Andrew Lloyd Webber has written more long-running West End hits than any composer alive. This is a ranked editor's view - not a chart of commercial success - of which of his musicals reward the closest listening.
- Sunset Boulevard - the Jamie Lloyd revival recast the show entirely; the score has always been one of Lloyd Webber's most underrated.
- The Phantom of the Opera - the engine that built his theatre estate. See current run.
- Evita - Tim Rice's lyrics give the score an edge that most Lloyd Webber works do not have.
- Jesus Christ Superstar - the rock opera that started everything. Best as a concert or open-air staging.
- Cats - polarising, but T.S. Eliot's verse and the Memory melody have outlived a thousand parodies.
- School of Rock - the closest he has come to writing for a contemporary audience.
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - the most-revived family musical of the Lloyd Webber catalogue.
- Aspects of Love - small, intimate, melodically rich.
- Starlight Express - revived on roller skates in Wembley; the music is better than the concept suggests.
- The Beautiful Game - Ben Elton libretto, brief West End run, still worth tracking down on record.