Earlier this year, Andrew Lloyd Webber made the confession of his life: he was an alcoholic.
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he → make → life
So pronounced had his drinking become – endless bottles of wine, counting down the minutes in the morning until he was able to have a drink – that he decided he needed help.
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he → become → help
‘You think it’s secret, but it’s not,’ the 78-year-old theatrical legend told an interviewer in April.
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legend → think → April
‘Everybody knows.
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Everybody → know → ?
I started getting into a downhill spiral and about 18 months
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I → start → spiral
My wife was feeling she couldn’t go on.’
And so he took action: rehab, AA, sponsors, auctioning off his famously decadent wine collection in its entirety – and, most importantly, adopting a new mental outlook, one that was even more focused.
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that → feel → outlook
Certainly it’s true that without the booze, he has become even more productive, recently bagging some of his best reviews – such as for his 2026 Cats revival at Regent’s Park.
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he → ’ → Park
And, I’m told by a well-placed source that it’s this clarity which has directly led to this week’s falling out with his best-known professional partner, Tim Rice.
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which → tell → partner
As a duo, of course, both were all-conquering, creating Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita together, with Lloyd Webber composing the music and Rice the lyrics.
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Rice → conquer → music
Little wonder, then, that there was delight when it was revealed that, some 50 years since they got together, both men had cooperated on six songs for a new show, Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas, soon set to open in London after a run in Birmingham last year.
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men → be → Birmingham
Produced by Rice’s children Eva and Donald, it follows the detective on the trail of a killer who is working his way through lords-a-leaping and drummers drumming, as per the Christmas carol.
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drummers → produce → carol
Don asked Lloyd Webber to contribute some songs for it, because of the family connection.
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Don → ask → connection
The critics found the songs, and the play, enjoyable enough.
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songs → find → ?
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber pictured together in 1971
This week, though, it was revealed that those songs have been either ‘withdrawn’ or ‘ditched’ depending on which side you speak to.
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you → picture → side
The row seems pointed, with questions over whether these great partners will ever collaborate again.
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partners → seem → questions
Rice says Lloyd Webber is directly responsible, while Lloyd Webber blames Rice’s children.
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Webber → say → children
He said they ‘decided not to use the music I composed for the Birmingham production for two reasons…
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I → say → reasons
apparently there needed to be further work on the project which, with my schedule this year, simply would have been impossible for me to undertake’.
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me → need → schedule
He added: ‘I was asked to sign away my rights in advance for five years without any right of approval over its use in a production I hadn’t seen and with a team I had never worked with before!’
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I → add → team
I’m told by a source close to Lloyd Webber: ‘Andrew has new- found clarity because he has got sober, and that will have been a factor [in this falling out].
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that → tell → falling
This row is truly nothing much but it is a point of principle which is vital to people in the creative industries – and that is that if you are the creator then you get paid.’
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you → pay → industries
The friend continues: ‘It is a real storm in a teacup.
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It → continue → teacup
Donald and Eva made ridiculous demands and Andrew just thought “No! Eff that”.’
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Andrew → make → that
For his part, Rice told The Times: ‘Andrew really didn’t want to continue with the show.
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Andrew → tell → show
Andrew is more concerned with much bigger productions.’
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Andrew → concern → productions
That much is true – Lloyd Webber’s business, LW Entertainment is a huge one, and he is co-writing an operatic new musical, The Illusionist, as well as planning an immersive production of The Phantom of the Opera.
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he → co → Opera
Composer Howard Goodall has now stepped in to write new songs for the Sherlock Holmes show.
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Goodall → step → show
Asked if the new songs were better than those Lloyd Webber had composed, Rice replied: ‘I have no comment to make on that.’
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I → ask → that
He said: ‘Andrew just felt it was not up his alley.
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it → say → alley
He is running a huge theatrical empire and very graciously we decided that it is not crucial.
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it → run → empire
We’ll start again.’
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We → start → ?
It all seems rather unnecessary, as my source agrees.
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source → seem → ?
‘Tim could have sorted this out with one phone call to Andrew but he didn’t because it was about backing his kids and they both get that,’ they said.
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they → sort → that
It seems there may be lingering insecurities on Lloyd Webber’s side too.
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It → seem → side
‘Andrew felt in his shadow as the nerdy plain one back in the days of Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph,’ said the source.
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source → feel → Superstar
‘They would be out together in New York and all the women would fall at Tim’s feet.
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women → fall → feet
He has remained married to Jane McIntosh since 1974, but had an 11-year affair in the 1980s with Elaine Paige, Evita’s leading lady.
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He → remain → Paige
He has a grown-up daughter from a relationship with artist Nell Sully and a young daughter, Charlotte, after a romance with playwright Laura-Jane Foley.
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He → have → Foley
Lloyd Webber has been married three times – to Sarah Hugill, whom he met when she was a schoolgirl, soprano Sarah Brightman, his ‘Christine’ in Phantom of the Opera, and his current wife equestrian Madeleine Gurdon.
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she → marry → Opera
Webber and Rice pose with their Oscars after winning Best Achievement for an Original Song during the 69th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in 1997
Photographs from their golden decade – between 1968-1978 when they created Joseph, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita – show them grinning for photographers in kipper ties and jumpers, with shy gawky Lloyd Webber alongside Rice, his debonair pal.
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them → pose → Rice
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
