Tell Me on a Sunday, St James Theatre - theatre review

Marti Webb reprises her career-defining role in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s delightfully bittersweet one-woman show
Marti Webb in Tell Me On a Sunday
Mike Eddowes
10 January 2014

Musical theatre buffs will be thrilled to learn that Marti Webb is reprising her career-defining role in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s delightfully bittersweet one-woman, one-act song cycle.

Tell Me on a Sunday (1979), about the romantic travails of a young Englishwoman in America, began life as a soundtrack album and television special before graduating to the stage as one half of the Lloyd Webber compendium Song and Dance. Here it’s peculiarly paired with a truncated first half of songs from forthcoming musicals, but it’s post-interval Webb who’s the draw. Her voice isn’t what it was 35 years ago (I’m about as old as the piece itself, but have long been a fan of the album), but then nor is anyone else’s. She still gets quite some mileage out of hit numbers such as Take That Look Off Your Face and Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad, a sparky send-up of Los Angeles fastidiousness.

The major problem is the obvious one: Webb doesn’t really fit the role of a perpetually optimistic young romantic about town any more. If you can overlook that – and I fear newcomers to this cherishable piece won’t be able to – then there’s much to enjoy, not least Black’s witty and emotionally resonant lyrics, never finer than in the snatches of song when ‘The Girl’ writes letters home to her mother.

Until Jan 12 (0844 264 2140, stjamestheatre.co.uk and then at the Duchess Theatre Feb 17-March 1 nimaxtheatres.com)

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in