Composer and producer Andrew Lloyd Webber and producer Michael Harrison have announced their partnership in a new musical-theater venture known as Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals. The company will find and develop new musicals as well as create new productions of musicals by Lloyd Webber.
Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals will operate separately from Lloyd Webber’s already established Really Useful Group and Harrison’s existing Michael Harrison Entertainment.
Lloyd Webber and Harrison previously jointly produced “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at The London Palladium; this new partnership will build on that relationship.
Lloyd Webber is best known for the music to “Cats,” “Evita,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Sunset Boulevard” and “The Phantom of the Opera.” After 35 years, “The Phantom of the Opera” is set to close on Broadway on Feb. 18, 2023. Lloyd Webber’s new musical “Bad Cinderella,” featuring his music and produced via his Really Useful Group, will begin performances at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre on Feb. 17.
In addition to his writing and producing work, Lloyd Webber owns six London theaters and champions musical education through the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, which provides annual scholarships for 30 students with financial needs and supports projects such as research of diversity in theater.
Harrison has produced a number of West End musicals, including “Annie,” “Gypsy,” “The Bodyguard” and “Young Frankenstein.” He is chief executive officer of Crossroads Pantomimes. He has produced a number of pantomimes — a genre of British entertainment usually telling a traditional fairy tale, characterized by song, dance, comedy, exaggerated characters and audience participation — at The London Palladium. Some of his pantos include “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” “Pantoland” and “Snow White.”
Harrison said in a statement, “I am delighted to be joining forces with Andrew Lloyd Webber to create Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, which I hope will be a major force in producing musical theater across the world.” Lloyd Webber said, “I will now concentrate on composing knowing that I have a first-rate producer to collaborate with in the future.”
