All tagged Love Never Dies

High Flying, Adored: Ranking the Musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber

My piece ranking the musicals of Stephen Sondheim was very popular and it incited some great dialogue on how opinions differ depending on our experiences, emotions, and the criteria that draws us to musicals in the first place. Several of you wrote to me asking that I unleash my same ranking process on the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber. I will gratefully oblige, though I must warn you that my opinions on Sir Andrew are more extreme than those I have for Sondheim. Webber tends to only be as good as his lyricist at the moment, an ever-changing array of collaborators who have come and gone. Stephen Ward aside (which I don't know enough about yet to weigh-in), here are my opinions of his work, from worst to the best.

Broadway Sequels Are Never Equal

It's easy to understand why Broadway musical sequels happen, especially sequels to the big ones  that people adore. Audiences love a show so much that it seems likely they would like to spend more time with them and hopefully enjoy more showtunes from the same composers. On paper, that might make sense, but in execution Broadway musical sequels are almost always a bad idea. Let's take a look at some Broadway musical sequels and assess.