One ALW at a Time: Part 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sunset Boulevard

Based on the legendary 1950 Billy Wilder film of the same name, this musical gave us "With One Look", "As If We Never Said Goodbye", and of course the title song. It also proved to the world that Hollywood actress Glenn Close was an excellent singer when she took over the leading role for the musical's American premiere.
"Sunset Boulevard" tells the story of ageing silent movie star Norma Desmond and broke young screenwriter Joe Gillis, who swindles his way into her life. The immortal last line in the film also made it into the stage version: "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."
When Joe and Norma first meet, Joe recognizes her, saying, "You used to be big!", to which Norma replies grandly, "I AM big. It's the pictures that got small!"

Answer: Stephen Ward

This 2013 addition to the Lloyd Webber portfolio was a short-lived show. It gave us songs such as "Human Sacrifice", "This Side of the Sky", "Manipulation", and "I'm Hopeless When It Comes To You". The eponymous Stephen Ward ("your friendly osteopath") was the person who introduced politician John Profumo to model and dancer Christine Keeler, setting into motion what would later become known as "the Profumo affair", a political scandal that led to the collapse of the government of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, whose quote "You've never had it so good" is arguably the one thing people still remember him by.

Answer: School of Rock

Lloyd Webber went back to the roots in 2015 by composing this rock musical. Based on a 2003 movie starring Jack Black and featuring a bunch of immensely talented child actors, the feel-good energy of "School of Rock" translates in the musical just as well as it does in the film.
The Battle of the Bands is the competition that the protagonist, Dewey Finn, dreams of winning.

Answer: Jesus Christ Superstar

One of Lloyd Webber's most famous musicals, this rock opera recalls the last seven days in the life of Jesus of Nazareth through the eyes of Judas Iscariot. From the haunting opening guitar riff to the over-the-top celebratory mood of "Superstar", this musical is an emotional roller coaster - no matter whether you're religious or not. Unforgettable songs, some of notorious difficulty (just think of Caiaphas's super-low notes in "This Jesus Must Die" or the strong falsetto required of the singer in "Gethsemane"), paired with a timeless topic and musical techniques that truly show Lloyd Webber's range as a composer, rightly earned "Jesus Christ Superstar" a spot in the musical hall of fame.

The live production won an Emmy, making Andrew Lloyd Webber one of only a handful of EGOT winners (after "Evita" had already, one him an Oscar, two Tonys, a Grammy, and a Golden Globe for good measure).

Answer: Cats

Every year, the "Jellicle Cats" (child-speak for "dear little cats" courtesy of T. S. Eliot's grandchild) of London come together to celebrate the Jellicle Ball and determine which one of them will ascend to the Heaviside Layer. Who will it be this time? The Rum Tum Tugger? Bombalurina? Skimbleshanks? Mister Mistofelees? A revue-like musical with a strong focus on dance, "Cats" is a beloved musical for old and young. Fun fact: The show's smash hit, "Memory", wasn't added until later, when rehearsals for the premiere had already begun and director Trevor Nunn felt the show was lacking a dramatic highlight. Trevor Nunn wrote the lyrics, using fragments from another T. S. Eliot poem called "Rhapsody on a Windy Night". That is why, even though "Memory" is by far the most famous song from "Cats", it is the only one that is not directly based on a poem from Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats".

Answer: Song and Dance

This Lloyd Webber musical consists of two parts - a one-woman show (featuring the famous song "Take That Look Off Your Face") and the "Variations", originally a cello concerto based on Paganini's famous Caprice in A Minor. The song cycle "Tell Me On A Sunday" forms the basis of Act I ("Song") while the "Variations" are the basis of Act II ("Dance") and are mainly interpreted through ballet dancing.

Answer: The Likes of Us

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's very first musical, "The Likes of Us" (1965), was never performed and pretty much sank into oblivion until it was dug out for a special performance in 2005 (narrated by Stephen Fry). Since then, amateur rights have been released, and a few schools and youth theater companies have risen to the challenge of performing it.
The musical is based on the story of philanthropist Thomas John Barnardo.

Answer: (By) Jeeves

Loosely based on a series of stories by P. G. Wodehouse, "Jeeves" was a whopping five hours long when rehearsals for the premiere began in 1975. It underwent a number of edits afterwards and was reintroduced to the public in 1996. "By Jeeves", as the revised version was called, took its time to find its audience.

It is unlike most other ALW musicals, as there is a high amount of spoken dialogue, interspersed with happy, upbeat operetta-like melodies. Fun fact: According to Wikipedia, a small section of "Half a Moment" was cut from the song and reused in Sunset Boulevard as part of the song "As if We Never Said Goodbye."

Answer: The Odessa File

Andrew Lloyd Webber not only composed musicals: he also wrote the music for "The Odessa File", a 1974 film (based on Frederick Forsyth's novel of the same name) starring Jon Voight and Maximilian Schell about a journalist hunting WW2 war criminals. "ODESSA" is an acronym that stands for "Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen" (Organisation of Former Members of the SS).
The song "Christmas Dream" by Perry Como, which is played on the car radio at the start of the film, was also written by Lloyd Webber (with Tim Rice contributing the lyrics).

Answer: Requiem

Another non-musical, this is Lloyd Webber's one venture into the realm of classical music, a traditional mass for the dead dedicated to his father.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Requiem" won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and the soloists at the premiere (and subsequent recording) were soprano Sarah Brightman (Webber's wife at the time) and international opera star Plácido Domingo. Paul Miles-Kingston appeared as treble soloist. The most famous segment is the soprano/treble duet "Pie Jesu", which became a hit single in its own right.