Unmasked

"Published to coincide with his seventieth birthday, UNMASKED is a candid memoir by the legendary composer of some of the most recognized musicals in history: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard and School of Rock among others. In UNMASKED, Andrew Lloyd Webber narrates the first four decades of his life which began in London's South Kensington in 1948. His parents were musicians - his father a composer and his mother a piano teacher of a decidedly bohemian persuasion. His other eccentric relatives include a grandmother who was a founding member of the Christian Communist Party and zany Auntie Vi, who wrote the first gay cookbook and would prove a strong influence on her talented nephew. He began creating musical theatre while a pupil at Westminster School, and after a brief tenure at Oxford University pursued the career that would make him a musical legend. The book culminates in the opening night of The Phantom of the Opera in 1985, which has gone on to become the greatest musical of all time.

Includes index.

Overture and beginners -- Perseus & Co. -- Some enchanted ruin -- Auntie Vi -- A whiter shade of something that didn't taste very nice in the first place -- "Mr Lloyd Webber, do you like cats?" -- Enter Timothy Miles Bindon Rice -- Teenage operas, pop cantatas -- Elvis with mellotron and tambourines -- Any dream won't do -- "Did Judas Iscariot have God on his side?" -- Love changes everything, but ... -- JCS meets RSO -- Jesus goes to Broadway -- A bad case of the Edward Woodwards -- Suddenly there's a valet -- Syd -- Driverless juggernauts hurtling down a hill -- Eva and Juan -- The long hot summer and the sound of a Paraguayan harp -- The song that cleared the dance floors -- Imogen and Niccolò -- Variations -- Really useful -- Tell me on a Sunday -- "This artfully produced monument to human indecency" -- Shaddap and take that look off your face -- Mr Mackintosh -- "All the characters must be cats" -- Growltiger's last stand -- Body stockings, leg warmers and meat cleavers -- Song and dance, and sleep -- "The most obnoxious form of 'music' ever invented" -- Miss Sarah Brightman -- "Brrrohahaha!!!" -- Requiem -- Epiphany -- "Big change from book" -- Year of the Phantom -- In anot…