Lloyd Webber Reunites with Rice for Eurovision Song???

Following the recent announcement that Andrew Lloyd Webber is penning the UK’s next Eurovision Song Contest entry, rumours are circulating that he may be calling on his oldest and most well-known collaborator – lyricist Tim Rice – to work with him on the song.

The duo, whose collaborations include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, parted company in the 1970s and relations between them were known to be frosty for a number of years. But according to the Daily Mail, the two men are keen to reunite for a “joint patriotic effort”.

If the collaboration does go ahead, it won’t be the first time they pair have written a Eurovision number. In 1967 they penned the song “Try It and See”, which failed to make the grade at the time but went on to form the basis of Herod’s song in Jesus Christ Superstar.

The BBC is holding a nationwide search to find the singer who will perform Lloyd Webber’s song at next year’s contest, being held in Moscow in May. Lloyd Webber and his team will decide on a shortlist of six acts before the public are given the final vote during a series entitled Your Country Needs You, hosted by Graham Norton.

Speaking about this latest TV talent hunt, Lloyd Webber said: “In my life I have never shied away from the impossible and this looks like the biggest mission impossible of all time, but with the might of the BBC and the British public behind me … who knows what will happen? Win, lose or draw, I am looking forward to every minute of it.”