Song and Dance
Encyclopedia
Song and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a love story.

The first part is Tell Me On A Sunday
Tell Me On A Sunday
Tell Me on a Sunday is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black. A one-act song cycle, it tells the story of an ordinary English girl from Muswell Hill, who journeys to the United States in search of love...

, with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

, about a young British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 woman's romantic misadventures in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and Hollywood. The second part is a ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

 choreographed to Variations, composed by Lloyd Webber for his cellist brother Julian
Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".-Early life:Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone . He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber...

, which is based on the A Minor Caprice No. 24 by Paganini
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...

.

Productions

The Song portion was written specifically for Marti Webb
Marti Webb
Marti Webb is a musical actress from England, who appeared on stage in Evita, before starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one woman show Tell Me on a Sunday in 1980...

, and presented at the Sydmonton Festival
Sydmonton Festival
The Sydmonton Festival is a summer arts festival presented in a deconsecrated 16th century chapel on the grounds of Sydmonton Court, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Hampshire estate...

 in the summer of 1979. It was subsequently recorded and aired as a one-hour television special by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 the following January.

The Dance portion was recorded in 1978, and nearly became incorporated into Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

. (The opening sequence was utilized as the theme music for London Weekend Television's South Bank Show). Producer Cameron Mackintosh
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...

 proposed that the two pieces be combined under the umbrella title Song and Dance to acknowledge the primary aspect of each act.

The musical had its world premiere on March 26, 1982 in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 at the Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. It is an imposing red-brick building that dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus and is located near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road...

, where it ran for 781 performances. Marti Webb
Marti Webb
Marti Webb is a musical actress from England, who appeared on stage in Evita, before starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one woman show Tell Me on a Sunday in 1980...

 performed the Song half; she subsequently was succeeded by Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...

, Gemma Craven
Gemma Craven
Gemma Craven is an award-winning Irish actress.She is possibly best known for her role in the Irish TV drama The Clinic as Dr...

, Carol Nielsson, Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...

, and Liz Robertson
Liz Robertson
Liz Robertson is an English actress and singer. She is the widow of Playwright and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner.Robertson began training at the Finch Stage School at the age of three. Her first professional employment was as a cabaret dancer at London's Savoy Hotel at the age of sixteen...

. The Dance portion was choreographed by Anthony van Laast
Anthony Van Laast
Anthony Van Laast is a choreographer, mainly for the stage, concerts, television and film. His works have appeared in the West End and on Broadway.-Career:Van Laast was born in Sussex, UK...

 and featured Wayne Sleep
Wayne Sleep
Wayne Philip Colin Sleep OBE is a British dancer, director, choreographer and panelist. He was a Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet and has appeared as a Guest Artist with several other ballet companies.-Early life:...

 and Jane Darling.

Director/lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Eldridge Maltby, Jr. is an American theatre director and producer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He is also well known as a constructor of cryptic crossword puzzles. He has done this for Harper's Magazine, sometimes in collaboration with E. R...

 was approached to adapt the first act for an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 audience, adding more plot. The Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production, choreographed by Peter Martins
Peter Martins
Peter Martins is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was named man of the year by Danish American Society, 1980...

, opened on September 18, 1985 at the Royale Theatre where it ran for 474 performances and seventeen previews. Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...

 starred in Song for nearly thirteen months; she was succeeded by Betty Buckley
Betty Buckley
Betty Lynn Buckley is an American theater, film and television actress and singer. She is a Tony Award winner and Grammy Award nominee.-Early life:...

 for the final four weeks. Dance featured Christopher d'Amboise
Christopher d'Amboise
Christopher d'Amboise is an American dancer, choreographer, writer, and theatre director.Born and raised in New York City, the son of dancers Jacques d'Amboise and Carolyn George, d'Amboise became a principal dancer in the New York City Ballet, where he worked closely with George Balanchine and...

 and Gregg Burge
Gregg Burge
-Career:Burge graduated from New York's prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts in 1975. His credits ranged from television's The Electric Company to the stage and film version of A Chorus Line , for which he served as assistant to choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday and...

.

Singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester
Melissa Manchester
Melissa Manchester is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Beginning in the 1970s, she has recorded generally in the adult contemporary genre. She has also appeared as an actress on television, in films, and on stage....

 starred in a subsequent 6-month US national tour of the show in 1987, starting in Dallas, Texas and ending in Tampa
Tâmpa
Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...

, Florida.

