Who is the better lyricist?

As far as establishing and developing character and situation, and even in just writing lyrics that work in their own right, Sondheim easily outshines Rice. But I think their work is so stylistically different that making the comparison is pretty pointless. I somehow doubt that Sondheim and Rice have the same intention when they start work on a project and, from what I've read, their methods of working are vastly different too. I think it's obvious that Sondheim works holistically whereas Rice more obviously uses the idea of "spots". And Sondheim is more eclectic in his use of language, while Rice's work has remained rooted within the idiomatic traditions of the UK English.

Obviously its Sondheim.

Rice's work spans from the sublime (Someone Elses Story,Anthem,Pilates Dream and Waltz for Eva and Che) to the ridiculous (the whole score of AIDA,The Ladies got Potential)


Sondheim is a true artist...wo doesnt rest till each line is what he wants..he still moans over his "i feel pretty" lyrics to this day.

My Strongest Suit is an amusing song when sung by Sherie Rene Scott and set to random pictures of Norbert Leo Butz (my friend Luisa is weird). Other than that, AIDA sucks.
Rice has some good stuff. Can't remember what they are, but I know there's some stuff I like.

Overall...why is this even a question? Lyrics are what Sondheim is most often praised for. Similarly, he is always often complained about for the same reason: "there so harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!!11!!!one".

There's no comparishion. Sondheim is the best lyricist. When that is said, I love intensely much of Tim Rice' lyrics, because he's soo good in doing his style. My Facvourite TR lyric is the Margaret Thatcher acronyme in Blondel, which is a very underrated show. And his Assassin's Song is nearly as good as A Little Priest - which is the utmost best compliment any lyricist can ever receive.

Yup. Agreed. But Sondheim's choice of words is very great and he comes up with rhymes that one would have never though of.

This is true. And they are fantastic 99.9% of the time. Then there's the other 0.1% of the time; I guess even the master has his off days. For example, there's that lyric from the film version of A Little Night Music:


It's an interesting sentiment, but a dodgy lyric and a bad rhyme.

Did you really think here, on a Sondheim board, anyone would choose Rice?

Sondheim.

I join the chorus...Sondheim of course.

His lyrics are intelligent, intricate, character-driven and many other good things, as opposed to Tim Rice's poorly-structured and occasionally nonsensical pop lyrics. While it is very true that both write in completely different styles, it is the former that I prefer.

This, however, is just my personal opinion...I'm sure others would disagree depending on the style of musical theatre they prefer.

Hopefully that makes sense. Its late.

Fine. I'll pick Rice.

He did good stuff!

I've always thought One Jump Ahead (Aladdin) was decent and The Past Is Another Land (Aida) were really good. They're not complex or hard to say but they're nice:( I dunno. cry.

That's Howard Ashman.

That's hilarious because I was just thinking, "DAMN! Rice wrote that?!? That was a GOOD SONG!! And....Rice wrote that???"

Good to know my opinion of Rice is still the same.