EXCLUSIVE: Neil Meron, a force behind bring live events to television including such musicals as Jesus Christ Superstar, Annie and The Sound of Music, has joined Andrew Lloyd Webber’s London-based Really Useful Group as a consultant, Lloyd Webber announced today.
An acclaimed film, television and theater producer, Meron will work closely with RUG’s Licensing and Production team to identify and develop new opportunities for Lloyd Webber’s IP across North America, including mining talent and building new relationships with film companies, networks, streamers, dance companies and new media.
Meron also is expected to work closely with Lloyd Webber’s new joint venture with acclaimed British theater producer Michael Harrison to support new opportunities to explore in North America.
Said Lloyd Webber, “Neil and I go back a very, very long way, so it feels quite fitting that he take on this advisory role at RUG at this point in my career, in which I want to explore new avenues for my music. He is the perfect person to open new doors for me and my team, and I am very excited to get to work.”
“It is a thrill to be collaborating with Andrew again as I look for new ways to expand his already considerable impact on the world,” Meron said in a statement. “He is a born boundary-pusher, whether he’s generating new work or reinventing his remarkable library of classic titles. I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this next chapter of this legendary artist.”
Meron, along with his late partner Craig Zadan executive produced Lloyd Webber’s Emmy Award-winning Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert for NBC, a a high point in a long relationship with Lloyd Webber that began in the late 1970s when Meron and Zadan created a nightclub act for Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice upon the release of the original concept album of Evita.
Meron has produced, along with Zadan, a range of feature projects such as the Oscar-winning Chicago, Hairspray, and The Bucket List. For television, they executive produced Gypsy starring Bette Midler; Cinderella starring Brandy and Whitney Houston; Life with Judy Garland starring Judy Davis; A Raisin in the Sun starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald; Steel Magnolias, starring Queen Latifah; and all the NBC Live musicals beginning with Sound of Music Live starring Carrie Underwood through Superstar.
After Zadan died in 2018, Meron executive produced 2021’s Annie Live for NBC along with Robert Greenblatt.
For Broadway, Meron and Zadan produced the revival of Promises, Promises starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth and How To Succeed in Business… starring Daniel Radcliffe. Currently on Broadway, he and the Shubert Organization are producing Some Like it Hot, nominated for 13 Tony Awards including Best Musical.
