NAMES IN THE NEWS : ‘Broadway a Mess,’ Webber Says

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber says stale ideas, high costs and a fear of bad reviews have made Broadway “a mess.”

“They’re still talking about the smashes of the ‘40s and ‘50s, which I hugely admire,” Webber said, “but not to the exclusion of what’s going on elsewhere.”

The 42-year-old composer and creator of such hits as “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Cats” and “Evita,” received an honorary doctorate of fine arts during commencement exercises at the University of South Carolina.

“Broadway is a mess,” he told reporters afterward. “There is no question about it.”