Tim Rice: A Circle of Words – Wolverhampton Grand

Can you feel the love tonight?  Well, you certainly could on Thursday (9th February 2023) in Wolverhampton, as one of Britain’s greatest lyricists – Sir Tim Rice – took to the stage of The Grand Theatre for a one night only spectacular.

The audience relished at the chance to hear Sir Tim recount, first-hand, how he fashioned lyrics to some of the most famous Disney and musical theatre songs of all time.  Rice has truly conquered the world of entertainment and he brought along his Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT) statues to prove it.  But, throughout an evening where we got to learn about the man behind the awards, his modesty really shone through.

As well as acting as compère for the evening, Sir Tim sang some of his original lyrics to the tune of what would become I Don’t Know How to Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar.  Completely unrelated to what it would become, this version was about a man from Kansas who was trapped in a prison in Maine.  Pop songs with American place names in the title were very popular at the time, but Rice admitted that these lyrics were some of the cringiest he’s written.

Most of his lyrics are the antithesis of cringey though and performances of these hit songs were shared between four of the West End’s leading musical theatre stars; Ricardo Afonso, Dean Chisnall, Shonagh Daly and Laura Tebbutt.

Sung in pretty much release date order (from 1968 to the 2000s), the evening started with songs from Rice’s early musicals, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.  Rice recounted how he and Lord Lloyd-Webber were very young and scraping to earn a living at the time.  Musicals such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat were performed in many non-theatrical venues before they reached a major stage.  A particular highlight for me, in this section, was watching Ricardo Afonso perform Heaven on their Minds from Jesus Christ Superstar.  Afonso played Judas in a recent major revival of the show – to great acclaim – and I believe he is one of the greatest rock tenors around.

We were also treated to a heart-wrenching rendition of Another Suitcase in Another Hall (from Rice and Lloyd Webber’s Evita), sung beautifully by Laura Tebbutt.  Rice confessed that this particular song contains some of his favourite lyrics.

Following the Rice and Webber segment, Sir Tim paid tribute to fellow artist Burt Bacharach – who sadly passed away earlier that evening – recalling how the pair had written two songs together.  He called Burt one of the greatest ever songwriters and I believe that it takes one to know one.

Next came a section dedicated to the musical Chess; celebrated for the array of catchy songs and ballads Rice wrote with Benny and Bjorn from Abba.  Closing out this section, and the first half, was Chisnall’s expertly delivered, roof-raising rendition of Anthem.

Scattered throughout the evening, we were also treated to some of Rice’s non-theatre songs, including an acoustic version of his Bond song All Time High, and the song he wrote for Elvis called It’s Easy for You.

Act two closed with Rice’s three Oscar winning songs, including A Whole New World from Aladdin; in which Afonso and Tebbutt’s voices soared through the air as if they truly were on a magic carpet ride……. Before we came full circle, back to Evita, for one of the greatest renditions of Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina I’ve heard (thank you Shonagh Daly).

The show was originally supposed to last two hours and twenty minutes with an interval, but so many songs and memories were added that it actually ran for 25 minutes more.  But there was not a single dull moment.

Tim Rice: A Circle of Words visits Malvern Forum on Friday 10th February and Newcastle Theatre Royal on Sunday 12th February 2023.

Reviewer: Rob Brown

Reviewed: 9^th February 2023

North West End UK Rating: ★★★★★