Lord Lloyd-Webber is trying to mount a $200 million-plus (£114million) bid for The Sound of Music and the other Broadway musicals written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.

The composer, whose own musicals include Jesus Christ Superstar and Cats, is one of seven bidders who have gone through to the second round in the auction of the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalogue.

EMI and Sony/ATV are also in the race among the music leaders, as is ABP, the Dutch pension fund that owns Boosey & Hawkes. Universal Music, the market leader, and The Walt Disney Company believe that the asking price is too high.

Lord Lloyd-Webber has a vested interest in stretching his West End empire across the Atlantic because The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organisation (R&H) represents his works in America. That position also gives him some leverage over the outcome.

A change of control clause allows him to take back his works from R&H, which represent a meaningful, but unspecified, proportion of the group's turnover. That could affect the sale price.

R&H was founded more than 60 years ago as a producer for Rodgers and Hammerstein's own works, which include South Pacific, The King and I and Oklahoma! It expanded to represent other writers and shows, as well, such as Irving Berlin and his musical Annie Get Your Gun.

Oscar Hammerstein, the lyricist, died in 1960, and Richard Rodgers, the composer, in 1979.

Family trusts control their stakes, but the company is up for sale because the key shareholders - Mary Rodgers Guettel and Alice Hammerstein Mathias, the men's daughters - are ageing and the families want to explore whether it is worth cashing out.

However, the financial crisis will make it hard for Lord Lloyd-Webber to gain control of the historic catalogue.

He owns all of The Really Useful Group, which owns the rights to his works, but took out a £150million overdraft from HBOS in 2006 to help to repay debts incurred when he bought out Bridgepoint, which owned half of his West End theatres. Although he is hoping to raise the finance on his own, he is likely to have to find a partner.

The valuation of the R&H business is also affected by perceptions about how marketable show tunes such as My Favourite Things, Do-Re-Mi or Climb Ev'ry Mountain, are in the 21st century. As a result, it is not clear that the operation will attract the $220million that the family owners are seeking.

“It is a great catalogue, but the question is whether it is possible to achieve much growth,” one music industry executive said. “The extra value in catalogues today comes from licensing songs to advertisers, but how many advertisers want to use Rodgers and Hammerstein music in their commercials?”

A spokesman for Lord Lloyd-Webber confirmed the composer's interest. Long an admirer of the American's works, he wrote in 2006 that, as a 13-year-old, he had written a fan letter to Richard Rodgers in 1961. “Amazingly he replied. So not only did I see a dress rehearsal of The Sound of Music, but I got a ticket in the upper circle for the opening.”

He will have to hope that his love for musicials can persuade the family to part company with an asset that larger music groups or venture capitalists will simply absorb into their own organisations. Second-round bids are due in at the end of the month.

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