LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Andrew Lloyd Webber: Practical Cats
built 225 days ago
Lloyd Webber and Rice parted ways in the early 1980s and Lloyd Webber’s first solo production Cats was based on the collection of comic verses by T.S. Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats; opening in London in 1981 and in New York in 1982, it closed in New York in 2000 and in London on its 21st anniversary in May 2002. It, in turn, became the longest-running musical in history. Through its success, Lloyd Webber became the first person to have three shows running simultaneously both in the West End and on Broadway. Next came Starlight Express, unusually a non-narrative show that relied largely on the spectacle of its elaborate, built-in sets and the roller-skating cast. It opened in the West End in 1984, and ran for 7,406 performances, becoming the longest-running musical in history after Cats.
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At this time Andrew started to work on a new idea. As a young boy he had read the book "Old possum's book of practical cats" by T.S. Eliot. This time all the lyrics were already written. But there wasn't any story in the songs and Andrew thought of making a concert on television. At the beginning of the summer of 1980 he performed some of the songs at his Sydmonton festival.
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Andrew continued to collaborate with Rice in 1976 to write Evita, based on the life of Eva Peron. It became a box office hit, and the song "Don't Cry for me Argentina" became a hit single. After the success of Evita, Tim Rice and Andrew parted ways and Andrew went on to write what was going to be one of the longest running musicals of all time, Cats. Without a lyricist, Andrew looked towards T.S. Elliot's poetry Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats for inspiration. Cats played a total of 16,484 performances between New York and London, with its final performance in London on May 11, 2002.
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Webber turned his attention toward his production company, Really Useful Theatre Group, Inc., in the 1980s. In April 1990 he announced his intention to take a hiatus from writing musicals and to turn to moviemaking, perhaps even a film version of Cats with Stephen Spielberg.
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