June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Andrew Lloyd Webber sat in his palatial suite at the Las Vegas Venetian on Saturday, showing off rave reviews from British newspapers of the new London revival of ``Evita.''

Hours later, Lloyd Webber would be downstairs for the opening of a long-awaited Vegas-size ``Phantom of the Opera.'' The $35 million production is staged in a $40 million theater that David Rockwell designed to resemble the interior of the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris.

Speaking to me in his suite, which was outfitted with a grand piano and pool table, Lloyd Webber was gracious and full of nervous energy. The 58-year-old composer is convinced that Las Vegas is a good market for his shows and says he's been talking with lyricists about creating a new musical that would premiere here.

Boroff: I understand this ``Phantom'' was in the works for years.

Lloyd Webber: It was a much bigger idea that originally was planned, to build a hotel here and call it the Phantasy. It was going to be the Phantom's home. The whole deal was ready to go. But at the very last minute our partner pulled out of it. We were demoralized about the whole thing. It could've happened 15 years ago, but it didn't. It's taken all this time to get it together again.

Gravity-Defying `Phantom'

Boroff: ``Phantom'' on Broadway is still playing to near capacity. Do you have any idea how long it could run?

Lloyd Webber: The ``Phantom'' sort of defies gravity. When you consider this is a new production and there will be another one in Macau in the next two years, it's impossible to tell. In New York, it's reinvented itself with a lot of young people coming through, particularly girls, which is what it was when it originally started.

And then there are so many different ways now of casting shows. One will inevitably be done through television soon.

Boroff: Have you ever thought of writing an actual opera?

Lloyd Webber: I think I have. I would say ``Evita'' was. I would say this is. You can't really differentiate. There are only two kinds of music: good and bad.

Boroff: Will the new production of ``Evita'' come to New York?

Lloyd Webber: I don't know. It will to some degree depend on the American reviews. Certainly if it did come to New York, it would be very good for New York to see this girl, Elena Roger, who is absolutely extraordinary.

(The New York Post reported Wednesday that plans are in the works for the ``Evita'' revival to come to Broadway in the fall of 2007.)

Art Collection

Boroff: As for your art collection, do you continue to buy British art?

Lloyd Webber: There's little in Victorian art that's been on the art market lately. There probably won't be any really great Victorian paintings coming up in the foreseeable future, because there are so few in private hands. Most of them are in public collections. I'm about to make a very major change in my collection.

Boroff: Are you giving a piece away?

Lloyd Webber: No, it involves a piece I've already given away. It's going to be the biggest news in the art market in 30 years. We can't talk about it, I'm afraid.

Boroff: Can you tell me the artist?

Lloyd Webber: No, I'm sorry.

(Lloyd Webber's charitable foundation will sell a Pablo Picasso portrait, ``Angel Fernandez de Soto,'' for as much as $60 million in November, Christie's International said.)

Crash Course

Boroff: OK. What music inspired you?

Lloyd Webber: There's just so much. But what I do say to anybody is that if you want to learn about musical theater, there are actually two pieces you can learn the whole thing from: the second act of ``La Boheme,'' because it's so brilliantly constructed. It's only 14 minutes long. And if you can construct that and write any of those tunes as well as doing the stagecraft Puccini does in that, you've learned it.

And, of course, ``Some Enchanted Evening'' (by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein), because it's probably one of the greatest melodies ever written. You don't need any more knowledge about theater to get on writing a musical, in my view.

To contact the reporter on this story: Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 30, 2006 05:16 EDT