Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to reboot Wizard of Oz

[HMG] – Among those who love Broadway the works of Andrew Lloyd Webber can bring goose-bumps. When paired with Tim Rice’s skills the results are electric. And the tuneful duo are at it again after 34-years.

In what Britain’s Daily Mail describes as ‘The most eagerly awaited reunion in the history of musical theatre’ this flawless duet, whose creations have no rival in terms of box-office income are reuniting to make magical music.

“I’m working with Tim tomorrow,” Webber admits, seeming nervous at the prospect. “He’s doing the songs for The Wizard Of Oz with me. The new ones.’

Together they crafted ‘Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,’ ‘Jesus Christ, Superstar’ and ‘Evita.’ Their success was as without peer as it seemed without effort, but it all fell apart in the 70′s. Andrew wanted to write about Cats, while Tim was more taken with Chess.

‘We’ve always been close; we’ve just never found anything we wanted to do,’ Webber explains.

The cause of their highly-anticipated reunion is a new production of The Wizard Of Oz, starring Danielle Hope, winner of Andrew’s televised talent search. The four-year quest for Maria, Joseph, Nancy and Dorothy has made the now 62-year old composer an unlikely hero – but don’t ever compare him to Simon Cowell.

‘It doesn’t interest me to have some girl who’s no good and make smart-arse remarks about how terrible she is,” he says firmly. “We nurture; we don’t torture.”

But although he now has his Dorothy, there is still no show in which she can star;

“The Wizard Of Oz’ has never really worked in the theatre,” Webber admits. “The film has one or two holes where you need a song. For example, there’s nothing for the two witches to sing.”

And that’s why he picked up the bat-phone and called on Tim Rice;

“Tim and I are doing quite a specific thing, because we know what’s missing. He’s heard a few of the tunes. Will it work? We’ll see. Tim likes doing things that are not terribly huge.”

The pair met in 1964 when Andrew was 16, and Tim was just 20. Tim introduced himself as ‘a with-it lyricist,’ and the magic began. Their breakout success was ‘Dreamcoat’ in 1968. Robert Stigwood then made the movie — and Andrew hates every frame.

‘The production was purgatory. It was vulgar,” he recalls in horror. “It was exploitation in the worst sense of the word.” It was then that Andrew decided he needed to be in control.

He and Tim split after debuting ‘Evita’ in 1976. His first solo show was 1981′s ‘Cats’ – and it scared him to death;

‘Every single rule in the book was broken,”Andrew remembers. “You had words by a dead poet, no Tim Rice, a graveyard theatre, a dance-musical, and stars dressed as cats. The whole West End was rubbing its hands at the potential fiasco. But by the third preview I knew it was going to pay off.”

Cats ran in London for 21 years, and 18 on Broadway.

Who’d like to place bets for the Wizard of Oz?…