Another Opening . . . : But Not Just Another Show for Lloyd Webber’s ‘Dreamcoat’ Fans

“Shhhh,” Andrew Lloyd Webber demurred to Marvin and Barbara Davis as they spilled out superlatives congratulating the composer on his new production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

After the show at the Pantages Theatre, Lloyd Webber had run a gantlet of admirers clustered along the balcony area of the Arena club before reaching the glassed-off inner sanctum, where he hoped to be able to relax with a few closer friends like the Davises, even though, as he admitted, he “hates” opening nights.

He’s been experiencing them since 1968, when this love fest-musical debuted, and there are more on his horizon. He’s off to Houston to catch up with “Aspects of Love,” which will open here this month, but first he’ll be with Barbra Streisand as she records two songs from his “Sunset Boulevard,” which opens in London in June.

Thinking about the famed boulevard’s famous curve, he said, “I’ve got that all-important bend in the road into the music; now we are just trying to work out how to get it onto the stage.”

Negotiating from the theater on Hollywood Boulevard to the Arena on Santa Monica Boulevard had also been choreographed like a major production.

There were enough walkie-talkies in play to handle a political convention and even coordinators to instruct the photographers, “This is it! Let’s have plenty of pop and flash!” as Lloyd Webber eventually arrived in the company of the show’s stars, Michael Damian and Kelli Rabke.

Damian’s fans, including a mother and four children who had driven from Washington state, needed no prompting as they squealed with delight and begged for autographs from TV’s “The Young and the Restless” star, while holding up a “Go, Go, Go, Joseph” banner in tribute to one of the show’s songs.

Almost equally thrilled was Miss Teen U.S.A., Jamie Solinger, who had met Damian previously at a charity event and had come here dressed as though she’d just stepped off the winner’s podium, sash and all, to offer support on his first-ever opening night.

Others in the audience included Ann and Kirk Douglas; Ken Olin and Patricia Wettig with their children, Clifford and Roxy; David Hockney and Cyd Charisse. Twiggy and Leigh Lawson came with daughter, Carly, who attended even though it was “a school night.”