Two Of A Kind

Custom-built theatres

Lloyd Webber: A warning for Wildhorn here. Lord Lloyd- Webber had three custom-built theatres for his shows in Europe. But audiences for the same show are finite. Two have gone bust.

Wildhorn: Still thinks it worth a try. A theatre has been custom-built in Bremen, Germany, for the German version of Jekyll & Hyde. It will show Jekyll & Hyde and only Jekyll & Hyde in perpetuity.

The muse is the wife

Lloyd Webber: His second wife Sarah Brightman starred in Phantom of the Opera and went on to record and tour his music. He met her when she was a mere chorus kitten on his show Cats.

Wildhorn: He fashions shows around his wife, Linda Eder, a soprano whom he met shortly after she won the grand prize on Star Search on American TV in 1988.

Jesus started me off

Lloyd Webber: His first international hit was Jesus Christ Superstar which he wrote with Tim Rice.

Wildhorn: He wrote his first musical, Christopher, after seeing the movie of Jesus Christ Superstar. He describes Christopher as "sort of Jesus Christ Superstar part six from a zen Buddhist point of view".

Music to campaign by

Lloyd Webber: He was ennobled by John Major and wrote the music for one of the Conservative Party campaigns.

Wildhorn: His song `This is the moment' from Jekyll and Hyde became President Clinton's theme during his second nomination at the Democrat national convention.

Damn the critics

Lloyd Webber: Hardly. He cares obsessively about what critics think of his shows and has felt in the past that he has not received the credit in the UK that he has abroad.

Wildhorn: Couldn't care less. Says: "There are all these writers who are the intelligentsia's favourites but they have no clue what a hit song is."