Andrew Lloyd Webber Talks Show Business, CATS & More

Internationally celebrated composer Andrew Lloyd Webber discusses his new musical STEPHEN WARD as well as looks back at his spectacular career, which includes such mega-hits as CATS, as part of a new interview.

Remarking on what drastic measures he has taken to fund his various ventures over the years, Lloyd Webber says, "There's a show called CATS - I had to get a second mortgage on my house because we couldn't raise the investment."

"A daft idea - I mean, human beings dressed up as cats, singing poems by T.S. Eliot," Lloyd Webber reveals of the seemingly dubious prospects of the property at the time.

"It had absolutely everything against it," Lloyd Webber remembers.

Furthermore, Lloyd Webber relates, "Not only that, but we went into the New London Theatre and the previous show in there had been GREASE, with Richard Gere in the lead, and that had flopped, so they said, 'Well, there's absolutely no way CATS is ever going to work.'"

"It was a hairy moment," Lloyd Webber amusingly relates, turning a pun on the furry felines of the show's fame.

"You do the things because you want to do them," Lloyd Webber concludes of passion projects.

Check out the full interview here.