Is Andrew Lloyd Webber the New Simon Cowell???

Hollywood beckons for the Lord!! ITV may have given up on combining television and musical theatre (See The Goss, 19 Jul 2007), but the formula seems to be continuing to work a treat for Andrew Lloyd Webber. Variety reports that, after his success in this country with How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and this year’s Any Dream Will Do, the composer-producer has taken on board his first-ever Hollywood agent to strike a network deal for a reality show to cast one of his musicals Stateside. Webber will travel this autumn for meetings with various network executives to present his ideas (including a rehash of Any Dream Will Do). The American network NBC has already tried its hand at the genre with You’re the One That I Want, the US equivalent of Grease Is the Word which cast Danny and Sandy for Broadway, but, like ITV, has been put off by low ratings.

According to Variety, Lloyd Webber’s new Hollywood representation should speed up plans for the long-mooted screen adaptation of Sunset Boulevard. Lloyd Webber’s 1993 musical, with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, is based on Billy Wilder's Oscar-winning 1950 film about a former Hollywood silent screen actress who sees a struggling screenwriter as her path back to glory.

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