Andrew & Cameron Kiss & Make Up with Evita???

As previously tipped (See The Goss, 15 Dec 2003), Andrew Lloyd Webber is planning to bring his 1978 musical Evita back to the West End next year. According to new reports, his producing partner in the revival will be none other than Cameron Mackintosh. The two men first teamed up for Cats, which ran for 21 years in London, but have gone their separate ways since the 1986 premiere of the still-going-strong The Phantom of the Opera, the most successful stage musical of all time (See News, 13 Dec 1999). In more recent years, the men – both now theatre owners as well as producers - have been pitted against one another in the press. This autumn in the West End, they will open rival big-budget musicals, Lloyd Webber’s new The Woman in White and Mackintosh’s adaptation of Mary Poppins, within a few weeks of one another (See News, 12 Dec & 11 Nov 2003). In any case, perhaps their combined energies will be just what Evita needs. Originally touted for a 2003 opening, the revival was seemingly scrapped in 2002 because Lloyd Webber felt the theatre climate was too biased towards feelgood shows rather than those with serious political themes (See The Goss, 4 Nov 2002). Ironically, that same year, Whatsonstage.com theatregoers named Evita the musical they would most like to see revived (See Big Debate).

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