Andrew Lloyd Webber earned much of his fame in the 1980s thanks to grand musical productions like The Phantom of the Opera and Cats. (While Evita earned much acclaim in the 1980s it was actually a 1970s production) While everyone knows Andrew Lloyd Webber from his biggest hits, you may wonder what the composter and theatre guru has been doing as of late.

He’s kept very busy, and particularly since the 1990s and 2000 decades. Andrew Lloyd Webber oversaw the production of Sunset Boulevard, a thirteen million dollar investment that never quite proved profitable. Though the show was popular and though the songs are often sung today with Webber’s greatest hits (“With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye”), the production closed early, even after winning seven Tony Awards and setting all sorts of advance purchase records.

In the late 1990s, Andrew Loyd Webber turned his attention to Whistle Down the Wind, a collaboration with rock star Jim Steinman that did not end well. The talented and perfectionist composter found greener pastures when the 2000 era came in. Some of his best work debuted this decade including The Woman in White and his own production of the legendary entity, The Sound of Music.

Since the mid to late 2000 decade, Andrew Lloyd Webber has been doing “charity work” for a few reality TV shows, but his greatest achievement has to be the 2009 Love Never Dies production. This official sequel to The Phantom of the Opera featured music by Webber and lyrics by Glenn Slater and Charles Hart. The storyline jumps ten years into the future and reunites Christine and the Phantom. Unfortunately, the production received generally poor reviews and thus the Broadway production was postponed, perhaps indefinitely.

His latest venture, The Wizard of Oz, in which he collaborates with Tim Rice (of The Lion King fame) should prove interesting, as the production will feature new songs and feature Phantom alumni Michael Crawford as the Wizard. Despite all of his new age success, it’s hard to escape the fact that Webber’s best work was in the 1980s during which he created at least two iconic masterpieces which revolutionized theatre–the one with the big kitties and the one with the white mask. You can still see the best work of Andrew Lloyd Webber when The Phantom of the Opera and Cats tours your city!