Tell Me On a Sunday
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Don Black and Richard Maltby, Jr.
Directed by Mike Dowdy-Windsor
New Line Theatre
August 13, 2016
Sarah Porter
Photo by Jill Ritter Lindberg
New Line Theatre
Tell Me On a Sunday is a challenging show. It’s a one-woman production, and a musical at that, with many songs and no spoken dialogue. It tells a story entirely through song, and it requires a personable actress with a great voice and loads of stage presence. New Line Theatre has chosen the right performer in veteran New Liner Sarah Porter, who brings a lot of energy and heart to this memorable score and intriguing story.
The one-act musical follows the story of Emma (Porter), an English expat living in the United States. Spending time mostly in New York with a short detour to Los Angeles, Emma navigates her way through culture shock, a quest for her Green Card, and a series of relationships with a variety of men. The events are punctuated with a succession of letters to her mother, in which Emma tries her best to explain her emotions and her thought processes. She also sings to the audience, who serve as stand-ins for various people in her life, from her boyfriends to curious and sometimes gossipy friends. It features a memorable score with some well-known songs such as the melancholy title song, the ballad “Unexpected Song”, and the confrontational “Take that Look Off Your Face”.
Porter handles the songs and story with excellent range, in both singing and acting. She brings the audience along on Emma’s emotional journey, exploring the discoveries of new love, exploring a new country, and issues of personal identity and dependence in her successive relationships. The songs range from happy to humorous, wistful to angry, and Porter not only delivers the material with strength and energy–she presents the character with all of her degrees of complexity, making her at once intriguing and relatable. This is one of those “showcase” type of shows, giving the performer a chance to shine throughout the entire duration of the show, and Porter certainly does shine. It’s a remarkable performance, played out with an impressively believable English accent, as well.
Porter notably also designed the costumes for this production, excellently. She changes outfits several times throughout the show, and each one is well-chosen for each particular moment, reflecting Emma’s personality and her journey of self-discovery. There’s also a richly decorated set and lighting by Rob Lippert that sets the tone and mood of the production well, from the New York scenes to the brief sojourn in LA. Due credit should also go to props master Kimi Short, Sound Designer Benjamin Roseman, and dialect coach Laurie McConnell for their vital contributions to the production, as well as the entire technical crew.
With all the songs and no spoken lines, this is a show that could easily come across as more of a concert than a play, but thanks to the clever, dynamic staging of director Mike Dowdy-Windsor and Porter’s superb performance, that doesn’t happen here. This is a fully staged, fascinating story, centered around a complex character who is learning about herself as she learns about her world and her relationships. There’s a lot to talk and think about, as well as some real humor and drama. It’s not a long production, running at just over one hour, but it’s a thoroughly engaging hour.
Sarah Porter
Photo by Jill Ritter Lindberg
New Line Theatre
Tell Me On a Sunday is being presented by New Line Theatre at the Marcelle Theatre until August 27, 2016.