Composer and impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber is one of the most well-known names in musical theater and, thanks to some notable movie adaptations, he's also known in film circles as well. The London-born Andrew Lloyd Webber began his career collaborating on the Oliver!-inspired musical The Likes of Us with Tim Rice. That musical ended up failing to gain a backer and, after some more attempts to get something off the ground, he finally was able to produce Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the musical that would launch him into stardom.

Since then, Webber has helped fund and create songs for some of the most recognizable musicals ever, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera (1986), The Wizard of Oz (2011), and School of Rock (2015). He's won one Academy Award and been nominated three times, gone 3 for 15 at the Grammys, won a Golden Globe, and won 6 Tonys out of 23 nominations. Surprisingly, his musicals have not often been adapted to the screen, but their scarcity means that when they are adapted, there's all the more buzz about them.

5 Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999)

An Unnecessary Shot-For-Shot Retelling

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a 1999 British musical based on the 1972 musical of the same name, directed by Steven Pimlott and David Mallet. The film stars Donny Osmond as the titular Joseph, with Maria Friedman, Richard Attenborough, and Ian McNeice rounding out the cast. In the film, the musical is put on by a primary school with the children playing the parts of the chorus and the teachers and staff acting as the characters.

There is very little difference between the film, which is a play shot as a film, and the musical, which brings to question why it really needed to be made beyond preserving the musical in a way that can allow more people to watch. Osmond is capable as Joseph but does not do much more than any other starring actor in the role. If given the choice, seeing the play in theaters will be a much more rewarding use of time.

4 Cats (2019)

A Shockingly Bizarre Adaptation Of The Feline Musical

The discussion around Cats was almost more entertaining than the 2019 film. Based on Andrew Lloyd Weber's 1981 play Cats, which is itself based on a series of poems by T. S. Eliot and directed by Tom Hooper, the musical fantasy film follows most of the beats of the musical with only a few changes thrown in here and there. The film follows Victoria (sca Hayward), a white cat abandoned by her owner, who meets the street-wise "Jellicles" who teach her the ways of being an alley-cat.

From the moment the first trailer dropped, the internet was already on fire with memes and jokes about the unsettling animation Hooper employs in the films that blend human actors and cat bodies for an unsettling watch. The songs are great, of course, being they are Webber's but the direction is lacking, and any irable traits the film has are overpowered by the unfortunate visual decision that makes watching Cats funny but not in the way it's supposed to be.

3 The Phantom Of The Opera (2004)

Gerard Butler And Emmy Rossum Are Well Cast As The Leads

Based on the 1985 play which is based on the 1909 novel by Gaston Leroux, the 2004 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera was directed by Joel Schumacher and stars Gerard Butler as the masked Phantom and Emmy Rossum as Christine Daaé. The film tells the story of soprano Daaé's infatuation with the mysterious and disfigured musical genius who resides in the labyrinths beneath the Paris Opéra House.

Butler and Rossum have fantastic chemistry together, turning something of a plodding romance into something much more beautiful and moving.

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and three Golden Globes, but critical responses were generally mixed. Schumacher injects the film with his unique sense of style that, while usually effective, takes away from the classical baroque aspects of the musical, which is what most fans appreciate about it. Butler and Rossum have fantastic chemistry together, turning something of a plodding romance into something much more beautiful and moving.

2 Evita (1996)

A Moving Portrait Sung Exquisitely By Madonna

Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic 1978 musical Evita, was adapted into a film in 1996 with Madonna as Eva Perón, the first lady of Argentina in the 1940s and 1950s. The film tracks Perón's journey from an illegitimate child of a lower-class family to becoming a famed singer, philanthropist, and eventually politician. Her complicated life is told via narration by a man named Ché (Antonio Banderas), and Madonna's incredible singing voice is put to good use throughout.

Eva Perón died on July 26, 1952, at the age of 33, due to cancer.

Evita was nominated for five Academy Awards and won for Best Original Song, for "You Must Love Me", with the award going to Webber and lyricist Tim Rice. Narratively, Evita has some trouble finding the right pace, but the beautiful cinematography, amazing songs, and Golden Globe-winning performance by Madonna brushes aside many filmmaking issues, creating a moving and affectionate portrait of the fascinating 21st-century woman.

1 Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)

The Crucifixion, Glam Metal Style

The rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar came out only two years after the 1971 musical of the same name. In both, the conflict between Judas (Carl Anderson) and Jesus (Ted Neeley) is depicted with musical numbers, dance sequences, and large ensembles. Everything takes place in the week leading up to the crucifixion, adding a sense of doom to the glitz, pageantry, and artfulness of the film.

Jesus Christ Superstar courted the same controversies that the musical did when it first appeared, turning a major religious story into something befitting a glam metal concert. The music and cast are excellent together, and Jesus Christ Superstar manages to take the best parts of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, without making it feel like too much of a rehash. Filmed entirely in Israel, Jesus Christ Superstar feels properly epic.