I love a lawsuit — and this one promises to be fun!
Andrew Lloyd Webber, the most successful composer in theater history, is going after Michael Cohl, the rock ’n’ roll impresario who lost a bundle on “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.”
Lloyd Webber said yesterday that he’s suing Cohl over an aborted production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” which was to have played arenas throughout North America this summer. Cohl, who made millions promoting the Rolling Stones and U2, abruptly scrapped the show last month, saying ticket sales were lousy.
But Lloyd Webber isn’t buying that excuse. Cohl’s calling off the tour was “a unilateral decision,” Lloyd Webber said in a statement issued by his production company, the Really Useful Group. The company has “been tirelessly working to find an out-of-court settlement of the costs incurred by cancellation at such a late stage … [we] have no option but to proceed with legal action to recover costs associated with the project.”
The show, which was in rehearsals when Cohl nixed it, was to have starred Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child, John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) of the Sex Pistols and Brandon Boyd of Incubus.
(Maybe it would have sold more tickets had it starred Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias of “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.”)
Lloyd Webber, Cohl and Tim Rice, who wrote the lyrics to the show, announced the tour with much fanfare last spring in New York. All three were excited about the prospects for the production, pointing out that an arena tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar” had sold out all over England and Australia.
But I’m told things got sticky right after the public announcement. Both Lloyd Webber and Rice were concerned that Cohl wasn’t aggressive enough in promoting the show.
“They had their big press conference and then — nothing,” says a source.
Cohl is no stranger to lawsuits. He had a bruising battle with Live Nation over a Rolling Stones tour that was eventually settled out of court.
“He sees lawsuits as the cost of doing business,” says a source.
Cohl showed his defiance in a statement yesterday: “The fact is the show did not sell. We look forward to our day in court.”
This is going to be a hell of a lot more entertaining than “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark!”