TIM Rice, the multi-award winning, internationally renowned lyricist has announced three shows in Ireland in Limerick, Dublin and Belfast.
This special live musical theatre event My Life In Musicals – I Know Him So Well, will see Rice reflect on his illustrious career at the heart of musical theatre coming to University Concert Hall on Tuesday April 22.
Tim will be sharing anecdotes behind the songs – the hits and the misses along with stories of his life and live performances from the wonderful catalogue of songs that are synonymous with his name and that of his collaborators.
Musical accompaniment will be from an array of the UK’s leading West End singers and musicians led by Musical Director Duncan Waugh.
Tim 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.
His work has not been limited to musical theatre with Evita transferring to the big screen and All Time High, the theme music for the James Bond movie Octopussy with music by John Barry and lyrics by Tim Rice.
With a show packed full of songs including Don’t Cry For Me Argentina (Evita), Any Dream Will Do (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat), A Whole New World (Aladdin) Can You Feel The Love Tonight (The Lion King), I Don’t Know How To Love Him (Jesus Christ Superstar) , Circle of Life (The Lion King), Chess, Hakuna Matata (The Lion King) Another Suitcase in Another Hall (Evita), I Know Him So Well (Chess), All Time High (Octopussy), Must Love Me (Evita), and A Night In Bangkok (Chess), My Life In Musicals is an absolute must for fans of musical theatre and brilliant music.
Regarded by many as one of the world’s greatest lyricists, Tim Rice commented “My Life in Musicals is a show in which I reveal all (well, nearly all) of the secrets behind the creation of some of the best-known songs featuring my lyrics.
“I have had the good fortune to work with some of the greatest composers of our time, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, Elton John, and Alan Menken, without whose wonderful melodies I’d be at home watching television.”
Tim answered a few questions as he prepared for this latest tour.
What does it feel like when an entire audience knows all your lyrics?
“I’m glad they know the words as that’s the only bit I’ve done! Although funnily enough, almost the most popular bit of Any Dream Will Do is when everybody goes, “Ah, ah-ah” – which isn’t even a lyric! But yes, it’s a very nice feeling. I’m very lucky in that I’ve so often had to work with very good tunes, but just as important is the fact that the most popular songs have been inspired by very good initial ideas, which in turn usually means a great story.
“If you have a great story, like Jesus or Joseph or Eva Peron or the Hamlet-inspired The Lion King, it inspires you to write something better than if you were just writing a random, out-of-context song. I’m not very good at that because I keep thinking, “Why am I doing this, other than in the hope of getting a hit, which is not really the best reason to write something?” I like to write to have a character or characters in a certain situation.”
When you’re working on a musical, is the story always paramount, then?
“Yes. When we were creating Evita, for example, both the composer and the lyricist had to know what was planned for each scene before a word or a note had been written. Was it a love song, an argument, a seductive number, a huge crowd anthem – all had to serve the plot – and the characters.
“I think Evita is Andrew’s best score. Time and again he would come up with a melody and ideas for orchestration which was perfect for the storyline. Story is always king. In musical theatre anyway.
The best musicals have the best stories. That’s the key.”
Can you tell us how the story of Eva Peron inspired your most famous song?
“If I’d sat down to write a lyric for that wonderful tune and the idea of Eva Peron had never existed, for a start I would not have come up with Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina, which is an interesting title.
“Also, I would not have written a lyric which is really a kind of political statement doubling as a love song.
“It’s a very dishonest, cynical speech. One critic at the time said (not politely) that it was just a string of clichés. But that’s exactly what it’s meant to be!
“It was written not as a pop song, but as an insincere political speech – a combination of rather corny emotions – and simultaneous manipulation of the audience. It works on both levels. And I would never have come up with that without a story to start with.”
What are your looking forward to in 2025?
“I’ve also written a few light-hearted songs with none other than Andrew Lloyd Webber for a forthcoming comedy entitled Sherlock Holmes and the 12 days of Christmas. It’s a very funny play featuring Holmes and Watson on the trail of a serial killer who is knocking people off in Victorian London theatreland inspired by the well-known Christmas song,
“The 12 days of Christmas. It’s not actually a musical, but a play with a few songs.
“I’m also working on a book of my collected lyrics. It’ll be nice to get it out for Christmas 2025.”
Tim Rice will perform at University Concert Hall on Tuesday April 22. Tickets for Sir Tim Rice – My Life In Musicals – I Know Him So Well are on sale now and can be purchased via www.uch.ie or www.sirtimricelive.com
