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Lyricist Sir Tim Rice is to receive a special prize for his outstanding contribution to musical theatre at this year's Olivier Awards.

The songwriter is best known for co-writing shows such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, and also worked with Sir Elton John on The Lion King.

He will be presented with his award at a London ceremony on 15 April.

Previous recipients of the award include Harold Pinter, Dame Judi Dench and Stephen Sondheim.

Sir Tim wrote his first musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, in 1967 in what would be the start of his famous partnership with Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.

They went on to make Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita together, but their partnership broke up in the early 1980s.

The lyricist continued to work with other composers like Abba's Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus for the 1984 musical Chess before working on a number of Disney projects such as Beauty and The Beast and Aladdin.

Sir Tim also has a string of awards to his name, including three best original song Oscars for You Must Love Me from Evita, A Whole New World from Aladdin and Can You Feel The Love Tonight from The Lion King, which he shared with Sir Elton John.

This year's Olivier Awards will be hosted by Sweeney Todd stars Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton at London's Royal Opera House.

Matilda The Musical leads the way with 10 nominations, including best director, best actor and supporting actor in a musical and a collective nod for the four young actresses who play the title role in the RSC production.