Eighteen of the most timeless tunes by the man the New York Times called “the most commercially successful composer in history” will be performed on Bainbridge — some of them for the very first time — as part of Ovation! Performing Arts Northwest’s holiday show “Masquerade: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.”

The production will include just nine shows: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, Dec. 7 and Dec. 14, Saturday, Dec. 1, Dec. 8, and Dec. 15, and also 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2,

Dec. 9, and Dec. 16, and feature music from “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Evita,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Cats,” “Song & Dance,” “Aspects of Love” and “Sunset Boulevard” with orchestra accompaniment.

What it will lack, however, is longtime (recently semi-retired) Ovation! co-founder, director of more than 20 past productions, Ron Milton. Stepping into the role of director is Tim Davidson, who previously helmed productions for Bainbridge Performing Arts and Island Theatre, among others (including the Ovation! 2008 production of “Into the Woods”).

“It’s an enormous pressure,” Davidson said of taking over this show for the island icon. “I did one show 10 years ago; … and I knew he did a lot but I never realized how much he did.”

Continuity remains within the company, however, as Ovation! co-founder and theater maven Marijane Milton is the “Masquerade” production manager.

“This is a great opportunity to pass the torch and find other amazing artists and continue momentum and take it to the next place,” Milton said. “[Ron] was ready [to retire]. He loved the directing part of it, it was all those other things that really started to wear on him.”

Assisting Davidson and Milton with all those other things this time around are musical director Will Sanders, choreographer Scott Breitbarth and costume designer Dawn Janow, as well as what Milton called “a cadre” of additional volunteers and friends of the company.

Davidson, a familiar island theater figure both on and off stage, is making his return to the scene with this show after an absence of several seasons. Ovation! had licensed 20 Webber songs for the show, which it was then his job to arrange and structure.

“That’s all they give you is [up to] 20 songs; there’s no script, there’s no nothing,” he said. “So I’m like, ‘How do I want to put this together? What order am I going to put them in?’

“I decided ‘Masquerade’ from ‘Phantom’ is a very upbeat number, so I thought I’ll just do reprises of that,” he said. “And then Marijane had the idea of, ‘Do you want to call the show Masquerade?’”

“I think it’s fair to say that Tim created a beautiful storyline, that the songs are then in context within the storyline,” Milton said.

“Most companies that do this show … they just call it ‘The Music of the Night,’ or they just call it ‘The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber’ and they trot singers out in concert.”

Davidson is mysterious, however, about the ultimate through line of the production.

“I don’t like to talk about it in too much detail, because I think if people come in knowing too much about a show they pre-form an opinion,” he said. “So I’ve been kind of playing coy about it.”

What is known is that “Masquerade” boasts eight featured soloists — Mino Christante, Rosemary Hamington, Bella Hyde, Tina Kirkpatrick, Charlie Phillips, Micaela Slaeker, Jesse Smith and Callie Turner — as well as a number of ensemble vocalists and dancers.

It’s an especially talented group, Davidson and Milton agreed — and they need to be to do justice to the show’s storied material.

Webber is often credited with reinventing the classic musical for modern audiences. He is one of only 15 people to have won an Emmy, Oscar, Grammy and Tony, and, he was ranked as the “fifth most powerful person in British culture” by The Daily Telegraph in 2008.

He has composed two film scores and 13 musicals, several of which have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway.

Fame and familiarity, however, come with their own unique challenges.

“Part of the challenge is that the versions we represent aren’t exactly what you’ll hear maybe in the cast recording,” the musical director said. “That’s also challenging for a vocalist as well because they might be used to that particular version, so we have to train them out of that. But it’s also great for the audience, because they get to hear something that they probably haven’t heard before.”

Tickets for “Masquerade: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber” are on sale. Admission is $24 for adults, $22 for seniors and students, and $19 for youth 12-and-younger and military members, active or retired.

Family “four packs” are available in limited numbers for $75, which grants admission for two adults and two youths.

There will also be a special “Student, Teacher and Military Night” discount event, at which any student or teacher of any school, including home school, and military members (active or retired), can get tickets for the Saturday, Dec. 1 performance for $15 (available at the door only).

Visit www.ovationmtb.com to learn more and purchase tickets.

This year marked Ovation! Performing Arts Northwest’s 15th anniversary, having been originally founded in 2003.