“It’s not the end of the world,” sings The Girl in Tell Me On A Sunday, as she picks herself up after another failed relationship and prepares to start anew. As performed here by the luminous Erin Clare, your heart goes out to her.

Erin Clare in Tell Me On A Sunday, Hayes Theatre Co, 2024. Photo © John McRae

The bittersweet one-woman song cycle, featuring music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black (who subsequently co-wrote the book and lyrics for Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard), first saw the light of day at the Sydmonton Festival – held on the grounds of Lloyd Webber’s country estate – in 1979.

When it premiered in London’s West End in 1982, it was part of a double bill called Song and Dance, which was produced in Melbourne the following year. In 2003, it was presented as a standalone piece in London.

Tell Me On A Sunday follows the fortunes of a newly single young woman from Muswell Hill in north London, who moves to New York looking for a fresh start and for love, only to be let down by three men – a Hollywood producer, a younger man and a married man who vows he plans to leave his wife. Along the way, she comes to value her own worth.

It’s a slight piece, dramatically speaking. We learn little about the character other than through her relationships; more of a backstory and more detail about how she survives would give the girl more agency. Nonetheless, the search for love will never be dated as a theme, the show contains some wonderful songs and we connect with the girl’s emotional journey.

Over the years, directors have updated the piece to bring it into the present, while a 2008 production for the short-lived Australian musical theatre company Kookaburra, changed the girl from English to Australian.

Blazey Best, who directs this production for Michelle Guthrie Presents in association with the Hayes Theatre Co, has retained the original 1970s setting and the girl’s English heritage – both of which make sense, given the references and attitude in Black’s conversational lyrics.

Best stages the show on a simple set – a hexagonal platform with a railing on one side and the six-piece band on stage behind it. That’s it apart from a few quick costume changes and a suitcase, and that’s all it needs, for all the storytelling is in the songs. Best has Clare move around the space, which brings a physical energy to the piece, but it’s subtly done.

Erin Clare in Tell Me On A Sunday, Hayes Theatre Co, 2024. Photo © John McRae

Clare gives a lovely, engaging performance, never overplaying the songs, but finding their emotional resonance and dramatic nuance, along with nice comic touches in witty numbers like Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad about life in superficial Beverly Hills. She also sings with a convincing English accent.

The score is full of catchy, tuneful songs, with jazz, pop and musical theatre references, and contains a number of earworms still playing in your head the next morning, including the wistful title ballad, which is particularly moving here.

There are various musical refrains ­(Let Me Finish, It’s Not the End of the World and Take That Look Off Your Face), along with several letters home to her mother, that chart the girl’s emotional journey as she experiences optimism, excitement, disappointment, heartache, anger and resilience – all of which Clare touchingly conveys.

Under the musical supervision of Guy Simpson, the show is in great shape musically, with clear sound design by Thomas Brickhill. And it’s rewarding to have the impressive six-piece band on stage, led by Musical Director David Gardos.

All in all, Best’s astute, understated direction, the excellent musical arrangements and a beautifully sung, poignant performance by Clare serve the piece well, while the intimate Hayes Theatre is the perfect setting for the small-scale piece.

Tell Me On A Sunday plays at the Hayes Theatre Co, Elizabeth Bay, Sydney until 12 May. More information here.