Andrew loyd webber songs full#
Andrew loyd webber songs series#
Andrew loyd webber songs tv#

The director Trevor Nunn watched the performance and offered to help develop the material from something 'twee' to something with more 'spectacle and theatre magic'. Lloyd Webber and Stilgoe presented two songs the following summer at the Sydmonton Festival, Lloyd Webber's private event for showcasing new work. Lloyd Webber asked lyricist Richard Stilgoe to help him revive the idea as a concert for schools, in the style of Lloyd Webber's breakthrough musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Starlight Express proper began in early 1981.

The project went into development hell, but Lloyd Webber remained interested in the idea of telling a story with trains. Cinderella would be a steam engine and the ugly sisters would be a diesel engine and an electric engine. In this version of the story, the Prince would hold a competition to decide which engine would pull the royal train across the United States of America.

Andrew loyd webber songs tv#

The song failed to chart, but 'Engine of Love' went on to feature in some productions of Starlight Express and the melody was also later used for 'He'll Whistle At Me'.Īround the same time as writing 'Engine of Love', an American TV station invited Lloyd Webber to compose songs for an animated film of Cinderella. Lloyd Webber and Peter Reeves wrote a novelty pop song for Jordan called 'Engine of Love', which was released in 1977.

Andrew loyd webber songs series#

(Ironically, the Thomas & Friends series later premiered seven months after Starlight Express and became highly successful.)Īfter withdrawing from the project, Lloyd Webber heard a recording of an American soul singer, Earl Jordan, who could sing three notes at once in the style of a steam whistle.

Andrew loyd webber songs full#

The episode was completed in early 1976, but Granada ultimately decided not to produce a full series as they feared that Awdry's stories were not then popular enough outside the UK to justify investing the time and money needed to make the series. They pitched their material to Granada TV, who commissioned a pilot episode. Following the meeting, Lloyd Webber started composing, with actor and children's TV writer Peter Reeves contributing lyrics, alongside artist Brian Cosgrove animating for it. Awdry about adapting Awdry's Thomas the Tank Engine stories as an animated TV series. In 1974, Lloyd Webber approached author Reverend W. Starlight Express has its roots in three abandoned projects: an animated TV series based on Thomas the Tank Engine, a novelty pop single, and an animated film based on Cinderella. Starlight Express is the ninth-longest-running West End show and the most successful musical in Germany, where it has been performed in a purpose-built theatre since 1988, holding the Guinness World Record for most visitors to a musical in a single theatre. Famously, the actors perform on roller skates. It tells the story of a young but obsolete steam engine, Rusty, who races in a championship against modern engines in the hope of impressing a first-class observation car, Pearl. Starlight Express is a 1984 British musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Lauren Aquilina (additional lyrics) Don Black (additional lyrics) Logo for the Japan/Australia tour, 1987–1988