Any Dream Will Do, Circle of Life, I Don’t Know How to Love Him, A Whole New World and Don’t Cry for Me Argentina - just some of the iconic songs penned by lyricist Sir Tim Rice.
“I’m lucky that thanks to a few songs, quite a lot of people are mildly interested in my past,” the 80-year-old humbly tells me ahead of his tour to Ireland next spring with his live event My Life In Musicals – I Know Him So Well.
Rice is associated with writing the lyrics for so many of the world’s great musicals - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Chess, and the Disney productions The Lion King, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.
In his most personal show, coming to Belfast, Dublin and Limerick next April, Rice will reflect upon his illustrious career at the heart of musical theatre, accompanied by live performances by some of the West End’s top singers and musicians.
During the 1960s, 70s and 80s he formed a formidable partnership with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Their first hit, however, started out as a side project, putting together a school production, as Rice explains.
“Andrew and I had only just met, and we were writing a big, grown-up West End show. I think the tunes were good and some of the words were okay, but the idea wasn’t very interesting,” he says.
“While we were not getting anywhere with that, we were approached to write something new and different for a school, whose headmaster was a friend of Andrew’s.
The result was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which continues to tour the world today.
It was after getting a “rave review” in The Sunday Times from a journalist, whose son happened to be in a production of the show, that Rice and Lloyd Webber received a record deal and were transported from obscurity into musical theatre limelight.
Rice’s work has not been limited to musical theatre with many musicals transferring to the big screen. He also penned the lyrics for All Time High, the theme music for the James Bond movie Octopussy, the David Essex hit A Winter’s Tale and the Elvis Presley song It’s Easy For You from his 1977 Moody Blue album.
Despite his advancing years, Rice remains actively engaged in various creative projects, including working with Lloyd Webber on new songs for a forthcoming Joseph movie, a Christmas play produced by his son Donald, called Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas, and “one or two projects” still at the early stages of development.
He has a relaxed, reflective outlook on the later stages of his life and career, saying “if they happen, they happen. If they don’t, they don’t”.
He is also writing “some very interesting material” for the forthcoming musical animated adventure Land of Sometimes starring Ewan McGregor and Helena Bonham Carter.
Chess is being relaunched in Broadway in 2025, and Rice is busy collaborating on that with Abba duo Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.
“The old stuff keeps you busy. It’s like having 15 businesses that take up your time. But it’s all good, I don’t feel under any incredible pressure to produce something,” he says.
“I also do some other little things like run a cricket team and walk the dog,” he laughs.
In My Life In Musicals, Rice will be sharing anecdotes behind the songs, the numerous awards and the hits - and the misses - along the way.
His first “miss” was the first song he recorded, That’s My Story, though he admits he never believed in his own ability to be a pop star.
“I wanted to write my own songs to use it as “a calling card” to people in the music publishing business.
Rice confesses that as a writer “however confident you may be of something, you never really know whether it will be a hit or a flop”.
“I wrote a show called From Here to Eternity a few years ago with a very talented composer Stuart Brayson. It got good reviews in London, but only ran for six months. We’ve had two other productions of it, including in Milwaukee, Wisconsin recently. You just never know.”
Earlier this year, Rice travelled to Wexford to visit Brayson and see his new musical Irish Affair - A Love Story for All Time at the National Opera House.
“I’m not involved creatively but am involved in producing and am hoping that the show will play again,” enthuses Rice.
He firmly believes that “the storyline” is key to his successes.
“The story and the emotion must grip audiences. I’m not that good at writing one-off pop lyrics which don’t really have a point, beyond being a song. That’s why I prefer writing about true stories.”
One such example is Evita, which evolved from Rice listening to a radio programme about Eva Perón.
With wonderful timing, at this point our conversation on Zoom is interrupted by a phone call from his daughter Eva – whose name was inspired by the Argentine political leader, activist and actress.
The story and the emotion must grip audiences. I’m not that good at writing one-off pop lyrics which don’t really have a point, beyond being a song.
— Sir Tim Rice
“Eva’s written several novels, and she’s working on another one at the moment,” admits the proud father.
He is equally proud of his grandchildren, whom he says are “more musical” than him.
“My granddaughter Martha has got a band which is called Martha and the Fairy. She writes the songs herself, and I think she will break through.”
As well as Lloyd Webber, Rice has also collaborated with other composers, including Alan Menken on Aladdin, with A Whole New World winning an Academy Award in 1992 for Best Song.
His collaborations with Sir Elton John (The Lion King and Aida) were different from the others in that he had to write the lyrics first.
“You’ve got more freedom because you don’t have to stick to a certain number of syllables, but there’s a great danger of you becoming not concise.
“In that case I’ll write the lyrics and set it to a little tune of my own. When I get it back from Elton for about two seconds, I think it’s not as good as mine. After four seconds, I think, well, it’s not bad. Then, after 10 seconds, I think his version is brilliant,” he chuckles.
When it comes to the songs he is most proud of, Rice chooses Pity the Child from Chess and Suitcase in Another Hall from Evita.
He admits that hearing his songs performed often makes his heart flutter, but equally there are some he doesn’t want to hear again.
Pushed further on this, I was surprised to hear that it was his Ivor Novello award-winning song Don’t Cry For Me Argentina that would make him “switch off the radio”.
“Sometimes you hear it too many times,” defends Rice, who fell in love with the song again when he first took My Life In Musicals on tour earlier this year.
“I remember the first show, and I was sitting about five feet behind Shonagh Daly. She sang it so well, and furthermore, I could see the audience reaction. I heard the song in a whole new light and was glad to hear it again.”
Sir Tim Rice: My Life In Musicals – I Know Him So Well plays University Concert Hall, Limerick on April 22, National Concert Hall, Dublin on April 23 and Ulster Hall, Belfast on April 24. Tickets from theatre box offices or sirtimricelive.com
