Tim Rice: Last News

Eminem could be the next artist to achieve an EGOT status following his win at the 2022 Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Slim Shady became an Emmy award winner when the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show won for Outstanding Variety Special.

Thania Garcia The Songwriters Hall of Fame will recognize Stephen Schwartz — the arranger and composer behind the music from “Wicked,” “Godspell” and “Pippin” — as the recipient of the 2025 Johnny Mercer Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala, slated for June 12 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The Johnny Mercer Award is the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, is exclusively reserved for a songwriter or songwriting team who has already been inducted in a prior year and whose body of work is of “such high quality and impact that it upholds the gold standard set by the legendary Johnny Mercer,” per the SHOF.

Matt Minton mminton@variety.com If you missed “Mufasa: The Lion King” in theaters over the holidays, it will be streaming exclusively on Disney+ starting March 26. The Disney tentpole grossed $709 million at the worldwide box office.

Cynthia Erivo has lined up her next big starring role!

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Ariana DeBose won’t be crying for Argentina. The Oscar winner was in talks to star in Jamie Lloyd’s revival of “Evita” at the London Palladium, but sources tells me things didn’t work out “due to scheduling.” The musical is scheduled to run June 16-Sept. 6.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses minor plot details for “Mufasa: The Lion King,” now in theaters. Lin-Manuel Miranda and composer Dave Metzger both knew the mighty musical legacy they had to uphold when writing the music for Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King.” The “Lion King” prequel tells the story of young Mufasa, voiced by Aaron Pierre, and his adopted brother Taka, who will be known as Scar (voiced by Kelvin Harrison Jr.). In writing original songs and composing new music, Miranda and Metzger looked at how they could honor the tracks written by Elton John and Tim Rice, as well as Hans Zimmer’s score from the original animated film.

Angelique Jackson SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses plot details for “Mufasa: The Lion King,” in theaters on Dec. 20. Lin-Manuel Miranda knows his way around a Disney tune.

and a prequel to the 1994 classic that was already needlessly remade in 2019.The existence of this follow-up, somehow directed by Barry Jenkins of “Moonlight,” is similarly puzzling.Its origin story about how Simba’s pop came of age and ascended the throne is thin as a reed but elephantine in pace. With so many look-alike lions who are hard to tell apart and repetitive action sequences that numb the noggin, you think: “Oh, I just can’t wait to be home!”Despite the nonstop peril, the cash grab remains a musical.

North West will make her Hollywood Bowl singing debut Friday at the first of the two-night “The Lion King” concert event. She will perform “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King.” As previously reported, West will join “Lion King” veterans Nathan Lane, Billy Eichner, Jeremy Irons, Ernie Sabella, Heather Headley, Lebo M and Jason Weaver as well as EGOT winner Jennifer Hudson. A full orchestra is set to perform Hans Zimmer’s Oscar-winning musical score led by conductor Sarah Hicks.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The 30th anniversary of the original animated film version of “The Lion King” will be celebrated at the Hollywood Bowl next month with a live-to-film concert/screening that will include cast members from both the movie and theatrical versions — and beyond — including Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, Billy Eichner, Ernie Sabella, Jason Weaver and Bradley GIbson. The shows will take place at the Bowl May 24-25 and be produced by Disney Concerts, Fulwell 73 Productions, AMP Worldwide and Live Nation-Hewitt Silva.

The shirt worn by Colin Firth in the TV series adaptation of Pride And Prejudice is up for auction. The shirt, which became famous when Mr Darcy, played by Firth, emerged from a lake in it, is expected to fetch between £7,000 and £10,000.

Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For?’ and Ryan Gosling’s ‘I’m Just Ken’ are among the tracks nominated for Best Original Song at this year’s Oscars.The two compositions for the film Barbie are among the five nominees in the category, which were announced earlier today (January 23).The other songs to get a nod were ‘Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)’ from Killers of the Flower Moon, with music and lyrics by Scott George, ‘It Never Went Away’ by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson, from American Symphony, and ‘The Fire Inside’ by Diane Warren, from Flamin’ Hot.It is the second Oscar nomination for Eilish, who previously won in this category in 2022 for writing and performing the title track of the James Bond film No Time to Die. She wrote ‘What Was I Made For?’ with her brother Finneas O’Connell, and it has also been nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the Grammys.Were she to win, Eilish would join an elite group of composers to have won multiple Academy Awards for Best Original Song, a list that includes Elton John, Randy Newman, Burt Bacharach, Tim Rice and Giorgio Moroder.‘I’m Just Ken’ was written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, the latter of whom is the frontman of Swedish electro-pop band Miike Snow.

