AH, the theater, where treachery is sweetly done.
Andrew Lloyd Webber is at war with a prominent London producer who, the legendary theater composer believes, made off with his idea for a reality show about casting a Broadway musical and peddled it to NBC behind his back.
Last week, NBC unveiled plans for “You’re the One That We Want,” a show about a nationwide talent search for two unknowns to play Sandy and Danny in an upcoming Broadway revival of “Grease,” to be staged by Tony Award-winning director Kathleen Marshall.
The show is clearly inspired by “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” a BBC reality series, currently on the air in England, about the search for a young actress to star in a revival of “The Sound of Music” in the West End.
That series was created for the BBC by Lloyd Webber, who also appears in it as a judge.
Another judge is a veteran London producer named David Ian, who was brought into the project by Lloyd Webber.
The two are also co-producing the revival of “The Sound of Music.”
Lloyd Webber had extensive conversations with Ian about creating a similar talent show for American television, theater sources say.
At first, the composer thought he would try to cast revivals of his shows “Joseph and the American Technicolor Dreamcoat” or “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
But he later changed his mind to “Grease.”
“David was at the meeting when Andrew suggested they do ‘Grease’ next,” a London theater source told The Post.
Lloyd Webber was shocked last week to learn that Ian had taken the “Grease” proposal to NBC without his knowledge. NBC is co-producing “You’re the One ThatWe Want” with Ian and the BBC.
Lloyd Webber has fired off a cease-and-desist letter to the BBC; he has started referring to David Ian, once a close friend, as “David Iago.”
“Andrew is furious,” says a source. “He feels betrayed.”
Ian could not be reached for comment last night.
Lloyd Webber, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
But a person close to both men says the tension between them on the set of “Maria” is palpable: “They used to talk all the time. Now they hardly speak at all. Andrew glares at David.”
It is not entirely clear why Ian would alienate Lloyd Webber, who, as the composer of “Cats” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” and the owner of several major West End theaters, is one of the most powerful men in the theater industry.
But people who know Ian say the former actor (he was an understudy in the West End musical “Time” before becoming a producer) hopes to become the next Simon Cowell and has been smarting that, on “Maria,” he is overshadowed by Lloyd Webber.
Lloyd Webber is certainly the star of “Maria.”
He descends from the heavens on a golden throne to the theme song from “The Phantom of the Opera.”
London theater people who have been glued to the show – last week it drew more viewers than Cowell’s new U.K. series “The X Factor” – say he’s funny, insightful and compelling to watch.
“He can’t hide his emotions. You can see him wince when he doesn’t like one of the contestants,” one person says.
Ian has yet to make much of impression on the show.
In theater circles, however, he is famous for his lethal charm and preening vanity. He has gleaming white teeth (bleached especially for his appearances on “Maria”) and a perpetual orange tan that makes him look like an Oompa Loompa.
“Once an actor, always an actor,” says a person who knows and likes Ian. “He still wants to be a star.”
But don’t look for him to appear in an Andrew Lloyd Webber show anytime soon.