Phil Collins has always been hard to box in. Even after becoming one of pop and rock’s biggest solo stars, and after spending years helping define Genesis’ sound, he still looked outside his own lane for inspiration. One of the strongest examples of that came from his love of musical theatre, especially West Side Story, which he described as one of the greatest scores ever written.
Far Out’s article points out that Collins was never going to stay trapped inside one style forever. Genesis began in the progressive rock world, but Collins later moved easily through pop, ballads, and film work. That flexibility is part of why he eventually became such a natural fit for Disney’s Tarzan soundtrack, where the demands were less about arena rock and more about melody, drama, and storytelling.
Before writing for Disney, Collins went back and listened closely to the kind of music that had shaped him. He revisited My Fair Lady, Oliver, and especially West Side Story, which he treated as a masterclass in how to write for the stage. In the interview quoted by Far Out, he said he wanted to absorb the best of that world so he could understand what a Broadway song really needs.
That makes sense when you look at Collins’ own writing. Even his biggest pop songs often feel theatrical, emotional, and built around strong narrative turns. Far Out notes that songs like “Against All Odds” and later Disney work such as “You’ll Be in My Heart” fit naturally into that same emotional lane, even though they come from very different settings.
The connection became even clearer when Collins took on Tarzan. He had acting experience from childhood, but he still had to do homework before stepping into the world of show music. Disney wanted something with the power to stand alongside the best of its era, and Collins delivered songs that blended pop accessibility with theatrical sweep.
His work on Tarzan also showed how far that inspiration traveled. People later reported that Collins recorded the soundtrack in five languages — English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian — a challenge he had never taken on before. He said the experience opened up a whole new world for him and added another layer to what he had learned from musical theatre.
That matters because Collins was not chasing Broadway as a gimmick. He was studying the craft seriously, and West Side Story gave him a blueprint. It taught him about drama, rhythm, melody, and the kind of emotional directness that makes a song last long after the curtain comes down.
In the end, the article makes a simple point: Phil Collins’ genius was not just in writing hit singles. It was in recognizing great songwriting wherever he found it and using those lessons to stretch his own work further. For him, West Side Story was not just a musical he admired — it was part of the soundtrack to how he learned to write.
