Director Eric Davis, Music Director Michael Raabe and Choreographer Leann Alduenda helm the rarely produced Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Tell Me On a Sunday.
freeFall’s season opener, Tell Me On a Sunday, opens September 5, 2025. This underrated musical romance, from the award-winning composer of The Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard, follows a young English girl who has recently landed in New York. Brimming with optimism, she sets out to seek success, companionship and, of course, love. But as she weaves her way through the maze of the city and her own anxieties, frustrations, and heartaches, she begins to wonder whether—in fact—she’s been looking for love in all the wrong places. The show contains some of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s most-treasured songs, including “Tell Me On a Sunday,” “Come Back with the Same Look in Your Eyes” and “Unexpected Song.”
About the Cast & Team
The cast of Tell Me On a Sunday stars Julia Rifino (American Stage’s Mamma Mia) with dancers Maiky Ayala, David Tanciar, and Mark Wildman playing the men in her life. Eric Davis and Michael Raabe have produced some of Tampa Bay’s most award winning and beloved musicals. Well-regarded productions include The Light in the Piazza, Pippin, Mame, Into the Woods and the smash-hit Cabaret. Leann Alduenda returns to freeFall after choreographing Our Town and The Light in the Piazza. Alduenda is a dancer, choreographer and teacher based in Southern California.
Scenic design is by Hansen Scenic with lighting design by Mike Wood (Off Broadway’s Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty-Sided Tavern and Rogers: The Musical for Marvel Studios). The production will feature sound engineering by Nathan Doyle with costumes designed by Eric Davis.
About the Musical
After Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black successfully presented Tell Me on a Sunday at the composer’s Sydmonton Festival in 1979, starring Marti Webb, the show was recorded as an album. The following year, a special performance was filmed at London’s Royalty Theatre, which was subsequently broadcast to acclaim and high ratings on the BBC. The record reached number two on the U.K. charts, while the single release of “Take That Look Off Your Face” peaked at number three.
In 1982, Lloyd Webber and Black, with some revisions and additional songs, combined Tell Me on a Sunday with a ballet choreographed to Lloyd Webber’s Variations, to create Song & Dance. Staged in the West End and originally headlined by Webb, the show featured other actresses as “the girl” during its run, including Gemma Craven and Lulu. Shortly after the show closed in 1984, the production was filmed with Sarah Brightman in the lead role.
Three years later, Song & Dance, with some adaptations by Richard Maltby, Jr., landed on Broadway with Bernadette Peters playing “the girl,” who was now known as Emma. Peters won her first Tony Award for her performance and the show garnered eight nominations in total, including nods for Best Musical and Best Score.
Returning to the one-act format, Tell Me on a Sunday was revived in the West End in a reworked production in 2003 starring Denise Van Outen. In 2014, Webb once again reprised her performance on the London stage.
“The musical is a rollercoaster of emotion that ends with both sorrow and joy” – The Mancunion
“Tell Me On a Sunday is a lovely piece of theatre” – Daily Mail
“the best thing that Lloyd Webber has written for the theater” – New York Post
freeFall Theatre brings Tell Me On a Sunday to the stage for 5 weeks. Tell Me On a Sunday opens September 5 and closes October 5, 2025. The space is located at 6099 Central Avenue in St. Petersburg. Subscriptions and single tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at freefalltheatre.com or by calling 727-498-5205. All matinees at freeFall are at 2pm and all evening performances are at 7pm. Tickets are $55 ($25 for youth under 18 and for all seats to previews) or included with your $29/month subscription.
Located in West St Petersburg, freeFall Theatre Company is one of Tampa Bay’s most exciting professional theater companies. freeFall was founded in 2008 and moved into its current space at 6099 Central Avenue in 2011. freeFall presents a varied range of classical and new works that are bold, daring, and presented in ways that invite, entertain, and challenge audiences. All freeFall productions are produced and presented locally using acclaimed theater professionals from across the country including many that make Tampa Bay their artistic home. In addition to a full season of shows, freeFall also presents an award-winning series of cabarets, concerts, and special programming as part of their Tandem Series.
*promo photo courtesy of Noa Michele Photography
