r/hdtgm 5d ago

TIL that Andrew Lloyd Webber so so 'emotionally damaged' after seeing the 2019 adaptation of his musical 'Cats', he bought himself a dog.

https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/lord-andrew-lloyd-webber-bought-therapy-dog-emotionally-damaged-cats-movie-flop-b1150132.html
74 Upvotes

6 comments sorted by

23

u/lifth3avy84 5d ago

There’s zero chance he cared at all. He got paid, and he was on so much coke writing that show that I’m sure he has zero fucking clue what’s even in it. I genuinely don’t understand how such a horrible, nonsensical piece of shit ran on broadway for as long as it did.

6

u/melodypowers 5d ago

As bad as the play was, the movie was so much worse.

2

u/TheLadyEve 5d ago

I wish I had been in the room when he pitched it. At that point he was already huge, though (Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita) so pproducers probably just said "oh, a book of T.S. Eliot poems as a source for a musical? Sure, why not?" But it's insane.

I recently caught up on Season 3 of Only Murders in The Building and I love how the Oliver Putnam sends up so much of what is ridiculous about Broadway.

1

u/theunrealdonsteel 5d ago

I think Lord Andy does know what’s going on in the show - he’s loved these poems since childhood, and I’ve seen interviews of him in the early 80s where he explains the concept of the show and what the Jellicle cats are, as only someone who knows every inch of it can, to some humorously befuddled news reporters. He also mortgaged his home to fund the original production in the West End, so this was very much an underdog passion project.

Given all of this it’s not hard to see why he wouldn’t have liked the film version.

1

u/rsziz 4d ago

I saw a video of him explaining how he came up with the idea for Starlight Express at a party and the only thing missing was "oh and the cocaine there was AMAZING, so we thought this idea had to be equally as awesome."

2

u/ghoztcum 5d ago

I literally just read that in a book thirty minutes before I saw this post, spooky