Legendary Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber recounted a bizarre run-in with another legend, Barbra Streisand, during a talk about his memoir “Unmasked” at Hearst Tower on Thursday.
Webber revealed that dog-cloning diva Babs had come to see “Cats” in London years ago — but left during intermission after oddly appearing backstage.
“She decided she wanted to come completely incognito,” he recalled during a Q&A with Town & Country editor Stellene Volandes. At intermission, “I went backstage and got a bottle of champagne … I open it and it explodes all over, and I am sort of wiping down my front, at which point Barbra appears. All the canapés are drenched.”
The maestro managed to muster, “Ms. Streisand, it’s such an honor to meet you, and what can I offer you?” And, “She said, ‘Milk.’” He related to the crowd, “I don’t know how many of you know theater bars, and in the early 1980s — but despite it being a show about cats, milk was not a commodity we readily had on hand.”
Webber says a quick-thinking theater manager left and collected mini cups of cream for coffee to bring the “Funny Girl” icon, but “she decided she wanted to go because she said she had ‘claustrophobia.’” Streisand ended up recording a hit version of “Memory,” even though she left before seeing the number in the show that night.
Meanwhile, Webber also revealed that he was once asked to play Mozart in the 1984 Oscar-winning movie “Amadeus.” Director Milos Forman told Webber, “Well, you’re apparently very obnoxious and lose your temper …you would be absolutely perfect for the role!”