Andrew Lloyd Webber has withdrawn his music from Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas, prompting lyricist Tim Rice to question whether the pair will work together again.
The musical, which the long-standing collaborators created together last year, is due to return at Alexandra Palace in north London next month after premiering at Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
Rice said Lloyd Webber’s songs had been removed from the production after the composer decided not to continue with the show. Speaking to The Times, he said: “Andrew really didn’t want to continue with the show.”
“He basically withdrew his score. He really did not feel it was the sort of thing he wanted to do. Andrew is more concerned with much bigger productions,” Rice added.
Lloyd Webber has disputed that account, saying the production’s producers, Donald and Eva Rice – Tim Rice’s children – had decided not to use the music he wrote for the Birmingham production.
In a statement, he said he had been told that “there needed to be further work” on the show, but that his schedule made it impossible for him to take part. He also said he had been asked to sign over the rights to the music for five years, well in advance, without approval over its use in a production he had not seen.
“The two felt unable to allow me this basic approval which even a rookie writer would expect,” Lloyd Webber said.
Rice said he was now reworking the songs with composer Howard Goodall. Asked whether the new material was better than the songs written by Lloyd Webber, he replied: “I have no comment to make on that.”
Lloyd Webber wished “the charming show every success” and described Goodall as “a great composer and a really great choice to replace me”.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s celebrated partnership
The split marks a setback for a partnership responsible for some of musical theatre’s best-known productions. Lloyd Webber and Rice first worked together in the 1960s, after Rice wrote to the young composer offering his services as a lyricist.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was their first collaboration to be publicly performed, while Jesus Christ Superstar began as a concept album in 1970. Their third major success, Evita, opened in the West End in 1978 with Elaine Paige in the title role.
Their work has been adapted for film, translated into numerous languages and performed in more than 80 countries. The three productions collectively won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.
The pair have collaborated only occasionally since Evita. They wrote the song You Must Love Me for the 1996 film starring Madonna, while Rice contributed additional lyrics to Lloyd Webber’s 2011 musical The Wizard of Oz.
Their unexpected reunion for Sherlock Holmes and the 12 Days of Christmas therefore represented a return to a partnership that had produced some of the most successful musicals of the modern era.
Rice, who also wrote the lyrics for The Lion King, was unable to say whether he and Lloyd Webber would work together again.