The Broadway production received eight Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 nominations, with Peters winning as Best Actress (Musical).

Synopsis (London)

An English girl, newly arrived in New York, stumbles upon her boyfriend in her apartment. She confronts him and decides to break up. She writes to her mother in England about what happened, and that she has met a new man, Sheldon Bloom, with whom she travels to California. Bloom is a Hollywood producer and lives in a mansion named La Bohème. Days pass and the girl finds out how uneventful Hollywood is ("Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad"). She realizes that Sheldon has only been using her as a trophy, and she ends things once and for all. Los Angeles becomes a quick disappointment for her.

The girl meets yet another man, this time a younger one who she finds more fulfilling. Soon, however, it is time for the younger man to go away to work. The girl can't bear to let him go. Her friend later comes over to tell her about the man's infidelity, and she asks him for the truth. The girl walks through the streets of New York, very depressed. This time, she has met a married man. She reflects that the affair is wrong. The married man comes by to confess his love, and she realizes that she has been using him. In the end she decides that it wasn't the end of the world to have no one.

Act Two is the examination of one of the men (presumably the younger one), through the music of "Variations", in a series of dances. At the end, the man sees the girl, and they make up, joining both in Song and Dance.

On Broadway

The revised Broadway musical follows the London version; the girl is named "Emma" and is an aspiring hat designer. Through each of the men Emma becomes involved with she undertakes an emotional journey and learns something about herself. Although she has fallen in love with "Joe", he is unable to commit, and after he leaves her, she takes up with "Paul", the married man. Ultimately she realizes that she has started using men, as they had used her: "I'll be Emma again, If it means being hurt, I'll be hurt, But I'll like myself then..." ("What Have I Done").

Emma is alone on stage in Act 1, and the conversations she has with others and her out-loud musings take place with off-stage or imaginary characters. Act 2 belongs to Joe and tell his story through the "Dance" portion; he and Emma finally unite at the end, as Joe matures and realizes that he is in love with Emma.

Song list

London Production
  • Overture
  • Let Me Finish
  • It's Not the End of the World
  • Letter Home to England
  • Sheldon Bloom
  • Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad
  • You Made Me Think You Were In Love
  • Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad (Reprise)_
  • It's Not the End of the World (If He's Younger)
  • Second Letter Home
  • The Last Man in My Life
  • Come Back With the Same Look in Your Eyes
  • Take That Look Off Your Face
    Take That Look Off Your Face
    "Take That Look Off Your Face" is the title of a hit song by musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Collaborating with lyricist Don Black, it was written for the song cycle show Tell Me on a Sunday in 1978. It was sung and released by Marti Webb in 1980, and became a No.3 hit in the UK charts...

  • Tell Me on a Sunday
    Tell Me On A Sunday
    Tell Me on a Sunday is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black. A one-act song cycle, it tells the story of an ordinary English girl from Muswell Hill, who journeys to the United States in search of love...

     (Marti Webb piano & vocal)
  • I Love New York
  • Married Man
  • I'm Very You, You're Very Me
  • Let's Talk About You
  • Let Me Finish (Reprise)
  • Nothing Like You've Ever Known
  • Let Me Finish (Finale)


Broadway production
  • 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 and Caesar Salad (Reprise)
  • So Much To Do in New York (II)
  • Second Letter Home
  • Unexpected Song
    Unexpected Song
    "Unexpected Song" is a 1984 song from the musical Song & Dance originally sung by Bernadette Peters. The music was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Don Black. A single was released by Sarah Brightman...

  • Come Back With The Same Look In Your Eyes
  • Take That Look Off Your Face (Reprise)
  • Tell Me On A Sunday (Bernadette Peters piano & vocal)
  • I Love New York/So Much to Do in New York
  • Married Man (included on Original Broadway Cast recording, not performed on stage)
  • Third Letter Home
  • Nothing Like You've Ever Known
  • Finale - Let Me Finish (Reprise)/What Have I Done?/Take That Look Off Your Face (Reprise)


Critical reception

In Frank Rich
Frank Rich
Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...

's New York Times review, he wrote: "Miss Peters is more than talented: As an actress, singer, comedienne and all-around warming presence, she has no peer in the musical theater right now. In her half of Song & Dance, she works so hard you'd think she were pleading for mercy before a firing squad. Yet for all the vocal virtuosity, tempestuous fits and husky-toned charm she brings to her one-woman musical marathon, we never care if her character lives or dies.."

