Defending Lloyd Webber

I was surprised that Dan Sullivan, after going to New York to review the opening of “Phantom of the Opera,” should now wish that Stephen Sondheim had written the music for it instead of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Sondheim’s renown is the result of press agentry, and people do believe what they read, including Sullivan. In no show has Sondheim written a score that could possibly compare to Webber’s score in “Evita,” and if Webber never wrote another piece of music, his “Memory” from “Cats” is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

I do not believe Sondheim, in all his scores, will ever be remembered for any songs at all. He is over-written, and over-praised, and worst of all, dull .

JACK P. GABRIEL

Carson