Aspects of Love Lyrics – All Songs from the Musical

"Aspects of Love" – The Musical Guide & Song Meanings

Review: when a love song becomes a warning label

What if the most famous number in the show is also its most misleading promise? “Love Changes Everything” is written like a victory lap, but Aspects of Love treats that phrase as a diagnosis. The lyrics keep circling the same idea: love does not simply “happen.” It rearranges the room. It changes who gets to speak. It changes what counts as decency. It changes the shape of time.

The show is mostly sung-through, so words are not decoration. They are plot mechanics. Don Black and Charles Hart write with a bluntness that can feel romantic one minute and oddly clinical the next, because the musical keeps examining affection like an object held too close to the eye. People are constantly narrating what they feel, then revising that narration mid-phrase. That is the show’s real voice: desire as self-editing.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s score leans lush and melodic, but it is also structured like obsession. Motifs repeat, return, and tighten. The big hook comes back so often it starts to feel less like a song and more like a thought you cannot turn off. That musical repetition is the lyric’s ally. The show is not asking whether love is real. It is asking whether love can be moral when it keeps moving the goalposts.

How it was made

Aspects of Love opened in London in April 1989 at the Prince of Wales Theatre, directed by Trevor Nunn with choreography by Gillian Lynne. It is based on David Garnett’s 1955 novel, and its premise is not subtle: romantic entanglements echo across years, and across generations, until love feels less like a choice and more like inheritance.

The show’s album history is unusually telling. The original London cast recording preserved most of the score but made cuts for length, and a 2005 remastered edition restored material that had been removed. That matters because this is a piece where connective tissue is the whole game. More sung-through material means more explanation, more rationalization, more lyrical “paperwork” around the desires that the characters would rather call fate.

The best example of how perception can drift away from the actual show is “The First Man You Remember.” Early TV performances created the impression that it was a standard romantic duet. In the musical, it is a father-and-daughter duet between George and Jenny. That mismatch is not a trivia footnote. It is the show in miniature: context changes meaning, and love is always being misread from a distance.

Key tracks & scenes

"Love Changes Everything" (Alex)

The Scene:

A train platform at Pau. A young man speaking as if he has discovered a new element. The world around him is public, noisy, full of movement, but the staging often isolates him in a private spotlight inside the crowd.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric sounds universal because it is written as a declaration, not a confession. That is the risk. Alex is not describing love. He is announcing his own appetite as law, and the show spends the next two hours testing who gets hurt by that certainty.

"Seeing is Believing" (Alex, Rose)

The Scene:

Early romance, still in the glow phase. The setting is France, but the real location is fantasy. The staging tends to soften the edges, because the song is about projection.

Lyrical Meaning:

It’s not just “I love you.” It’s “I trust what I want to see.” The lyric makes perception the central sin. The show later punishes that belief by turning “seeing” into surveillance and suspicion.

"Anything But Lonely" (Rose)

The Scene:

Rose on the brink of need, not glamour. The room feels temporary. A woman who has been admired for her image admits what happens when the applause stops.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is survival math. It reframes romance as shelter, and it is honest about the bargain. Rose is not asking for purity. She is asking to not disappear.

"She'd Be Far Better Off with You" (George, Alex)

The Scene:

A private conversation that tries to sound like advice. George positions himself as older, calmer, ethical. The light can feel like late afternoon, that hour when people start saying what they meant to hide.

Lyrical Meaning:

This is manipulation dressed as concern. The lyric is built from conditional phrases, softening the push. It reveals George’s central tactic: present desire as responsibility.

"The First Man You Remember" (George, Jenny)

The Scene:

A duet that reads tender until you notice its framing. The staging often places Jenny close to George in a way that feels safe, then unsettling, because the show is asking you to track the boundary.

Lyrical Meaning:

It is a song about imprinting. The lyric gives Jenny a vocabulary for devotion before she has a vocabulary for consequence. That is why it haunts. The melody holds the warmth while the context turns it into a lock.

"Hand Me the Wine and the Dice" (Company)

The Scene:

Paris nightlife as a social engine. Drinks, games, flirtation as currency. The stage fills, the tempo picks up, and the mood is performative, like everybody is acting the version of themselves they prefer.

Lyrical Meaning:

This is the show admitting that desire can be recreational. The lyric makes pleasure look casual, then shows how quickly “casual” becomes binding when people confuse attention with love.

"There Is More to Love" (Alex, Rose)

The Scene:

A later reckoning, less youth, more damage. The staging often plays it with distance, bodies turned slightly away, as if the characters cannot stand the full face of their history.

Lyrical Meaning:

The lyric is a rebuttal to the show’s own hook. If “love changes everything,” then this song asks what love fails to change. It is about the limits of romance, and the bruises left where limits are ignored.

"Love Changes Everything (Finale)" (Company)

The Scene:

The theme returns as a summation, but it lands differently. The light tends to widen, the world reappears, and the characters look older inside the same melody.

Lyrical Meaning:

By the end, the lyric reads less like inspiration and more like evidence. The phrase becomes a report: this is what happened, this is what it cost, this is what remains.

