A failed collaboration birthed one of musical theatre’s most enduring one-woman song cycles
In short: When Andrew Lloyd Webber discovered his writing partner Tim Rice was crafting a musical specifically for his mistress, the partnership dissolved. Lloyd Webber pivoted to lyricist Don Black, creating a intimate, one-woman show about an English woman’s romantic misadventures in America that has reinvented itself for over four decades.
The origins of Tell Me on a Sunday trace back to a creative fallout between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Following their success with Evita, the duo sought a smaller project. However, Lloyd Webber grew uncomfortable when he realized Rice was tailoring the work for Elaine Paige, with whom Rice was involved. Seeking to distance himself from the affair, Lloyd Webber recruited Don Black, a lyricist known for his work on Born Free. Black shifted the narrative, moving the protagonist from the UK to the United States, and the show premiered at the 1979 Sydmonton Festival with Marti Webb in the lead.
The piece is a one-act song cycle featuring a single performer who navigates a series of failed relationships in New York, Los Angeles, and back to Manhattan. The character’s journey is defined by her search for love and her struggle to maintain her integrity while facing the pressures of career and social expectations. Despite its minimalist staging, the show achieved significant commercial success; the 1980 television broadcast and subsequent album release turned Marti Webb into a household name in the UK, with her single Take That Look Off Your Face reaching number three on the charts.
Over the years, the show has undergone numerous transformations. In 1982, it was integrated into the two-act production Song and Dance, which enjoyed a run of 781 performances in London. A 1985 Broadway adaptation renamed the protagonist Emma and starred Bernadette Peters, though it received polarized critical feedback. Later revivals, such as the 2003 London production and the 2010 UK tour, saw the script updated for contemporary audiences, with the protagonist’s origins even shifting to Liverpool. From its debut at Sydmonton to its 2023 BBC broadcast, the work has remained a flexible, evolving study of modern independence and romantic disillusionment.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Tell Me on a Sunday
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