|
Tell
Me On A Sunday (Gielgud Theatre)
It takes
one Essex girl to know another, and for Andrew Lloyd Webber's reworked
update to his 80s song cycle Tell Me on a Sunday, he's wisely hired
Â鶹ԼÅÄ London 94.9's own Jackie Clune to help re-fit the show around
the extraordinary talents of Basildon blonde Denise van Outen.
| "van
Outen combines
the power belt of a Celine Dion with the lyrical sensitivity
of a Karen Carpenter..."
|
Charting
the romantic upheavals of a British girl at loose with her emotions
in New York, the production benefits from the apt casting of van
Outen, who blasts the stage apart with a performance of startling
vivacity and vulnerability as her character bounces back from a
series of crushing emotional encounters.
These
include the relationships she has with a hotshot agent from William
Morris who lures her to LA and then two-times her; a 22-year-old
photographer who walks out on her, and a married man with a 9-year-old
daughter, who holds out the promise of giving her a 'Ready Made
Life' but isn't ready to give up his other life.
commanding
authority
Van
Outen is simply sensational (though it's sometimes difficult to
believe someone this beautiful could be so unlucky in love).
 |
|
With
a little help from my friends...94.9's own Jackie Clune has
provided lyrics to the production's five added songs
|
But
she holds the stage alone with the kind of commanding authority
that confirms the birth of a major musical star, and vocally more
than holds her own against a score that requires both intimacy and
intensity of delivery.
In
short, she combines the power belt of a Celine Dion with the lyrical
sensitivity of a Karen Carpenter.
This
may be the smallest show Lloyd Webber's ever written, but the score
(to appropriately conversational lyrics by Don Black) contains several
of his very best songs.
I'd
count among them 'Come Back with the Same Look in Your Eyes', 'Unexpected
Song' and 'Nothing Like You've Ever Known', and van Outen gives
them her all.
Tell
Me On A Sunday is at the Gielgud Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue W1
until 26 July. Tickets
range from £15 to £37.50. Box office: 020 7494 5065
|
Listen live
Click
through amazing shots of London from high up in a helicopter!