Tim Rice ‘states’ the case for U.S. music and nods to pal Andrew Lloyd Webber

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A couple of days ago, Culture Monster reported that the Broadway opening of ‘Love Never Dies,’ the long-awaited sequel to ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ is being postponed until spring 2011 while composer Andrew Lloyd Webber recovers from prostate cancer treatment.

Now Sir Andrew is getting a boost from an old friend and fellow member of the British knighthood, Sir Tim Rice, his collaborator on ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘Evita.’ According to this piece, Sir Tim recently consented to do an interview (which he loathes) with the Daily Telegraph because, according to that London newspaper, Rice is the “patron of the Horizon Dinner for Prostate Cancer,” and he wanted to generate some publicity for it. His father died from prostate cancer, and his friend and former creative collaborator Andrew Lloyd Webber was recently diagnosed with the disease, so it is close to home.’

The story also goes into some detail about Rice’s latest creative project, writing a radio series about the musical profiles of various U.S. states. Fifty-two programs constitute the series, one for each state, plus Washington, D.C., and a separate show devoted to New York City.

Rice evidently already knows a lot about his material, riffing authoritatively on some of the big names to come out of Washington state, for example: Jimi Hendrix, Bing Crosby, “the doomed king of grunge, Kurt Cobain’ and Jimmie Rogers.

Rice also reveals that the Bee Gees’ disco smash ‘Stayin’ Alive’ ‘is one of my favourite records of all time.”

-- Reed Johnson