| Notes |
Andrew Lloyd Webber approached Matthew Evans with his idea for a musical based on Eliot’s jeu d’esprit Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Evans talked to Valerie Eliot, who visited Lloyd Webber’s country home to hear his ideas for the musical based. She returned won over. The subsequent agreement also assured that Faber Music would be the musical’s publishers.
In 1981 the Cats opened in London, where it played 8940 consecutive performances. In 1982 it was on Broadway, where it played for 18 years. It is still being staged somewhere in the world. The royalties from Cats would be providential, protecting the company at a time when other independent publishers were folding or being taken over. |