Tell Me on A Sunday – music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black  

When: April 24-28, 2024
Where:  The Avalon Auditorium (formerly the Fugard),Corner Buitenkant St, Caledon St, District Six, Cape Town, 8001
Starring: Sian Atterbury who alternates with Regina Malan
Director: Jonathan Walker-Kane (UK)
Musical direction: Alastair Cockburn – directing an on-stage six-piece band

Booking link: http://bit.ly/3W4szjx
Tickets:  R150-R220- A 10% reduction for four or more people is valid on the top-price seats. Click through to payment when booking, to see your reduction
Group bookings: For scholars, students, seniors, fundraising and corporate events, contact Tracy Cahill at tcahill@igen.co.za

Duration: One act. 70 minutes without an interval
Age advisory: Suggested no under 12s. No babes in arms   

Thrilling news is that the West End and Broadway hit, Tell Me on a Sunday will be on in Cape Town from April 24-28, 2024 at The Avalon Auditorium (formerly the Fugard). The acclaimed solo musical/song cycle with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black, will be directed by UK director, Jonathan Walker-Kane and is produced by his company, The Endellion Theatre Company. This production features a six-piece band, with Alastair Cockburn as musical director. Sian Atterbury and Regina Malan alternate in the role of Emma as she seeks romance in the Big Apple, “always sure that the next one is going to be THE ONE.”  Will she find her “happily-ever-after”?  The show was first staged in 1977 and features the iconic song, Take That Look Off Your Face’. This production has been updated for contemporary audiences- with a millennial and Gen-Z vibe. Read on for more. Info as supplied:

The Endellion Theatre Company is proud to present
 the West End and Broadway hit

TELL ME ON A SUNDAY

Music by ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER
Lyrics by DON BLACK

Before Sex And The City, there was Tell Me On A Sunday,
the romantic comedy-drama about the ups and downs of dating in New York.

Directed by Jonathan Walker-Kane, with Musical Direction by Alastair Cockburn, thisiconic musical, with a wonderful original score played by a live six-piece band, features the hit song ‘Take That Look Off Your Face’, which has been performed by many legendary leading ladies.

Marti Webb’s original rendition of the song soared to No. 3 on the UK Top 40 Chart, with the parent album reaching No. 2 and spending 23 weeks on the chart, eight of them in the top 10.


Lloyd Webber and Black then expanded Tell Me On a Sunday  into a two-act show called Song and Dance, with a ballet set to Variations, a piece Lloyd Webber had written for his brother Julian, a cellist, as the second act. Marti Webb was again cast as ‘the girl’ (later named Emma) for the West End season. Over the course of the run, she was succeeded by Lulu, Gemma Craven, Liz Robertson and Sarah Brightman. Bernadette Peters won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the Broadway production, which ran for 474 performances.

 
Tell Me On A Sunday was the first collaboration between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black, who would go on to work together on Aspects of Love andSunset Boulevard. 


It tells the story of Emma, who hails from the town of Ilford in east London. After a difficult breakup, she resolves to seek love and success abroad. Brimming with optimism, she excitedly bids farewell to her family and friends and sets off for New York. Her only connection with home is a series of letters to her mum and confidantes, displaying unwavering cheerfulness and a very English view of the American experience.


Through a cycle of 28 songs, Emma explores the maze of the city. Her romantic misadventures take her to Hollywood and eventually back to Manhattan. A seemingly hopeless series of failed relationships make her wonder whether, in fact, she has been looking for love in all the wrong places.

This one-woman, one-act production of Tell Me On A Sunday will take you on a lively, emotional and cathartic journey of self-discovery with Emma. Don Black’s lyrics pull no punches and the musical, which has not diminished with time, features great material from two men in top form, including ‘Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad’, ‘It’s Not the End of the World … ‘If I Love Him’ … “If He’s Young’ … “If He’s Married’, ‘Let’s Talk About You’, ‘Nothing Like You’ve Ever Known’ and ‘Tell Me On A Sunday’. 

It’s time to laugh, to cry and to love with Emma as she searches for romance in the Big Apple, always sure that the next one is going to be THE ONE.  Will she find her “happily-ever-after”?

Cape Town’s Emma


Award-winning lyric soprano SIAN ATTERBURY, who has appeared on stage in many lead roles, captivating audiences time and again, will star as Emma on Wed April 24 @ 8pm, Fri 26 @ 8pm, Sat 27 @ 6pm and Sun 28 @ 3pm and 6pm


Sian’s private vocal studies under distinguished teacher Sarita Stern at the South African College of Music led to her first role as Liesel in the Cape Town Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s 2003 production of The Sound of Music. Her love of musical theatre was cemented and she has since appeared in numerous productions at Artscape, as well as in concerts both locally and internationally.Lead roles for the Cape Town Gilbert and Sullivan Society include Gianetta in The Gondoliers (2007), Josephine in HMS Pinafore (2009), Kate in Yeoman of the Guard (2012), Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls in (2013), Laurey Williams in Oklahoma (2014), Rose in Ruddigore (2018) and Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (2019).  Sian appeared as Head Stewardess Emma Lewis in the 2021 production of A Boarding Line, A Musical Extravaganza and sang in the Heroes Gala Concert in aid of the PSFA (Peninsula School Feeding Association) in 2023. Her recording of ‘Shall We Gather At The River’ with ‘The Singing Surgeon’ Dr Wilhelm Lichtenberg and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra is available on Apple Music. She will play the role of Phoebe in The Yeomen of the Guard at Artscape in August 2024.

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Performer, singer, producer and director REGINA MALAN will take the lead role of Emma on Thu 25 @ 8pm and Sat 27 @ 8pm.


A Stellenbosch University BMus alumnus, after performing in operas such as Le Nozze di Figaro and Dido and Aeneas, Regina went on to star in the plays Macbeth, Noel Coward’s Design for Living and Jane Eyre, as well the musicals The Full Monty, Shadows in Red Light and the Musical Opera, Calling Us Home.

Her other credits include Public City, Because It’s Okay, Not Just Musicals and Othello: A Women’s Story, which she co-directed. Regina appeared with Sian Atterbury in A Boarding Line, A Musical Extravaganza and played Mrs Medlock in The Secret Garden.

Regina directed The Waiting Game for the Cape Town Theatre Company, was the Musical Director for The Great Gatsby at the Star Theatre and Co-Director of Hairspray at the Baxter Theatre. She will play the role of Elsie in The Yeomen of the Guard at Artscape in August of this year.

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Emma will delight and entertain you with a variety of ballads, a splash of Jazz and a sprinkling of sass thrown in for good measure!

✳ Sponsored content. Photographs by Martin Kluge. Supplied.