‘I“Is this show a legal minefield? Yes, but let’s carry on.” So begins musical comedy duo Flo & Joan’s one-man musical, a more heretical adventure that places Andrew Lloyd Webber at the centre of his own autobiographical show. Is mingling with the communists and hippies of Edinburgh a sign that Lord Lloyd Webber is desperate for a break? Not at all, insists the Cats man. He positions his “show about me!” as another hero’s triumphant journey alongside Evita, Joseph and Jesus Christ.
Ah, but is this really a show about me, or about him? Authorship is the wellspring of much of the one-man musical’s meta-theatrical shenanigans, and Lloyd Webber (George Fouracres) claims to be the auteur, but who are these two up-and-coming women playing keyboards and drum kit behind him? It’s a winning concoction, taking a famous Tory and West End blockbuster through his crazy days and crazy existence, and ultimately leading him to a place where Lin-Manuel Miranda (whose name, Lloyd Webber strangely cannot understand) is king and ALW’s popularity is starting to look a little awkward.
While I doubted at first whether Fouracres’ voice would be up to the challenge (the opening number is a bit of a growl), I was quickly reassured by the performance, which ultimately silenced any doubters. Fouracres’ Andrew, playing Lloyd Webber as an arrogant but combative landowner (if only Tweed could talk…) with a lifelong love affair with his childhood stray cat, Perseus, is the best thing ever. He’s got commercial flair, a fertile wellspring of good ideas, and a romantic leading man. If you share his romantic ideal of a deformed monster wooing a virgin bride (which few do these days), Andrew is the man for the role.
That may sound like a critical comment, but it’s not. Weaving Lloyd Webber-esque motifs into the score, his aforementioned party ghosts, Flo and Joan, acknowledge the snobbism toward his music and the pain of being left behind by the currents of cultural change. They also pack the show with some wickedly sassy jokes, mostly poking fun at ALW and his “music fans.” Even if the lawyers object, audiences will love it.
