Hand Me the Wine And the Dice Lyrics — Aspects of Love

Song Overview

"Hand Me the Wine And the Dice" is the wake that turns into a party, then turns into a trap. It arrives right after the show delivers its hardest blow, and it refuses to whisper. Giulietta steps forward, lifts the room by the collar, and quotes George's life philosophy back at the mourners: eat, drink, gamble, dance. That order matters.

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• Where it lands: Act II, Scene Sixteen, farmland around Pau, at George's wake among the vines.
• Who drives it: Giulietta fronts the number, with chorus and principals folding into the dance and fallout.
• What it does: flips mourning into "live now" theatre, then nudges Alex toward Giulietta while Rose breaks open.
• Cast recording quirk: on streaming it is often packaged as a longer scene track set in the vineyard.

Aspects of Love (1989) - stage musical - diegetic. Full scene placement: Act II, Scene Sixteen, George's wake in the farmland around Pau, with guests drinking his wine and turning grief into dancing. Cast recording placement: commonly appears as "The Vineyards at Pau: Hand Me the Wine and the Dice (Live)" as a longer sung scene. Why it matters: it rebrands George as a creed, then uses the spinning crowd to push Alex and Giulietta into contact while Rose and Jenny react in opposite directions.

On paper, it is a toast. Onstage, it is a social dare. Giulietta is not comforting anyone. She is instructing them. The lyric keeps insisting on appetite, then drops the punchline: death is coming regardless, so stop pretending you can bargain for extra days by behaving politely.

The music goes hard for a reason. If the wake stays quiet, Rose gets to hold the room. If the wake erupts, Rose becomes an onlooker in her own house. The number chooses eruption. The ensemble makes a circle, the scene begins to whirl, and suddenly it is not only about George. It is about who gets to decide what "living" looks like next.

Key takeaways

1. Giulietta steals the narrative. She turns George's death into a manifesto, and nobody in the crowd can politely disagree without looking small.
2. The word "carnival" is a warning. It sounds fun until you realize it is also license, camouflage, and cover for new betrayal.
3. It is the hinge into the Alex-Giulietta plotline. The dance puts them in the same orbit and makes the collision feel inevitable.
4. Rose loses the room twice. First to Giulietta's speech, then to the crowd's momentum.

Creation History

Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the music, with lyrics credited to Don Black and Charles Hart. The number sits deep in Act II and was captured on the original cast recording; later reissues restored material that had been trimmed for running time, which is why listeners often meet it as a longer "vineyard" scene track. According to Official Charts Company, the original cast album hit No. 1 in the UK, which helps explain how a late-act ensemble piece like this stayed in circulation far beyond the theatre.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

The wake is held among the vines at Pau. Giulietta speaks first, praising George as someone who loved earthly pleasures and refused tidy, moral bargaining. She proposes a simple rule: if death could speak, it would tell you to live while you can. The chorus answers with drinking and dancing. Rose follows with the urn, explaining George wanted his ashes scattered among the vines, with music and wine. The dance intensifies, and in the middle of that swirl Alex and Giulietta finally meet and flirt openly. Rose breaks down and rushes away. Alex and Giulietta drift off toward the barn, and Jenny, half-shadow, follows them into the next scene.

Song Meaning

The meaning is not subtle. Wine is pleasure you can taste, dice is chance you cannot control. Put them together and you get George's worldview: do not live in tiny portions, do not pretend tomorrow is guaranteed, and do not ask permission to feel alive. In this show, that creed lands like a spark in spilled spirits. It lights up a room that should have been careful.

There is a second meaning that stings more. Giulietta is giving a eulogy, but she is also auditioning for the role of "who gets to carry George's torch." The dance becomes a test of power. Who joins in. Who refuses. Who uses the noise to move toward someone new. As stated in ALW Show Licensing materials, this is the point where the score leans into ensemble storytelling, and the crowd becomes a character.

Annotations

1. "Hand me the wine and the dice."

   It is a command, not a request. Giulietta frames celebration as duty, like the only respectful response to George is to imitate him at full volume.

2. "I want my carnival now."

   "Carnival" sounds bright, but it also means masks. In this scene, masks let people do reckless things with less shame.

3. "The hand of death is unforgiving."

   The lyric refuses comforting metaphors. Death is not romantic here. It is a dealer who does not care if you have finished your drink.

4. "Why pour your life in tiny measures?"

   That line is the whole argument. It also needles Rose, who has built her life on control, reputation, and carefully staged choices.

5. "The dance... wild and bacchanalian."

   The stage direction tells you what the music is doing: not "a nice number," but a spiral that drags the plot forward by force.

6. "You must be the famous Alex!"

   Giulietta meets him mid-chaos. That is deliberate. The wake gives her cover to be direct, to flirt fast, to claim space.

Style, rhythm, and the scene's heat

This is the show letting its hair down at the worst possible moment. A eulogy turns into a dance number, and the contrast is the point. BroadwayWorld has called it a 7/8 tarantella in one production review, which fits the feeling: feet moving slightly off the expected grid, energy climbing, breath getting short. The room is celebrating, but the celebration is edged with desperation.

