearing:
-ALW used to take his beloved childhood pet cat for leashed walks around town and he also rode on his shoulder quite a bit too (ALSO inspiration for “Cats”!)
-he now owns the very theater in England where he first fell in love with theater as a child
-he was originally involved in bringing Thomas the Tank Engine from book to screen
BUT…being a human being means having faults and imperfections.
ALW *also* has quite a few NOT endearing things about him too.
He ain’t afraid to throw some serious shade at people he has beef with…and he did it quite a bit in these pages, ESPECIALLY in regard to Tim Rice!
I thought it was quite icky of ALW to start a relationship with his first wife when she was only SIXTEEN and he was in his TWENTIES. No sir…not okay with THAT.
He did her super wrong too with his affairs, especially the one that ended their marriage.
He was off creating and traveling and having a grand old time while his young wife was at home taking care of their kids, their house and everything else…..and he was just off doing whatever and ending up leaving her for a singer.
So cliche and so YUCK.
He seemed a tad bit remorseful about it, but not a whole lot really.😑
So while I will always adore and be in awe of ALW as a gifted artist who excels in his craft and talent, I don’t think I like him much as a person.
I just have to separate the art from the artist I guess.
This was a long ass read with a pretty dragging, slow start but it did pick up at the halfway point…I definitely enjoyed it as a whole.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is an ALW or musical theater fan (those two things should go hand in hand anyways lol).
But if you aren’t either of those things, you definitely won’t be into this AT ALL…so don’t even try it.🤣