Andrew Lloyd Webber tops 100 for the first time – 20 years ago in The Stage

Twenty years ago, Andrew Lloyd Webber ascended to the top of The Stage 100 for the first time.

Back then, we reported: “After a frenetic bout of musical chairs at the start of the year that saw theatres change hands like Pokémon cards in a playground, the dust has settled and the West End and regional horizon is clear – for the time being. The Holmes à Court family’s link to Theatreland ended when Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group bought the Stoll-Moss stable to become London’s largest owner with an interest in 13 venues, hence Lloyd Webber’s rise to pole position.”

The report continued: “Taking over the Stoll-Moss chain at the beginning of the year firmly established Lloyd Webber as the dominant force in British theatre, not only production-wise – with The Phantom of the Opera becoming the biggest-grossing artistic product, taking more money than Titanic – but also as the biggest theatre owner in the heartland of the industry. Whistle Down the Wind announced it was to close in the new year, but Ben Elton collaboration The Beautiful Game opened, although its success, with the critics, at the box office and artistically, remains open to question.”

Other names featuring in the top 20 of The Stage 100 in 2001 included Howard Panter, Cameron Mackintosh, Sam Mendes, Jude Kelly and Jim Davidson.