Tell Me On A Sunday
St James Theatre
Reviewed on Wednesday 8th January 2014
I had to look more than twice at the email inviting me to review 'Tell me on a Sunday' with the original star Marti Webb: Had they cloned Marti Webb twenty five years ago and matured the new Webb expressly for the purpose of playing the role in 2014? Would the script be rewritten so lead character 'the girl' no longer writes to her octogenarian-by-now mum but some younger relative? All these questions and more swirled around my mind as I took my seat at the shiny new St. James' theatre in Victoria, now in its second year.
However, a quick perusal of the programme let me know that my questions would have to wait: Seemingly tacked on at the last minute was a thirty minute concert with accompanying dance. What followed, in actuality was seven dully-performed songs, accompanied by uninspired/uninspiring choreography and performed by four performers (John O'Gara, Amelia Jackson, Michael Colbourne & Tess Kadler) lacking in charisma.
Almost all of the songs failed to work out of context in a concert setting: it's a songwriter's bullseye to write a 'standard' that can be performed anytime, anywhere - the songs here were very wide of the mark. Even the beautiful 'Falling Slowly' from 'Once', usually a pleasure to hear, failed to soar here. The first act seemed cheap and hastily put together: backing tracks were plastic, awful and failed to give the voices proper support. It certainly would have been more effective to use live instrumentalists, but perhaps there wasn't the budget for that.
In terms of the story, the show sets feminism back by at least thirty-five years (it was written in 1979) as the story is told solely through the protagonist's various failed relationships with men. Granted, she comes to an epiphany that she'll be just fine on her own in the final two minutes of the show, but this doesn't really make up for the preceding 58 minutes which have been solely about her love life: does the woman not have a job?!
Marti Webb does her best: she gets all the notes and words in the right order and she can belt out a top note like a good'un but her dramatic performance is woefully lacking. Her performance is static; standing or sitting still for the majority of the show. Emotionally, too, Webb is stilted; even at her most furious she never raises her voice above speaking pitch and any feeling is stated rather than felt or lived.
Just as the Take That, Boyzone and Backstreet Boys comebacks allow now thirty-somethings to remember the heady days of stadium concerts and cassette mix tapes, this show allows those middle aged audiences who enjoyed Webb's performance in 'Tell me on a Sunday' the first time around to relive the whole experience. I just hope they're not disappointed by this staging, though judging by the standing ovation of those in the theatre last night, they won't be - but if you're 45 or under, you should probably see something else.
Reviewed by Jody Tranter
Tell Me On A Sunday runs at the St James Theatre until Sunday 12th January 2014. The production transfers to the Duchess Theatre from Tuesday 18th February until Saturday 1st March 2014. Please visit www.stjamestheatre.co.uk for further information and tickets.
Photo Credit: Mike Eddowes
I couldn't disagree more with the review above and, from the reaction of the audience around me, I am not in the minority. The songs performed by Marti Webb were the soundtrack to the youths of many and the opportunity to have these performed by such a legend was a priceless experience. The concept that she would need to be 'cloned' to perform the role or the script rewritten to accommodate her age is anathema. For those needing a literal context for show, with a 1 second blip of imagination, the character is reminiscing about their past. In addition, I and others in the audience found Act 1 an additional delight. Beautiful songs performed by Tess Kadler and Michael Colbourne with sensitivity, integrity and the freshness of youth. Are they seasoned performers? Of course not. Do they provide an insight into the promising future of Musical Theatre? Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I think you should be writing the reviews instead of Ms Tranter. You certainly give a more honest review about a magical show.
DeleteI agree with the comments above. jody tranter has completely missed the point of this show. It is a reprise for people who want to revisit something they remember from earlier days. I took into consideration the age change, sat and listened and watched, and really enjoyed the show as a musical piece of entertainment. I enjoyed Marti Webb's singing and from the review above I would say that jody tranter's ticket was a completed waste of money for the company as it was given to a narrow minded critic who cannot understand the feeling of nostalgia, tranter clearly thinks he/she talks for the public, when in fact, the sell out shows make it clear that whilst the public want to see a reprise by the original artist, tranter has no idea at all what this show is about.
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