Andrew Lloyd Webber: I Wouldn't Be Able to Stage EVITA Today

Andrew Lloyd Webber has reflected on the current state of musical theatre in a new podcast, saying that he would not be seen as "qualified" to write his musical Evita today.

Lloyd Webber wrote the show based on the life of Eva Perón, the First Lady of Argentina, with Tim Rice in 1976. He said: "If I was to do Evita today, I think there would be a lot of people who say ’they are not qualified to to do this as they are not Argentine’ and this is a factor that is staggering."

"There is a subject I really wanted to consider doing but everyone was saying to me: ’You can’t, as you are not from that country.’ But then you think, well that means most of the shows that have been written, most of the operas, wouldn’t be allowed today. You are dealing with this sort of thing."

Lloyd Webber also said it was getting too expensive to put on musicals and that producers would soon have to consider whether they open shows on Broadway and the West End or go elsewhere. 

“It’s getting very difficult now to make production ends meet unless you’re a huge, huge hit. The lifeblood of musical theatre is getting rather squeezed out,” he said. "It’s a tricky one. I think it’s better in Britain as the costs aren’t so horrendous as they are on on Broadway".

The composer was spoke on a I Never Thought It Would Happen podcast by Help Musicians UK, touching on the value of music in education and how he got hooked on the musical theatre genre. 

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