John Simon
John Simon (critic)
John Ivan Simon is an American author and literary, theater, and film critic.-Personal life:Simon was born in Subotica, Bačka, County of Bačka, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later, known as Yugoslavia . He is of Hungarian descent...

, in The New York Magazine, noted that the unseen men seemed "nebulous and unreal, so too, does the seen woman", and in the Dance half, "things go from bad to worse." However, he wrote that "Miss Peters is an unimpeachable peach of a performer who does so much for the top half of this double bill as to warrant its immediate rechristening 'Song of Bernadette'. She not only sings, acts, and (in the bottom half) dances to perfection, she also, superlatively, 'is' ".

Original London production

Year Award Ceremony Category Nominee Result
1982 Laurence Olivier Award Actress of the Year in a Musical Marti Webb
Marti Webb
Marti Webb is a musical actress from England, who appeared on stage in Evita, before starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one woman show Tell Me on a Sunday in 1980...


Original Broadway production

Year Award Ceremony Category Nominee Result
1986 Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...

Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...

Gregg Burge
Gregg Burge
-Career:Burge graduated from New York's prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts in 1975. His credits ranged from television's The Electric Company to the stage and film version of A Chorus Line , for which he served as assistant to choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday and...

Outstanding Choreography
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography
-1970s:* 1970: Ron Field – Applause** No nominees* 1971: Michael Bennett – Follies and Donald Saddler – No, No, Nanette** No nominees* 1972: Patricia Birch – Grease and Jean Erdman – Two Gentlemen of Verona...

Peter Martins
Peter Martins
Peter Martins is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was named man of the year by Danish American Society, 1980...

Outstanding Music
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music is an annual award presented by the Drama Desk, a committee comprising New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...

Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

Best Musical Show Album
Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album
The Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album has been awarded since 1959. The award was given only to the album producer, and to the composer and lyricist who wrote at least 51% of the music which had not been recorded previously....

Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Musical
This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack...

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
This is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. The award has been presented since 1947...

Christopher d'Amboise
Christopher d'Amboise
Christopher d'Amboise is an American dancer, choreographer, writer, and theatre director.Born and raised in New York City, the son of dancers Jacques d'Amboise and Carolyn George, d'Amboise became a principal dancer in the New York City Ballet, where he worked closely with George Balanchine and...

Best Original Score
Tony Award for Best Original Score
The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical in that year. The score consists of music and lyrics...

Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

, Don Black and Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Eldridge Maltby, Jr. is an American theatre director and producer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He is also well known as a constructor of cryptic crossword puzzles. He has done this for Harper's Magazine, sometimes in collaboration with E. R...

Best Costume Design
Tony Award for Best Costume Design
These are the winners and nominees for the Tony Award for Best Costume Design. The award was first presented in 1947 and included both plays and musicals...

Willa Kim
Willa Kim
Willa Kim is an American costume designer for stage, dance, and film.Kim was born in Los Angeles, California and is a 1935 graduate of Belmont High School where she excelled in art and was an art editor for the 1935 Campanile...

Best Lighting Design
Tony Award for Best Lighting Design
This is a list of the winners of the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design in a play or musical, first presented in 1970. In 2005 the category was divided with each genre represented separately.-1970s:* 1970: Jo Mielziner – Child's Play...

Jules Fisher
Jules Fisher
Jules Fisher is a lighting designer and producer. He is credited with lighting designs for more than 200 productions over the course of his 45 year career in Broadway and off-Broadway shows, as well extensive work in film, ballet, opera, television, and rock and roll concert tours...

Best Choreography
Tony Award for Best Choreography
-1940s:* 1947: Agnes de Mille – Brigadoon / Michael Kidd – Finian's Rainbow* 1948: Jerome Robbins – High Button Shoes* 1949: Gower Champion – Lend An Ear-1950s:* 1950: Helen Tamiris – Touch and Go* 1951: Michael Kidd – Guys and Dolls...

Peter Martins
Peter Martins
Peter Martins is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was named man of the year by Danish American Society, 1980...

Best Direction of a Musical
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical
This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Prior to 1960, category for direction included plays and musicals.-1950s:Note: this category was for both dramatic and musical productions...

Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Eldridge Maltby, Jr. is an American theatre director and producer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He is also well known as a constructor of cryptic crossword puzzles. He has done this for Harper's Magazine, sometimes in collaboration with E. R...


External links

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