Andrew Lloyd Webber has hailed War Horse for helping create a “revival” of British theatre. He was among the guests at a royal reception to honour British Academy Award winners, hosted by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at St James’s Palace.
The theatre production of War Horse is based on the book by Michael Morpurgo and tells the story of a lifelong friendship between a young boy and his horse.
Lord Lloyd-Webber said: “War Horse engaged a lot of young people. Since that time, theatre in London has got a lot more diverse, it’s a very exciting time I think for the West End and it’s very gratifying to see.”
The composer and creator of music for hit shows like Phantom of the Opera and Jesus Christ Superstar hailed the royal reception as “great fun”, and said he found it awe-inspiring to be a part of it.
The fact that there are more British technicians who have received Oscars than Americans is a fact that speaks for itself
“The fact that there are more British technicians who have received Oscars than Americans is a fact that speaks for itself,” he said.“I think sometimes in this country we don’t realise just how much British artistic talent is employed around the rest of the world. So something like this, which celebrates what Brits are up to and the continuing work we do and how important we are to the film industry, is a very good thing.”
Lord Lloyd-Webber recently opened his latest venture on Broadway, a production of School of Rock – The Musical, based on the movie starring Hollywood actor Jack Black.
Black visited the cast at the weekend and Lord Lloyd-Webber said “he loved the show”.
The production has also just been nominated in the best new musical category for the Tony Awards, which are hailed as the Oscars of the theatre world.
“It was great to work on Broadway, but Broadway is tough and it’s easier in a way to launch something here [in London] than is it there, because it’s so expensive there,” he said.
“But again, it was a British team [who worked on the Broadway show], Julian Fellowes, Laurence Connor (who did Les Misérables) – a great team and there we go.”