Rice, Sir Tim(othy Miles Bindon)

(b Amersham, 10 Nov 1944). English librettist and lyricist. He studied law, but after meeting Andrew Lloyd Webber embarked on a career as a lyricist. Their first experiment with a stage work was The Likes of Us, based on the life of Dr Barnado, but Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, first performed by the pupils of Colet Court School (1 March 1968), eventually was taken up all over the world. Their operas Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita were first performed in concert and recorded before being staged (1971 and 1978 respectively); another collaboration, Cricket (1986), has only been given privately. With Stephen Oliver he wrote Blondel, which was the first work to be performed at the refurbished Old Vic Theatre (1983). Chess (1984), with music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, was well received in London and Australia, although a Broadway production was short-lived. Rice has also written lyrics for many other composers, twice winning Academy Awards for film songs (‘A Whole New World’ in Aladdin, 1992, and ‘Circle of Life’ in The Lion King, 1994, both produced by Disney). His style, typified by numbers such as ‘Don’t cry for me, Argentina’ (Evita) or ‘I know him so well’ (Chess), has inspired many imitators, but few have succeeded in matching his mixture of apparent simplicity with commercial sophistication. In 1991 he was appointed Chairman of the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, and was knighted in 1994. Rice has also written an autobiography, Oh What a Circus: the Autobiography, 1944–1978 (London, 1999).

WORKS

(selective list)

all stage or film works; dates are those of first performance; composers and co-writers in parentheses

PATRICK O’CONNOR