Customer Reviews

Song & Dance [Original London Cast]

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SONG AND DANCE, is actually two different programs ('Tell Me on a Sunday' and a dance piece called 'Variations'). 'Tell Me on a Sunday' was originally made as a concept recording for popular West End star Marti Webb, and it was so successful that Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to expand it with 'Variations' to become his 1982 musical SONG AND DANCE.

'Tell Me on a Sunday' is the story of an English hat designer called Emma (played by Marti Webb), who follows her new boyfriend to New York, and vents her romantic illusions and shattered dreams through a series of songs. It's a very demanding and relentless one-woman song-cycle, filled with great numbers like "The Last Man in My Life", and "Take That Look Off Your Face". Don Black's lyrics perfectly capture the rollercoaster of emotions, and Webb is a powerful force in the role of Emma.

Former Royal Ballet superstar Wayne Sleep led the dancers in the 'Variations' section (which occupies the entire second act of the show). For this section, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber took Emma's songs and used themes of them to litter throughout the orchestrations. The dance piece is used to explore Emma's story through the language of choreography (by Anthony Van Laast).

SONG AND DANCE opened at London's Palace Theatre to largely-postive reviews; later played a return season at the Shaftesbury; and opened on Broadway in 1985 starring Bernadette Peters.

[Universal/Really Useful Records 9874451]

Song & Dance premiered in West End in 1982. It is comprised of two pieces Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote in the 70-is: the short musical called "Tell me on a Sunday" and the instrumental piece called "Variations" that he composed based on the work of 18-19th century violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini. The latter was written for Webber's brother Julian, who plays the cello, although not in this recording. The title is derived from the fact that the first part is formed by the songs only and the second by the orchestra and Wayne Sleep's dancing troupe.

"Tell me on a Sunday" tells the story of a young English girl in New York, going through various love affairs and dealing with the life in another country. The music consists of beautifully composed pop and ballad songs, among the finest Lloyd Webber has ever done. The orchestrations are neatly made; I am especially fond of the parts when the orchestra takes the lead within a song, especially the saxophone part in "Come back with the same look in your eyes." Other noticeable songs are "Take that look off your face", "You're the last man in my life"; "Tell me on a Sunday" and many more. The lyrics of Don Black, Lloyd Webbers later co-operator on "Aspects of love" and "Sunset Blvd" are as witty as always. The first disc with the musical is almost entirely sung-through and although various characters are mentioned, we only see and hear the English girl.


The role of the English girl was originally written for Marti Webb, who played it as a solo part in the 70-is. She reprised her role on this live recording as well. She sounds perfect for the character of a young girl because her vocal abilities seem very suitable for that particular role. She brings a touch of a childish playfulness to it and that works very well. After Marti, many others played the role outside Song & Dance framework, including Sarah Brightman for a TV special and, most recently, Denise Van Outen for the current UK Tour. Marti herself is still playing the part at some parts of the said tour. The show was modernized to match today's standards, so instead of writing letters to her parents as she does on this recording, today the English girl emails them and among other things mentions "Friends" in the show. Also, songs were re-written and some new ones added. Despite of that, this original live 1982 recording works more than well.


"Variations" loosely based on Paganini's compositions are a group of songs performed by the orchestra alone to which the group of professional dancers headed by Wayne Sleep danced. It was quite a sight according to the pictures in the booklet. Here Webber combines pop, jazz and even step dancing. The result is a wonderful mixture of fabulously composed music, which is attested by the enthusiastic response from the audience on this recording. As such, this CD works lovely as background music.

Song & Dance therefore is an obligatory part of any Lloyd Webber fan's collection.