Tell me on a Sunday charts the romantic misadventures of a young English girl in New York in the heady days of the 1980’s. Brimming with optimism, she seeks success and love. But as she weaves her way through the maze of the city and her own anxieties, frustrations and heartaches she begins to wonder whether she’s been looking for love in all the wrong places. Citron, Stephen. Sondheim & Lloyd-Webber: The New Musical. New York, New York: Oxford University Press 2001. ISBN0-19-509601-0 pp. 262-63 While Prenger is in the same league of West End Powerhouse voices, she also brings a vulnerability to the role that is all her own” The Stage 2016 Two years later, Tell Me On a Sunday was expanded into a two-act show, Song and Dance. The second act was a ballet set to Variations, a piece Lloyd Webber had written for his brother Julian, a cellist. Variations, based on Paganini’s “A Minor Caprice No 24” had premiered at the Sydmonton Festival in 1977, was a best-selling album, and its opening was used as the theme music for the popular television program The South Bank Show.

Song and Dance was nominated for two Olivier Awards, including Actress of the Year in a Musical (Marti Webb), and Outstanding Achievement of the Year in a Musical. Vincent Terrace, Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936-2012, 2d Ed, McFarland Inc (2013) The show toured the United Kingdom, beginning on 30 August 2010 at Northampton’s Royal Theatre and continuing until autumn 2011.[11] The tour starred Claire Sweeney as ‘the girl’ and was directed by Tamara Harvey. The script was again updated for the 21st century, and ‘the girl’ was rewritten as originating from Liverpool, like Claire Sweeney herself. The song list stayed closer to the original, although a new finale was added, “Dreams Never Run On Time”, itself a rewrite of the song “Somewhere, Someplace, Sometime” from the 2003 version. The latest production in Mandarin, premiered in Shanghai, China in early June 2018 with musical supervision by Fiz Shapur, who also supervised the Mandarin language production of CATS. A Broadway cast recording featuring selections from the show sung by Bernadette Peters was released by Victor Records in 1985.

For the 2003 production of Tell Me on a Sunday, the storyline instead placed the action in England prior to an emigration to New York, requiring some further revision of the lyrics to reference London instead. Fred Bronson, “Andrew Lloyd Webber: 25 Years of Broadway: The Musicals of Record: A Discography,” Billboard (Oct 19, 1996), p.18 The song is about a woman being told of her boyfriend's infidelity. The woman denies this initially, before rebuking her news-bearer (a girlfriend) with the revelation that she "knew before" and had done for some time. She also spends much of the song criticising her friend for rushing to break the "bad news" to her. The girl' is the only person who appears on stage, despite having conversations with her friends and writing letters to her mum. Shortly after, on April 28, 1984, a special performance starring Sarah Brightman was filmed at the Palace Theatre and broadcast on TV. The performance was also released as an album by RCA.

Previously performed by iconic musical theatre stars Marti Webb and Sarah Brightman, this new production directed by Paul Foster includes an intimate post-show chat with Jodie charting her life, love and experience playing the role of Emma. TELL ME ON A SUNDAY charts the romantic misadventures of a young English girl in New York in the heady days of the 1980’s. Brimming with optimism, she seeks success and love. But as she weaves her way through the maze of the city and her own anxieties, frustrations and heartaches she begins to wonder whether she’s been looking for love in all the wrong places. Following its closure, on 28th April 1984, a special performance of Song and Dance featuring Sarah Brightman performing Tell Me on a Sunday was filmed at the Palace Theatre and later broadcast on UK television.Andrew Sinclair, “Broadcasting and the Arts: Progress makes imperfect,” The Listener, v103 n2650, (21 Feb 1980), p.244