“Song & Dance” features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Don Black.  The show was unique at the time as it combined a one woman musical with a danced second half.  The first half, which went on to be called “Tell Me on a Sunday” focuses on an English girl looking for love in New York.  The second half involved a ballet choreographed to “Variations” which was written for Andrew’s cellist brother Julian, based on the A Minor Caprice No. 24 by Paganini.  The show was very popular with audiences and went on to be a success on Broadway, after some Americanisation and changes to the script.  Bernadette Peters played the role of ‘The Girl’ for over a year, winning a Tony Award for her performance.  The whole show has not been performed in recent years, instead the “Song” section has been revived in a solo form, "Tell Me On A Sunday", which opened in 2003 in London’s West End.

Synopsis

An English girl moves to New York in search of love and a new life.  She walks in to an argument with her boyfriend and the two decide to break up.  She frequently writes to her mother in England with news of her travels.  She meets a man named Sheldon Bloom and the pair move out to LA, as he is a Hollywood producer.  Although initially excited at the new style of living, she realises it isn’t for her and that she is used as a ‘trophy girlfriend’.  She ends their relationship and moves back to New York.  She goes on to meet a younger man and falls in love once again.  As he has to move away for work she learns of his infidelity from a girlfriend and she finds herself alone once again.  In New York she becomes depressed and begins dating a married man.  Although she knows this is morally wrong, he is in love with her but she realises she has just been using him.  She comes to the conclusion that it isn’t the end of the world to have no one.

Songs

• Overture 
• Take That Look Off Your Face 
• Let Me Finish 
• So Much to Do in New York 
• First Letter Home 
• English Girls 
• Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad 
• You Made Me Think You Were in Love 
• Capped Teeth (Reprise) 
• So Much to Do (II)
• Second Letter 
• Unexpected Song 
• Come Back With the Same Look in Your Eyes 
• Take That Look (Reprise) 
• Tell Me on a Sunday 
• So Much to Do (Reprise) 
• Married Man 
• Third Letter 
• Nothing Like You’ve Ever Known 
• Finale

“Variations” (Andrew Lloyd Webber album)

“Variations” is a classical and rock album by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and younger brother Julian Lloyd Webbers were always very close, but their two different careers (a rock musical composer and a classical cellist) meant that a collaboration seemed unlikely.  It was not until Julian beat his brother in a bet on a Leyton Orient football match that Andrew was forced to write his cello work.

As his subject, Andrew chose the theme of Paganini’s 24th Caprice and added 23 variations for cello and rock band.  The work premiered at the 1977 Sydmonton Festival with rock band Colosseum II, featuring Gary Moore, Jon Hiseman and Don Airey being joined by Barbara Thompson (sax flute), Rod Argent (piano, synthesiser, keyboards) and Julian Lloyd Webber (cello).  It was subsequently rearranged and recorded in 1978.  It reached No. 2 on the album charts.