Video: Andrew Lloyd Webber's Thoughts on Broadway Economics Amid Financial Uncertainty

Andrew Lloyd Webber, known as the most successful Broadway composer ever, has sat down for a new interview where he dissects the current financial state of Broadway and the West End. In the new video with MarketWatch, the Sunset Boulevard composer reveals what he thinks is wrong with the economics of theatre and how they can improve.

Key takeaways from the interview can be found below, including his thoughts on The Phantom of the Opera's "idiotic" closing on Broadway, how theatre owners can win back a younger audience, and more.

The Phantom of the Opera Closing on Broadway Was the "Stupidest Decision"

Lloyd Webber reveals in the interview that he thinks it was "idiotic" that the long-running Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera was allowed to close. He says that the production had found a new, younger audience that it was breaking through to, which would have let it run much longer than its 35 years.

Broadway Has to "Tip Back in Favor of the Creatives"

The composer blames theatre owners and unions for making financial circumstances difficult for creatives to work in the theatre. Acknowledging that he owns several West End theatres, Lloyd Webber says that financial scales must tip back in favor of the creatives, as opposed to unions and, especially he says, theatre owners.

"Now the scale is that a new writer, or even an established writer now, are on minimums ... the new writers really can't afford to work on Broadway. It's gone out of control. It has got to tip back in favor now of the creatives."

While he is now focused on composing rather than producing, his production company has recently rebranded as LW Entertainment, exploring new ways to develop his work into new forms of media, including films and young adult novels.

People Will "Bypass" Broadway For Innovative Venues

Lloyd Webber discusses his largely successful production of Starlight Express, which currently runs in Wembley, which is the West End equivalent to Long Island or the Bronx. He states that Broadway and West End theatre owners must think of new and innovative ways to attract a younger audience to their theatre, or audiences will pass them up for something less traditional and more radical.

"I don't believe that people now think they have to go to the West End or Broadway. I think the young now feel like they'll just go where they want. We're all going to have to now think about a new way of doing things."

Cats Was Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Biggest Financial Risk"

Andrew Lloyd Webber calls Cats the "biggest financial risk" of his career, revealing that he took out a second mortgage on his house to "guarantee" the show to go into its theatre. If it had flopped, he states that he would have lost his house.