Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tonal Structure in Musical Theater

Abstract Andrew Lloyd Webber is an often polarizing figure in musical theater: He is either “the savior and regenerator of the very genre of the musical . . . and a composer of melodic genius and telling theatrical savvy” or “a cheap panderer to the lowest common denominator, derivative and faceless” (Rockwell 1987). Critics often reproach his works for a perceived lack of traditional musical development, structure, and unity, noting that Lloyd Webber's stylistic eclecticism is often jarring and that musical “development sits uneasily with . . . the sectional approach to the form characteristic of all Lloyd Webber's works” (Snelson 2004: 185). Using Jesus Christ Superstar as a case study, this article probes deeper-level connections between musical structure and tonal relationships in Lloyd Webber's work. By developing a model of musical structure through what the author describes as a transformationally linked associative network of relationships—whether these relationships be expressed in terms of key, motive, or harmony—the author argues that Lloyd Webber's work does indeed engage with issues of musical development and unity, albeit in a way that differs significantly from his operatic, symphonic, and theatrical precedents. Rather than developing motifs using more traditional processes, Lloyd Webber's compositional style exists in closer proximity to that of Wagner or Richard Strauss, with associative tonalities, their relationships to one another, and transformations within that associative network forming the primary locus of musical structure within the work.