THE bombshell came after the interview. ''We found an unknown Rossetti in Washington,'' said Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber as the private elevator at the Grand Hyatt descended. ''It's the greatest coup of the decade.'' Then the doors opened and with a cheerful wave he was gone.
Good grief. The discovery of a mystery painting by the great Pre-Raphaelite? When? How? At such times, you need the cunning of Macavity, arch villain of Cats. Even better, the lowdown from London art dealer and super-sleuth David Mason.
It was thanks to Mason's tenacity that Sir Andrew, owner of one of the world's finest art collections, acquired Giovanni Canaletto's The Old Horse Guards in April 1992, for GBP10.25 million (about HK$117 million) - one of Christie's more memorable moments.
After the events of last year, Sir Andrew has even more reason to be grateful, as David Mason - also in Hong Kong for the re-opening of Cats at the APA Lyric Theatre - revealed on Thursday.
''Very few people know about it, but the whole thing was quite incredible,'' said the boss of London gallery, MacConnal-Mason, launching into his story of how Dante Gabriel Rossetti's A Vision of Fiammetta found its way into Andrew Lloyd Webber's collection of Victorian art.
It can now be told. But first, the felines.
AFTER Cats the musical - what? Is there yet another incarnation lurking after 13 phenomenally successful years on stages from the West End to Wan Chai? You had better believe it.