What’s it all about?
A young English girl heads to New York City hoping to start a new life. What awaits her is relationship upon failed relationship. Hollywood producers, married men, she dates them all, but not in Beverly Hills nor Manhattan does she succeed in finding the man of her dreams.
Who’s in it?
There’s only one 69-year-old who can pull off playing the unnamed girl – yes, girl – at the heart of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s one-act song cycle. And that’s the same woman who originated the role in the 1980 production. Here, as she did more than 30 years ago, Marti Webb stands alone on stage with only a seven piece band for support. But her experience shows. She knows this part inside out and her elder years even give some of Black’s lyrics, most notably “It’s not the end of the world if he’s younger”, a new resonance.
What should I look out for?
Webb’s eloquent and tuneful delivery of a line about chimpanzees, which comes during the title track. Black somehow managed to rhyme it with ‘please’ and get away with it.
Who was in the press night crowd?
The bright blonde locks of Barbara Windsor, Vanessa Feltz and Anneka Rice could all be identified from my seat in the stalls. Also in the audience was Webb’s former co-star Wayne Sleep, who performed to Variations when it featured alongside Tell Me On A Sunday in Song And Dance at the Palace Theatre in 1984.
In a nutshell?
Webb shines in this intimate piece that shuns glamour in place of a touching story and heartfelt score.
What’s being said on Twitter?
@samihindmarsh What an amazing first night for #MartiWebb at #TellMeOnASunday! What an amazing performance!!
Will I like it?
If you’re expecting the scale of Lloyd Webber’s bigger hits residing down the road at the Aldwych Theatre and across Theatreland at Her Majesty’s Theatre you might be disappointed. If not, this brief – it’s only an hour – and nostalgic look back at one of the musical impresario’s more modest pieces could be very you. It was very me.