Sir Tim Rice, the multi-award winning, internationally renowned lyricist, is currently touring the UK with his very own show; Tim Rice My Life In Musicals I Know Him So Well. As the man responsible for hit shows including (but not limited to) Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Aladdin, The Lion King, Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess and Octopussy, it promises to be a night of all killer, no filler. Ahead of his visit to Oxford this May, where he’ll be on stage at The New Theatre. I spoke to Sir Tim about his extensive career, his collaborations and my love of his work…but thankfully stopped short of belting out my preferred karaoke banger, Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.
What can we expect from your show in Oxford?
Well, it's basically four jolly good singers and a small band, but they make a lot of noise if they need to. And me. I introduce a lot of the songs that have been lucky for me over the years in different shows, and I chat about the songwriters that I've worked with like Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bjorn and Benny, Elton John and one or two others. Really, it's a sort of Greatest Hits show.
The concept of having me chatting about the songs and explaining how they came to life, I used to do quite a lot for a charity shows – a sort of after-dinner entertainment, but for about 45-50 minutes, whereas this is a fully, fledged show for a couple of hours. (I hope I'm not putting people off by saying it's a couple of hours), but people love hearing the stories behind songs they know well; why did this one flop, or why did this one, you know, go into a different scenario?
Over the course of your career, you have partnered with some legendary musicians. What do you enjoy about working collaboratively?
Well, I'm not sure I like anything about working collaboratively. That's not quite true – obviously I can't write musicals on my own, I need great collaborators, and the shows that have worked have always had great collaborators. And that's not just the composer, it's the director and the actors and the set designer and the lighting and the sound and all these things.
Thinking about everything you’ve done, what do you see as your greatest achievement?
Well, it wouldn't be a showbiz achievement. It sounds like a corny answer, but family, really.
I don't think it'll ever be a better first night for me – or any night in theatre – than the opening night of Evita. I was still quite new to the game, and Evita had been a long haul. It was my idea, and I was working on Evita for about a year and a half before it was anything.
I think of it as [Andrew Lloyd Webber’s] best score and in a way, it almost worked better because it wasn't his basic concept. He was given a great story, and I think that inspired some great music. We had a wonderful director, Hal Prince, and Elaine Paige was fantastic, and she was perfect. David Essex was brilliant, and the set design as well. I mean, everything worked so well, and it was a great party afterwards – what more do you want?
Do you have a favourite from your very extensive songbook?
If somebody says to me my favourite thing you've written is Chess, I think, well, that's interesting, because in some ways it's my favourite. I mean the score, Benny and Bjorn, everything just worked really well. And it's had some good productions. It had a lot of rather dodgy productions, but it won't go away, the songs continue, and it's opening allegedly on Broadway at the end of this year. The record was almost too successful; One Night in Bangkok was huge but people seem to think of it as a great record but never seem to relate the hits to the show.
I have to admit, I just love Joseph.
You can't not like Joseph. When we wrote it, we didn't know what we were doing really; it was written for one school, and I never thought it would go beyond that. It was written for fun. We had written something that was very original and had great appeal beyond just the schools. The key things about Joseph, I think, are it's got some lovely tunes, and it's funny, it's short and it is such a great story. So many people writing shows these days seem to approach it from the wrong way: they think, well, I've got a very important message to give to the world, and this is my message. No, tell a good story – it can be about an Argentine dictator or Bible story or whatever. If you tell a good story, the messages will come out.
What do you think of the jukebox musical phenomenon?
Well, that's another thing. A lot of them are just tribute acts, but most of them don't work. Mamma Mia works because a) the music is phenomenal, but b) it tells a great story – that's a key factor.
What music do you enjoy listening to?
Over the years, my favourite music has been the music of my teens and 20s; anything from 1955 to about Duran Duran’s fifth single I like almost unquestioningly. I don't really follow popular music now. I hear the odd thing and think that's quite good.
I always liked show music. Oklahoma, South Pacific, all that lot, and My Fair Lady in particular, because of the lyrics. The tunes were brilliant as well, but the great thing about say I'm Getting Married in the Morning is the lyrics. When I was 12 it [seemed to be] a song about a bloke getting married in the morning. When I was a bit older, I realised it was more than that: it was about a bloke wanting his last opportunity to behave badly. I loved it on both levels – it’s why Abba is so successful; when you have a bouncy tune and sad lyrics, the combination is fantastic.
You are so adept with word play, I wonder what you would produce if you went into rap?
Hamilton is brilliant. The word play is superb, but I don't really like rap very much, to be honest. I mean, there are some lovely rhythms, and I suppose if I went to a Drake concert or something, I might be carried away.
Sir Tim Rice: My Life in Musicals – I Know Him So Well
New Theatre Oxford 15 May 2025
Tickets and more information at
