Musical geeks squeal for Andrew Lloyd Webber on YouTube
Taking a page from fellow Brits Monty Python’s recent move into online video, Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s entertainment company, Really Useful Group (RUG), has launched its own YouTube channel.
RUG, which is a theatrical, TV and film production company that owns several West End theaters, hopes its online presence will translate into more music downloads, ticket sales and merchandise purchases. This pairing also highlights how Broadway shows, whose ticket sales have cooled, are trying to tap into online audiences with YouTube clips for shows such as In The Heights.
Clips on the channel span over 40 years of Lloyd Webber hits, with live performances of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” (Antonio Banderas sings!) and segments from the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar, plus music videos.
For those of you who want to know more about the man behind the musical mask, there’s even a Charlie Rose interview with Lloyd Webber.
Lord Lloyd Webber (yes, he was knighted) has been trying to cement his relevance in the world of pop culture, with an appearance as a guest judge on the singapalooza phenomenon show American Idol earlier this year. It makes sense that he’s trying to move his greatest hits to YouTube. Besides, he created the iconic musical Cats eons before videos of cats flushing toilets became YouTube favorites.
Sadly, my fruitless search for the Saturday Night Live parody of Cats from 1999 is mirrored by a lack of Cats videos on RUG’s YouTube Channel. Well, we’ll always have this Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat shoutout, immortalized by the TV show Seinfeld.
[Photo via malaspina.com]
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