Tim Rice

TIM RICE, book and lyric writer for Evita, has written the complete lyrics for five musical productions that have played in the West End and subsequently around the world: Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar (music by Andrew Lloyd Webber); Blondel (music by Stephen Oliver); and Chess (music by ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson). Jesus Christ Superstar returns to the West End stage at the end of 1996. Rice adapted the French-Canadian musical Starmania for English-speaking audiences and has written six new songs for the stage production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast (music by Alan Menken), currently in its third year on Broadway. Several other productions are currently playing internationally, with London scheduled for April 1997. He wrote lyrics to John Farrar's music for Cliff Richard's 1995 album Heathcliff (based on the character from Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights), which became a touring show for Cliff Richard in October 1996. Rice won Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards for writing the lyrics to songs for two Disney animated features: "A Whole New World" from Aladdin (with music by Alan Menken), and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King (with music by Elton John). The Lion King, with several new Tim Rice/Elton John songs, will be staged on Broadway in 1997. He has recently completed work with Alan Menken on a contemporary opera based on the life of King David, to be premiered in concert in New York in May 1997. He has also begun work on a new Disney theatrical project -- a re-telling of the Aïda story -- with music by Elton John. Rice is chairman of the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, an organization that distributed over 250 million British pounds to sporting and artistic causes in the United Kingdom. He runs his own cricket team and writes regularly on the game for the Daily Telegraph. He was knighted in 1994.