Time - The Musical


[discography | gallery]

'Time' logo

General Information
Queen Involvement
Story & Track Listing
Characters
'The Dave Clark Five And Beyond - Glad All Over' Documentary


General Information
Devised and created by Dave Clark
Lyrics by David Soames
Music by Jeff Daniels
Musical Director: Mike Moran

World Premiere held at the Dominion Theatre, London, on 9th April 1986.

A fan page containing more information about the musical can be found here.
The musical performed to more than 1 million people, while the soundtrack album and various singles sold over 12 million copies in total.


Queen Involvement
'Time' featured two tracks which Freddie Mercury recorded, and were included on the cast album. However, he did not appear in the musical itself, except at a special charity performance on 14 April 1988. During this appearance he performed the same two tracks, plus 'Born To Rock 'n' Roll' and 'It's In Every One Of Us', a duet with Cliff Richard.

The title track Time appears twice in the musical, once at the rock concert, just before the rock star is teleported to the trial, and again at the end of the trial, when the rock star is teleported back to Earth. The track was released as a single in 1986, with an instrumental version on the B-side, and an extended version on the 12" single, and reached no. 32 in the chart. The track was remixed in 1992 by Nile Rodgers and appears on 'The Freddie Mercury Album'.

The second track is In My Defence, which was initially only included on the cast album. It was remixed in 1992 by Ron Nevison and appears on 'The Freddie Mercury Album', and was also released as a single, reaching no. 8 in the chart.

The 'Freddie Mercury: Solo' 10CD/2DVD set includes all of the above versions, with the addition of an instrumental version of 'In My Defence'. Meanwhile, the 3CD set includes both tracks, remixed by Dave Clark in 2000.

Both tracks were also included on the 2006 'Lover Of Life - Singer Of Songs' compilation (the original version of 'Time' and 2000 Remix of 'In My Defence') and the 2016 'Messenger Of The Gods' compilation (both 2000 Remixes, and also the instrumental version of 'Time').

The album of 'Time' was re-released on iTunes in May 2012, as two separate downloads, one for each act, with act 1 featuring 'Time' and 'In My Defence', and act 2 featuring the reprise of 'Time'.


Story & Track Listing
The basic plot is that a rock concert is taking place, but suddenly, mid-song, the Rock Star and Louise are transported to a distant planet. Lord Melchisedic, the time lord, decides that they must justify that they are not a threat to universal peace. Akash, the judge, eventually decides that the people of Earth are not a threat and that the planet can continue to exist. The Rock Star and Louise are returned to earth and the concert continues.

The album features narration by Laurence Olivier, and features numerous performers playing the part of the Rock Star. The brackets below show the characters and performers, with brief details of the singles which were released.


Side One:

  1. Born To Rock 'n' Roll (The Rock Star, Cliff Richard)
  2. Time Talkin' (The Rock Star, Ashford & Simpson)
  3. Time (The Rock Star, Freddie Mercury) (no 32, May 1986)
  4. The Music Of The Spheres (orchestral)
  5. Law Of The Universe (The Judges, Chris Thompson, Miriam Stockley & Michael Mullins)
  6. The Time Lord Theme (Lord Melchisedic - The Time Lord, John Christie)
  7. The Charge (Lord Melchisedic - The Time Lord, John Christie)
  8. One Human Family (The Rock Star, Leo Sayer)

Side Two:

  1. What On Earth (Louise, Dionne Warwick)
  2. I Know, I Know (The Rock Star, Leo Sayer)
  3. Your Brother In Soul (Captain Ebony, Jimmy Helms)
  4. Case For The Prosecution (Lord Melchisedic - The Time Lord, John Christie)
  5. Starmaker (The Judges, Ashford & Simpson)
  6. Time Will Teach Us All (The Rock Star, Julian Lennon)
  7. I Object (Lord Melchisedic - The Time Lord, John Christie)
  8. In My Defence (The Rock Star, Freddie Mercury) (no 8, November 1992)

Side Three:

  1. Within My World (Louise, Dionne Warwick)
  2. Because (The Rock Star, Julian Lennon) (no 40, December 1985)
  3. Move The Judge (Captain Ebony, Jimmy Helms)
  4. She's So Beautiful (The Rock Star, Cliff Richard) (no 17, September 1985)
  5. Beauty, Truth, Love, Freedom, Peace (Akash, orchestral)
  6. If You Only Knew (The Rock Star, Julian Lennon)

Side Four:

  1. We're The U.F.O (The Judges, Murray Head)
  2. The Theme From Time (Akash, orchestral)
  3. Harmony (Lord Melchisedic - The Time Lord, John Christie)
  4. The Return (Akash, orchestral)
  5. Time (Reprise) (The Rock Star, Freddie Mercury)
  6. It's In Every One Of Us (The Rock Star, Cliff Richard) (no 45, December 1985)

Characters
Various performers play the Rock Star, and the following are listed on the album cover:

  1. The Rock Star - Cliff Richard, Ashford & Simpson, Freddie Mercury, Leo Sayer and Julian Lennon
  2. Akash - Laurence Olivier
  3. Lord Melchisedic - John Christie
  4. Louise - Dionne Warwick
  5. Captain Ebony - Jimmy Helms
  6. The Judges - Chris Thompson, Miriam Stockley & Michael Mullins, Murray Head and Ashford & Simpson

'The Dave Clark Five And Beyond - Glad All Over' Documentary
This 114 minute documentary film was released in April 2014 and tells the story of The Dave Clark Five's career, from their foundation to break-up, and Dave Clark's subsequent projects.

Fourteen minutes of the film focus on the 'Time' musical, from approximately 1:29 to 1:43. It features interviews with many of the people involved, including Dave Clark, Freddie, Sir Laurence Olivier, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick and Julian Lennon, as well as fans including Sir Ian McKellan, Whoopi Goldberg and Gene Simmons. It features a mixture of new and archive interviews, while Freddie's interviews date from 1986 with most of the footage previously unseen.

The film also features photographs and footage of the musical, photographs from the recording sessions, audio excerpts of many of the tracks, including both 'Time' and 'In My Defence', and footage from the 'Time' video.

The film was shown at 10pm on BBC2 on Saturday, 14th February 2015, and repeated at least a couple of times afterwards. It has also been released on DVD and Blu-ray in the USA, and details are available in the discography and gallery.