Live updates (2025–2026)

There is no verified Broadway or West End engagement for Aspects of Love in 2025–2026 in the major official channels referenced here. The most recent high-profile London event was the 2023 West End revival at the Lyric Theatre, which announced an early closing and ended its run on August 19, 2023.

The show’s practical present is licensing. Concord Theatricals and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s own licensing portal both list Aspects of Love as available to produce, positioning it as scalable for professional and amateur companies with an expandable ensemble. That licensing reality is what “current status” looks like for this title: a score that keeps living through regional productions, conservatoires, and repertory houses rather than through a long commercial sit-down.

If you are watching demand signals rather than schedules, the simplest one is access. The remastered recording remains prominent on streaming platforms, and the official Andrew Lloyd Webber site continues to route listeners toward the original cast album.

Notes & trivia

• The musical is based on David Garnett’s 1955 novel and spans about 17 years of relationships across a family and their artistic circle.
• Official show credits list: music and book by Andrew Lloyd Webber; lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart; original director Trevor Nunn; original choreography Gillian Lynne.
• The original London production ran at the Prince of Wales Theatre from April 1989 into 1992, with a reported 1,325 performances.
• A 2005 remastered edition of the London cast recording restored material cut from the initial album release.
• “The First Man You Remember” was often performed out of context on TV early on, creating the impression it was a romantic duet, though it is actually George and Jenny (father and daughter) in the show.
• Michael Ball’s single release of “Love Changes Everything” charted for 15 weeks in the UK and peaked at No. 2.
• The 2023 West End revival published a full cast list through the production’s official site.

Reception

Critics tend to agree on two things, even when they disagree about everything else. The score has real melodic staying power. The story can feel like a problem the music is trying to outrun. The 2023 revival amplified that debate because it put the show’s most controversial relationship dynamics under modern light, and reviewers were not polite about what they saw.

Still, even the harsher notices often concede that the writing has moments of emotional accuracy, especially when the lyric drops its grand statements and speaks plainly. That is where Aspects of Love works best: when love is not a philosophy, but a behavior.

“a preposterous blast from the past”

“flounders in an unconvincing staging”

“the lyrics … veer from the sophisticated to the unintentionally cringeworthy”

Technical info

• Title: Aspects of Love
• Year: 1989
• Type: Two-act, mostly sung-through romantic drama
• Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Lyrics: Don Black; Charles Hart
• Book: Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Source material: Aspects of Love (1955 novel) by David Garnett
• Original director / choreography: Trevor Nunn / Gillian Lynne
• Original West End opening: April 17, 1989 (Prince of Wales Theatre, London)
• Selected notable placements (scene-titled numbers from the published song list): “Love Changes Everything” (Railway Station at Pau); “Seeing is Believing” (Alex and Rose); “An Art Exhibition in Paris” (George and Giulietta); “She’d Be Far Better Off with You” (George and Alex); “Stop. Wait. Please.” (George, Giulietta, Rose)
• Single / chart notes: “Love Changes Everything” (Michael Ball) peaked at No. 2 on the UK Official Singles Chart and ran 15 weeks
• Album / recording status: Original London Cast Recording (1989); remastered 2005 edition available on major streaming services
• Recent major staging: West End revival at the Lyric Theatre (opened May 2023; concluded August 19, 2023)
• Licensing: Listed for performance licensing via Concord Theatricals and ALW show licensing

FAQ

Who wrote the lyrics for “Aspects of Love”?

Don Black and Charles Hart wrote the lyrics, with Andrew Lloyd Webber credited for music and book.

Is “Aspects of Love” a jukebox musical?

No. It is an original-score musical written for the stage, based on David Garnett’s novel.

Why is “Love Changes Everything” heard so many times?

The repeated theme works like a thesis statement that keeps getting rewritten by events. Each reprise tests whether the characters still believe the line, or are just trapped inside it.

What is “The First Man You Remember” actually about?

In the show, it is a duet between George and his daughter Jenny, not a standard lovers’ duet, which is why context matters so much for its emotional effect.

Is the musical running or touring in 2025–2026?

No major commercial run is confirmed in the official sources cited here. The clearest current pathway is licensing for new productions by other companies.

Key contributors

Name	Role	Contribution
Andrew Lloyd Webber	Composer; Book	Wrote the score and book; built the show around recurring motifs and sung-through momentum.
Don Black	Lyricist	Co-wrote lyrics that swing between direct pop-style declaration and sharper psychological framing.
Charles Hart	Lyricist	Co-wrote lyrics; key to the show’s conversational, scene-driving text.
Trevor Nunn	Original director	Staged the 1989 world premiere and later returned to the piece for subsequent revivals.
Gillian Lynne	Original choreographer	Created original movement language for a score that often plays as emotional memory rather than “big dance.”
Michael Ball	Original Alex; later George	Originated Alex in 1989 and later returned in the 2023 revival as George, anchoring the generational theme.
Jonathan Kent	Director (2023 West End revival)	Directed the major 2023 London revival that reintroduced the piece to modern critical scrutiny.

Sources: AndrewLloydWebber.com; AspectsOfLove.com (official production site); Lyric Theatre official site; Concord Theatricals; ALW Show Licensing; Official Charts Company; The Guardian; Variety; Evening Standard; Wikipedia; Ovrtur.