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The Music | Pop Song and Musical Theatre | African Music | South African Music | Instrument Glossary
 This balance between popular music and the musical theatre is mirrored
in the careers of 'The Lion King' original composer and lyricist. Tim
Rice had written the lyrics for such classic musicals as Jesus Christ
Superstar and Evita each of which had also been a best selling
recording. Rice seemed the perfect choice to write the lyrics for The
Lion King, but who would compose the music? Elton John, who has written
some of the best and most endearing popular music in the last half of
the twentieth century, said, "I actually jumped at the chance
because I knew that Disney was a class act and I liked the story line
and the people immediately. The Disney films last forever and children
watch them and adults watch them and get just as much fun out of
them..."
As Rice and John began to work together, they knew that their main
purpose was to tell the story. "Up until now," said Rice,
"about 95% of the lyrics Ive written have been done to a tune.
Elton is one of those rare examples of a composer who actually likes to
get the words first. In the case of... 'The Lion King', that proved to be
quite useful because the key thing...is to get the story line dead
right. Everything flows from the story."
"I think one of the most interesting things about our approach
to this musical is that none of the composers are Broadway theater
people, and so we are drawing upon our varied past experiences... We
draw on all sorts of different areas film scoring, pop tunes, South
African choir work. The music for 'The Lion King' is diverse." - Mark
Mancina
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