Musical theatre responsible for "Les Misérables", which became the longest-running international musical hit in history. The team, in collaboration with Richard Maltby Jr., continued to produce hits, including "Miss Saigon", inspired by the Puccini opera "Madama Butterfly". The British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber saw similar success with "Evita", based on the life of Argentina's Eva Perón; "Cats", derived from the poems of T. S. Eliot (both of which musicals originally starred Elaine Paige); "Starlight Express", performed on roller skates; "The Phantom of the Opera", derived from the Gaston Leroux novel, "Le Fantôme de l'Opéra"; and "Sunset Boulevard" (from the classic film of
Francis Neilson encounter of the two men triggered an interest that took Neilson to invite Puccini to see a private performance of the play "Madame Butterfly", playing then at the Duke of York Theater. Puccini later requested Neilson to direct the opera at La Scala in Milan; however, this never came to pass due to Neilson's other commitments. In the early 1900s, he began his pursuit of politics. His first bid for a parliamentary seat was for the Newport Division of Shropshire; he lost to the incumbent, Colonel Kenyon-Slaney, by a margin of 130 votes. He was elected as Member of Parliament