Review: Tell me On A Sunday

It may have begun life as a musical experiment written specifically for television by Andrew Lloyd Webber over 30 years ago. But Tell Me On A Sunday is definitely an experiment that paid off judging by the reaction of the audience at Norwich Theatre Royal.

Re-worked and updated, it captures the comedy, heartache and poignancy of the ongoing search for love of Merseyside lass Laura who is negotiating the emotional twists and turns of a new life in the USA.

Claire Sweeney is an inspired choice as Laura in this one-woman show tickling the audience's funny-bone one minute as she adjusts to Trans-Atlantic life before seamlessly switching emotional gear and sharing her heartache minutes later as she realises she has fallen for yet another unsuitable man.

Using her distinctive Liverpudlian lilt while speaking and some power-packed vocals while singing, she gives full justice to the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the writing of Don Black which includes the number one hit Take That Look Off Your Face. That is no mean feat with 24 solo numbers during the show but Claire meets the challenge with gusto – particularly with a beautifully performed rendition of the title song.

Claire also manages to capture the isolation of the Stateside Englishwoman longing for love in some particularly poignant scenes while emailing her mother who lives on this side of the Atlantic.

Her co-stars are undoubtedly the set which was re-designed and constructed on home ground at the Great Yarmouth-based 3D Creations – and musical director Gary Hind and the four-piece band who perform on the roof of Laura's American apartment.

Moving, uplifting and humorous by turn, tell everyone on a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or any day of the week that Claire Sweeney's return to Norwich is a must-see musical event.

t Tell Me On A Sunday runs until July 16, �26-�6.50, 01603 630000, www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk