Charles Hart (lyricist)

For other people named Charles Hart, see Charles Hart (disambiguation).

Charles Hart (born 3 June 1961 in London) is a British lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for re-writing the lyrics to, and (after some persuasion ) contributing to the book of Andrew Lloyd Webber's phenomenally successful stage musical The Phantom of the Opera, which has since been produced as a film. He also co-wrote (with Don Black) the lyrics to Lloyd Webber's 1989 musical Aspects of Love, based on the novel by David Garnett.

Biography

Early life

Hart attended Robinson College, Cambridge and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He had began writing lyrics as a child, some of which were "dark and contemplative - precociously murderous and quite, quite feisty" but first seriously contemplated turning his talent into a profession in the 1970s when his grandmother - Angela Baddeley, an actress - was on stage in a London production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music.

"When I was at the Guildhall I sent a tape to [Stephen] Sondheim, fully expecting a reply hailing the next true genius of the West End," he said in a rare interview in The Times. "All I got was a note saying that I had 'rhyming poison' which got in the way of my characters and plot, and of course he was entirely right. But my ambition was to be an English Sondheim.

"Being a lyricist is the ideal job for a university-educated dilettante, because it uses up all the rubbish in your education."

He attracted the attention of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh when they were judges of the Vivian Ellis awards for music theatre writers, in which Hart was a finalist for his musical based on Moll Flanders. Lloyd Webber hired him as a lyricist for The Phantom of the Opera a year later.

Career

He has also written words for musicals "The Kissing-Dance" and "The Dreaming" (both with music by Howard Goodall), also words for opera (The Vampyr, BBCTV) and miscellaneous songs, as well as both words and music for television, ("Watching", "Split Ends" for Granada TV) and Love Songs (BBC Radio). His Two Studies for String Quartet received its premiere in February 2005 at London’s Purcell Room, performed by the Sacconi Quartet.

He has received two Ivor Novello Awards and has been nominated twice for a Tony Award. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for writing the lyrics to a new song "Learn to be Lonely" which was sung by Minnie Driver over the final credits to the film version of The Phantom of the Opera

Charles Hart is also a photographer. His photographic work has appeared on posters and in playbills, as well as publications ranging from Attitude to the Daily Telegraph, and in 2003 he was one of three photographers to feature in an exhibition organized by UNICEF to celebrate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Charles is a longstanding trustee and supporter of the UK charity ratings agency, Intelligent Giving.

The character of Max, in Will Cohu's book, "Urban Dog", is said to be based on Hart.