Take that look off your face.
St. Petersburg, Florida's freeFall season opener will be the rarely produced Andrew Lloyd Webber song cycle Tell Me on a Sunday.
Directed by Eric Davis, performances are scheduled for September 5-October 5. Julia Rifino (Mamma Mia!) will star as the young English woman newly arrived in America. Usually a solo show, this production will feature dancers Maiky Ayala, David Tanciar, and Mark Wildman playing the men in the English woman's life.
The limited engagement will also have musical direction by Michael Raabe and choreography by Leann Alduenda.
The Lloyd Webber-Don Black score, with additional lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., includes “Tell Me on a Sunday,” “Come Back with the Same Look in Your Eyes,” and “Unexpected Song,” among others.
Scenic design is by Hansen Scenic with lighting design by Mike Wood, sound engineering by Nathan Doyle, and costume design by Eric Davis.
Tell Me on a Sunday debuted at Lloyd Webber’s Sydmonton Festival in 1979, starring Marti Webb. The Evita star subsequently recorded an album and a concert staging, the latter broadcast on BBC to much acclaim. In 1982, Lloyd Webber and Black combined Tell Me on a Sunday with a ballet choreographed to Lloyd Webber’s Variations, to create Song & Dance, the first act starring Webb and the all-dance second portion led by Wayne Sleep. Others who starred in the original London run included Gemma Craven, Lulu, and Liz Robertson (Sarah Brightman also recorded the score and a video version). Three years later, Song and Dance, with adaptations by Maltby, Jr., arrived on Broadway with Bernadette Peters winning her first Tony as Emma; Peters was succeeded by Tony winner Betty Buckley. Returning to the one-act format, Tell Me on a Sunday was revived in the West End in a reworked production in 2003 starring Denise Van Outen. In 2014, Webb once again reprised her performance on the London stage.
Visit FreefallTheatre.com.
