Sir Tim Rice is on the road with Tim Rice: My Life In Musicals – I Know Him So Well, a chance to reflect on his illustrious career at the heart of musical theatre.
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00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspaper. It's been
00:06an immense pleasure this morning to speak to Sir Tim Rice. Now Sir Tim, you're heading
00:10out on the road with Sir Tim Rice, My Life in Musicals, I Know Him So Well, which instantly
00:17strikes you as a brilliant title because I think we all feel we have a claim on you and
00:20on the musicals that we do know so well.
00:24Well thank you very much, I'm greatly appreciative of the fact that people come and see my shows
00:29occasionally. If they didn't, I wouldn't be talking to you now.
00:31But it must be lovely to have this chance to go into a theatre and around about 20 or
00:36so songs will be sung, performed, and you get the chance to reflect and reminisce. That
00:41must be great.
00:42Yes, I do enjoy it. We did it last year in 2024 and it went really well so the producers
00:46insanely have booked me for another year and it's me chatting about my life and how the
00:52songs got written and chatting about Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John, Alan Menken and
00:56Bjorn and Benny and all these great composers I've had the good fortune to work with.
01:01And there's a very good band and four terrific West End singers and they belt out the songs
01:06with great gusto and great gusto turns up on some nights. And there's a really nice
01:13atmosphere and the audience, I always assume the audience come because they like musicals.
01:20They will get probably out of 20 songs, they'll probably know 15 of them, but we do throw
01:25in the odd failure or the odd song, which I think was unlucky not to be noticed. And
01:30I just ramble on rather like I am now.
01:33And when you look back, do you have a different perspective on those successes than you had
01:38at the time? Does it feel different as you reflect?
01:42Not hugely. I tend to still like, you know, some bits of the shows more than others. But
01:52and I assure you that the bits I like are all in this tour. I don't think too often
02:01in broad terms. I might think, well, if only we'd done that one scene a little bit different.
02:08But there again, most of the shows have worked so well, it probably would be a mistake to
02:12change them. And occasionally one gets, you know, a naff production of even of Joseph
02:17very occasionally. But the material works. And I'm always grateful for anybody who wants
02:22to do it. And if occasionally it doesn't work, well, you know, at least they tried.
02:27I know what you were saying, in your career, you've written with so many fantastic but
02:31very different people, haven't you?
02:33I have. I've been very, very lucky. I mean, Andrew was the first and then Elton. Well,
02:38actually, the second one I worked with for quite a long time was a wonderful bloke called
02:43Stephen Oliver. And he was a classical composer. And sad to say, I feel rather ashamed of this.
02:49We haven't got one of his songs in the show. I think I might try and sneak one in before
02:52the end of the run. That was a show called Blondel. And then I worked with Alan Menken.
02:57I worked with Elton John. You know, it's I've been so lucky. And, you know, it's just a
03:07fascinating way to explore one's own thoughts as much as anything else.
03:13And you were saying for each of the songs in the musical, the context is so important, isn't it?
03:17Yes.
03:18They belong in a certain moment in each of the shows they're in, don't they?
03:22Yes, I think if you're writing songs that are part of a bigger story, you're going to
03:27write something much more original than if you just sat down to write a, well, I would
03:31be in this position. I'd write something, I do write something that's more unusual and
03:38more original than if it was just a pop song. I'm not very good at writing one-off pop songs.
03:43I've written quite a few over the years. And, you know, some of them are perfectly
03:46good and often have wonderful tunes. But I feel with a song like I Don't Know How to
03:50Love Him, I would never have written that if it hadn't been a song sung by a woman in
03:57a certain situation. And ditto with I Know Him So Well. That's by two women in a certain
04:02situation. And Don't Cry for Me Argentina is another one.
04:07Very specific.
04:08Yeah, it's very specific. And that often helps. And one shouldn't think, now, can I
04:13get this one onto the charts? No, you've got to serve the show. You've got to serve the
04:17story. And if you get that right, then if the song has a future outside the show, great.
04:23If it doesn't, as long as it works in the show, that's the important thing.
04:26Fantastic. Well, Sir Tim, really, truly lovely to speak to you. Congratulations on everything.
04:31The show Sir Tim Price, My Life and Musicals, I Know Him So Well is coming in our area to
04:36Guildford, Worthing, Fairham and Eastbourne. Great pleasure to speak to you. Thank you
04:40very much indeed.
04:41Thank you. It's very, very kind of you, Phil. Thanks a lot.