Forum Theatre, Malvern – 10th February 2023
Reviewed by Courie Amado Juneau
5*****
If you’re thinking “Tim Rice, I know him so well” you are in for a treat in this fascinating show.
The hits began with “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph and just kept coming. What a way for any artist to kick off a retrospective of their career. Half the joy of the evening was hearing about the journey these works took to get to the stage or screen. Although the music will be familiar and enormously loved, those moments of “wow, I never knew that” will be a delicious revelation.
The introduction billed him as a very nice man and so he was! A charming, modest, genuinely funny host with a gentle storytelling style, I loved his self deprecating manner. We hung on his every word and could have listened well into tomorrow night. To give you a flavour of the evening (as I don’t want to spoil the show), I didn’t know that “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” (one of the most fabulous stage songs ever in this writer’s humble opinion, from Jesus Christ Superstar) had different words put to it to attempt to have a pop hit. Mr Rice was kind enough to give us a rendition (“I Love The Kansas Morning”) complete with tongue planted firmly in cheek (it was a self acknowledged flop). I was particularly glad that Judas’s “Heaven On Their Minds” was included from Superstar – that opening guitar part sends a shiver of delight down my spine. It was interesting to hear these tunes in the classic rock band lineup of guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. Without the full orchestral grandeur one might think they would lose something in the translation – not a bit of it, they sounded magnificent. It was a pleasure to hear them in their new guise.
The Duncan Waugh Band & Singers were fantastic with tight playing, giving us the full drama of these most theatrical of pieces. It takes a good voice to hit the notes these tunes demand and tonight we had four of them – all exceptional.
Back to the music – everything (and more) is represented: Evita, something with David Essex, a Bond theme tune (I know), a song recorded by Elvis! Something for everybody. And it was all capped off with an Oscar medley – including an honest to goodness Oscar! There were 3 other major awards brought on stage tonight, which were almost as impressive, but I’ll let you discover those yourself … Another personal favourite was belted out too, “Anthem” from Chess: “My lands only borders lie around my heart”. Not the first tear brought to my eye this evening. A very fitting appreciation of a remarkable life and career that few could emulate but all will enjoy. It’s not often the Oscars come to Malvern (well one of them anyway) but tonight was special in very many ways! Even buffed to perfection and spotlit, little Oscar still paled into comparison to the genuine star on stage – Mr Tim Rice. Well done that man and thank you.