Tim Rice Working on Machiavelli Musical and Nutcracker Adaptation

Celebrated lyricist Tim Rice has been an incredibly busy man recently. Rice, famous for collaborations with musical glitterati Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alan Menken and Elton John, has revealed two exciting new projects.

The first, a musical based on the tumultuous life of notorious Italian statesman and writer, Niccolo Machiavelli, is perhaps one of Rice's most intriguing ideas to date.

A central figure of the Italian political renaissance, Machiavelli is best known for his writings on political theory. His best known work, The Prince, explains how to maintain political power and states that actions to protect a state or country, however cruel, are always justified.

Considering his success with Evita, there is no doubt Rice is capable of presenting the world of politics in a captivating manner. This impressive ability to sculpt the intricacies of leadership into entertainment will be thoroughly showcased in Rice's script and lyrics for the new production.

Infamous for back-stabbing and artful manipulation, the name Machiavelli has now become synonymous with deceit for personal gain. No doubt with such a rich and dramatic history to draw upon, Rice will come up with something incredible. Unfortunately this compelling musical will not be in theatres any time soon, Rice is still looking for a composer to put music to his lyrics and vision. Those hoping for a new Rice/Lloyd Webber collaboration will be disappointed, the lyricist has ruled out Lloyd Webber, saying he was too busy with other projects (presumably the hotly anticipated Phantom sequel "Once Upon Another Time").

Rice's second project has been contributing lyrics to a £30 million fantasy musical feature film inspired by Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker. The film is due for release in December 2009 and will star Richard E. Grant, Nathan Lane and John Turturro.

Set in 1920s Vienna, the privately financed film promises to be a visual spectacular, making use of cutting edge CGI and animatronic technology, a perfect backdrop for Rice's beautifully wrought lyrics.

If you cannot wait until the release of Nutcracker: The Untold Story for your fix of Rice's genius then The Lion King and Joseph are showing right through summer

With the Chinese tour of Disney's adaptation of Verdi's Aida and the US DVD release of Chess, Rice's collaboration with ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, 2008 is set to be one of Rice's biggest years to date.