'Why I'm working with Tim Rice for the first time in 34 years': Andrew Lloyd Webber strikes again with The Wizard of Oz

'Oh yes,' says a woman's voice on the intercom. 'Come in.'

The door clicks open... and it's astonishing, like entering another dimension. A huge, dark room, and in the gloom stand three beautiful human-sized angels, guarding the Holy Grail.

'You look surprised,' says His Lordship's assistant Jan. 'This place is like the Tardis.'

Gobsmacked would be a better word. Lloyd Webber has knocked together several flats and houses to make a large, hidden home, with a long roof terrace that looks out over Belgravia. The walls are crammed with artworks worth a fortune. But the glory of his pad is just the first of the surprises my host has in store tonight.

By the time we finish he'll have accused Simon Cowell of torture, warned parents against sending their children to stage schools and turned against the Government (as a Tory peer). And I'll have done press-ups with one of the biggest names in comedy  -  but let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's huge news to share first.

The most eagerly awaited reunion in the history of musical theatre is about to take place at last, as Lloyd Webber tells me when he comes drifting in.

'I'm working with Tim tomorrow, for the first time in 34 years.' He seems nervous, as well he might. His hands flutter in the air.

'He's doing the songs for The Wizard Of Oz with me. The new ones.'

Yes, he really is talking about Tim Rice, co-creator of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita. They had astonishing success back in the day, but haven't worked together since it all went wrong in the late Seventies.

They split up when Rice wanted to do a musical about chess and Lloyd Webber was more interested in writing about cats. That was never going to end well. The two were also reported to have fallen out, but Lloyd Webber doesn't seem to remember it that way.

'We've always been close over the years; it's just that we've never found anything that we wanted to do.'

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