THEATER TALK To Welcome Andrew Lloyd Webber This Week

An all-new THEATER TALK presents a warm, informative interview with composer-producer Andrew Lloyd Webber about his new musical School of Rock - the Broadway adaptation of the 2003 Jack Black film, with an original score by Lloyd Webber and lyricist Glenn Slater, and book by Julian (Downton Abbey) Fellowes.

Clearly energized and excited to be returning to Broadway with an anticipated hit, Lloyd Weber tells co-hosts Michael Riedel and Susan Haskins that he was considering writing a new show for schools to do, much like Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat, when the film - which featured fragments of existing rock songs and two original works - allowed for an affectionate look at the whole rock genre. "It's just me having a lot of fun," he says.

The musical's message of how music can empower kids is a passion for Lloyd Webber, who has provided 3,000 school children with free musical instruments, leading to a complete reversal of one U.K. school's fortunes. He talks about growing up in a musical family; the profound impression on him as a child of Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock; writing his early hit with Tim Rice, Jesus Christ Superstar; collaborating with director Harold Prince on The Phantom of the Opera, and the importance of dramatic structure in a musical.

Co-hosted by Michael Riedel of the New York Post and Susan Haskins, this latest edition of THEATER TALK premieres in the New York metropolitan area Friday, November 27 (2015) at 1:30 AM (early Saturday morning); and on CUNY TV* Saturday 11/28 at 8:30 PM, Sunday 11/29 at 12:30 PM, and Monday 11/30 at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM; and on WLIW/21 on Monday 11/30 at 5:30 PM - a total of 7 showings this week.

THEATER TALK is jointly produced by the not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV. The program is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 100+ participating public television stations nationwide. THEATER TALK is made possible in part by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The CUNY TV Foundation, and The Friends of THEATER TALK.

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