Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer of many of Broadway’s longest-running musicals, has joined an honored and elite group. With his Emmy-win for Outstanding Variety Special for Jesus Christ Superstar – Live in Concert, he has now achieved EGOT status. EGOT stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, all accolades that Webber has now garnered.
In a statement, Lloyd Webber said, “I’m honored that the Television Academy recognized this wonderful production of Superstar. While I celebrate this award with my colleagues especially my dear friend Tim Rice, we would not be here without the guidance of Craig Zadan whose recent passing we continue to mourn.”
Andrew Lloyd Webber, who is currently represented on Broadway with School of Rock and Broadway’s longest-running musical The Phantom of the Opera, has been racking up trophies for decades. He has Tony Awards for his scores for Evita, Cats, and Sunset Boulevard, and for Best Musical for Cats and Sunset Boulevard. He has Grammy Awards for the cast albums of Evita and Cats, as well as for Best Contemporary Composition for Requiem and a Grammy Legend award. He won an Academy Award for Best Song for “You Must Love Me” introduced by Madonna in the film version of Evita.
Webber wasn’t the only one to come out of the Creative Arts Emmy ceremony an EGOT winner thanks to Jesus Christ Superstar – Live in Concert. John Legend, who has 10 Grammys, a Tony for co-producing the 2017 Broadway revival Jitney, and an Oscar for his song “Glory” from the 2014 film Selma, won his first Emmy. Sir Tim Rice, Webber’s collaborator on Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita also joined the EGOT circle. Rice has won Tony Awards for his work as both lyricist and book writer on Evita, and as lyricist for Aida (writing with Elton John as composer). Rice has three Academy Awards for Best Song, “A Whole New World” from Aladdin, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from The Lion King, and “You Must Love Me” from the film adaptation of Evita. Rice also has 5 Grammy-wins including Best Musical Theatre Album (Evita, Aida), Best Song (“A Whole New World” from Aladdin) and Best Musical Album for Children (Aladdin).
Including non-competitive and special categories, past EGOT winners include: Audrey Hepburn, Mel Brooks, Rita Moreno, James Earl Jones, Richard Rodgers, Christopher Plummer, Barbra Streisand, Mike Nichols, Whoopi Goldberg, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud, Marvin Hamlisch, Robert Lopez, Helen Hayes, Harry Belafonte, Scott Rudin, Jonathan Tunick, Alan Menken, and Quincy Jones.
Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert received 13 Emmy nominations. The remainder of the 70th Annual Emmy Awards winners will be announced on Monday, September 17 on NBC.
Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals, The Disney Song Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs. He maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.