'Think it; Dream it; Do it'

 “It’s a cliché, but most people are good at something, and most people are good at what they’re enthusiastic about.” – Tim Rice

 Born in England in 1944, Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice – better known to we commoners as “Tim” Rice – turns 80 on Nov. 10th.  The British lyricist and author has done “very good” things in his career, primarily through his collaborations with great musicians like Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alan Menken and Elton John.

 He and Webber wrote Jesus Christ, Superstar, Evita, and the fun musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a show I was fortunate to do in a community theater production (got to play  Joseph’s oldest brother Rueben and sing “One More Angel” in my best Country Western twang). 

 With Menken he wrote the lyrics for the songs in Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and King David; and with John he wrote The Lion King, Aida, and The Road to El Dorado.  Any of those in its own right probably would have earned him lasting acclaim.

 For his writing he has won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Tony and a Grammy.  He also has been inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, and named a Disney Legend.

“We all dream a lot – some are lucky, some are not,” Rice said of his career. “But if you think it, want it, dream it, then it’s real. You are what you feel.”