Symbols that matter

Wine is communal and immediate. It makes the crowd one body. Dice is private risk. You throw them alone even when people watch. Together they sketch the moral weather of Act II: people want permission to chase desire, and they also want an excuse if it goes wrong.

Technical Information (Quick Facts)

• Song: Hand Me the Wine And the Dice
• Artist: Aspects of Love (the musical, 1989)
• Featured: Giulietta, ensemble, and principals within the wake scene
• Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Producer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Release Date: September 14, 1989
• Genre: Musical theatre
• Instruments: Orchestra, chorus, principal voices
• Label: Really Useful - Polydor (original UK listing)
• Mood: celebratory, sharp-edged, restless
• Length: 8:37 (common streaming scene track set in the vineyard)
• Track #: 42 (common remastered cast-album indexing)
• Language: English
• Album (if any): Aspects of Love - Original London Cast Recording (remastered edition also in circulation)
• Music style: wake speech into ensemble dance
• Poetic meter: accentual phrasing with repeated refrains

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does the number happen in the story?

It is performed at George's wake among the vines near Pau, right after the Paris bedroom tragedy.

Who leads the song onstage?

Giulietta leads, with the chorus and other principals pulled into the wake and the dancing.

Is it a single release?

No reliable discography points to a single release for this track. The single story around the show is tied to other songs.

Why wine and dice?

Wine stands for shared pleasure and ritual. Dice stands for chance and risk. Together they make a blunt philosophy: live now because you cannot control the end.

What is the dramatic purpose of the big dance?

It changes the room's power. Giulietta takes control of the wake, Rose is pushed to the edge, and Alex is placed face-to-face with Giulietta at the exact moment he is raw.

Is this the moment Alex and Giulietta connect?

Yes. The libretto stages their first real meeting inside the frenzy of the wake dance.

Why does it feel so different from the surrounding songs?

Because it is built as an eruption: a speech that becomes a chant, then a crowd number. Some reviewers describe it with a tarantella feel, which makes the shift even sharper.

Is it meant to be diegetic?

The staging reads as diegetic: Giulietta addresses the guests, Rose describes George's wishes, and the crowd drinks, dances, and acts inside the event.

Are there notable modern performances outside the original productions?

Yes. Cabaret and chamber productions have used it as a featured showcase for Giulietta, including a Chicago staging that drew attention from local press.

Does the number change how we remember George?

Completely. It turns him from a jealous, frightened man into a slogan about appetite and freedom, which is both flattering and suspicious.

Awards and Chart Positions

The number itself did not chart as a standalone release, but the cast album that carries it performed strongly in the UK. According to Official Charts Company, the original cast album reached No. 1 on the UK Official Albums Chart and logged a long run in the Top 100. The Broadway production collected major award attention, including a Theatre World Award win for Kathleen Rowe McAllen.

Additional Info

When directors talk about this show, they often circle back to this moment because it is the one time the score openly invites the room to dance. That is why it lands like a flare. A reviewer in Chicago theatre press highlighted a cabaret production where the Giulietta performer turned the number into a full-bodied showpiece, the kind that makes the audience laugh and gasp in the same breath.

It also has a reputation among Lloyd Webber listeners as the "odd meter" surprise. One BroadwayWorld review described it as a 7/8 tarantella, and that single detail explains a lot: the music pushes you forward, but never lets you settle. Perfect for a wake where everyone is trying not to think too hard about what just happened.

Key Contributors

How to Sing Hand Me the Wine And the Dice

This number sits in Giulietta's lane. ALW Show Licensing lists the role as an alto type, and in performance the delivery tends to live in a bold, speech-driven space rather than floaty ballad land. A review has described the piece as a 7/8 tarantella, which is the real technical hurdle: the meter will make you rush if you let it.

1. Start with the count. Clap a steady 7/8 pattern (try 2-2-3) until it feels boring. If it feels clever, it is not stable yet.
2. Lock the consonants. The lyric is packed with hard sounds (wine, dice, plow). Spit them cleanly so the groove does not smear.
3. Use short breaths, often. Think of it as sprinting with corners. Grab air on punctuation and ride the repeated refrain without overfilling.
4. Keep the tone bright, not heavy. It is a wake, but the song is a dare. Aim for bite and lift, with a hint of grin in the sound.
5. Let the refrain do the work. The repeated line is your anchor. When the scene gets hectic, treat that refrain as home base.
6. Watch the last word of each phrase. In fast meters, singers clip endings. Practice holding the tail of the phrase without dragging the beat.
7. Rehearse it moving. Even in a concert setting, this number wants physical momentum. Walk the rhythm, then sing it.
8. Pitfall to avoid: turning it into a shout-fest. Save volume for the peaks and keep the middle dynamic, or it turns flat fast.

Practice materials: a metronome set to steady eighth-note pulses, spoken text drills on the refrain, and a simple 7/8 clap-and-speak routine before singing full voice.

Sources

Sources: Aspects of Love libretto (copioni archive), ALW Show Licensing musical numbers and cast requirements pages, Official Charts Company album history, Apple Music album and track metadata, Spotify album and track listings, BroadwayWorld Chicago review (2013), Chicago Magazine review (2013), Broadway.com feature ranking Andrew Lloyd Webber songs