Valerie Wu Intern Nicolas Cage wants to play Pontius Pilate in the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” During the red carpet at the Golden Globes, Cage was asked by Variety‘s Marc Malkin about a genre that he wants to work in. He replied, “Musical. I have not done a musical.” “I do think I could make a good Pontius Pilate in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,'” Cage admitted.

Tammy Faye, the Olivier-nominated Elton John–Jake Shears–James Graham musical about ’80s-era televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, will premiere on Broadway during the 2024-25 Season.

K.J. Yossman Over 10,000 individuals — many of them prominent figures from British culture — have signed a letter condemning the atrocities perpetrated by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7 and demanding the immediate release of the more than 200 civilians still being held hostage.

The Dinosaur Hour on the channel from Sunday October 29. As shown in a recent trailer, confirmed celebrity guests include Stephen Fry, Sir Trevor McDonald, Tim Rice and Caitlyn Jenner.Speaking on GB News, however, Cleese said he “couldn’t get people on” to talk about certain issues.“There’s a good part to woke, and a bad part,” Cleese said.

Evita (★★★☆☆), Shereen Pimentel, in the title role, declaims not from a balcony of the Presidential Palace, but surrounded by risers of flowers stacked to the rafters.A luminous rose among a field of lesser blooms, Eva “Evita” Péron, addresses her nation to the triumphant strains of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.” Indeed it’s a triumphant moment for the Shakespeare Theatre’s production, directed by Sammi Cannold, building on her staged concert presentation of Evita for New York City Center Encores! in 2019, and a subsequent American Repertory Theatre production in Cambridge, Massachusetts this past summer.Finessing the First Lady’s appeal to her people, Pimentel’s voice is at its loveliest on “Don’t Cry,” while Jason Sherwood’s scenic design provides a gorgeous visual representation of Evita’s lofty status amongst the Argentinian masses.The stirring number reinforces the tune’s status as the crown jewel of one of Webber’s best-known scores, with a polished, patient rendition that belies the effort to deliver all an audience might hope for or want from a hit. Other gems in the score don’t gleam with the same care and intention, although the performers, backed by music director Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh’s 16-piece orchestra, have their moments.The warm baritone of Caesar Samayoa, as Presidente Juan Péron, booms confidently through the droll game of musical chairs depicting the military colonel’s rise to power.

Disney's hit Broadway and West End musical Aladdin is flying into Manchester.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music We say every year that the Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction ceremony is the music industry’s best-kept secret — an invite-only, insider combination of a superstar awards show and a family reunion for the tight-knit songwriting and music-publishing community that is in its 52nd year and has never been televised or livestreamed. In fact, we’ve said it so many times that longtime SHOF CEO Linda Moran quoted us in her opening remarks on Thursday night. While the show has had honorees pull out in the past — Jay-Z due to the impending birth of his and Beyonce’s twins, less happily the Kinks’ Ray Davies due to the death of his sister — this year’s event was the first time two honorees canceled, deferring their inductions to next year: the reclusive Sade, who everyone figured had about a 40% chance of showing up, postponed several months ago due to a scheduling conflict, and Snoop Dogg, who pulled out abruptly for undisclosed reasons earlier in the week. But the SHOF is such a star-studded evening that the event was a rousing success filled with great music regardless — and the silver lining was the fact that it was over in a relatively tidy three hours (it often stretches toward five).

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Tim Rice will be the 2023 recipient of the esteemed Johnny Mercer Award at the 52nd Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Dinner slated for Thursday, June 15, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.   The Johnny Mercer Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Songwriters Hall of Fame and is reserved for a songwriter or songwriting team who has already been inducted in a prior year and whose body of work is of such high quality and impact that it upholds the gold standard set by the legendary Johnny Mercer. Tim Rice was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999.  

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s spectacular new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat arrived in Sydney last week.Image: SuppliedTold through song, with the help of The Narrator, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is the story of Jacob’s favourite son, Joseph and his 11 brothers. Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers.