Feisty performer handles one-woman show with aplomb

Heartaches and hope are the recurrent themes of the Andrew Lloyd Webber one-act musical, "Tell Me On a Sunday," which has been ferociously tackled by New Line Theatre.

The musical, neither well-known nor often staged, is a one-woman exercise in endurance. Nearly the entire show is sung, with only a few snippets of dialogue, but overall, scene after scene of demanding vocals.

A feisty Sarah Porter, who has brought a number of independent, willful and lively women characters to vivid life for New Line, fearlessly seizes the intimate stage at the Marcelle Theatre, grabbing our hearts as she commands our attention for a 23-song cycle without an intermission.

Porter swings for the fences as Emma, a British transplant living a single girl's life in New York City. She either has her heart broken or she takes charge and ends a few romantic entanglements. Although unlucky in love, she picks herself up along her journey.

Resembling fictional heroine Bridget Jones as a thoroughly modern career woman, Emma exposes her insecurities and anxieties, showing a vulnerable side underneath her confident demeanor.

She and director Mike Dowdy-Windsor have painstakingly created a candid no-holds-barred "just us" situation, where Porter's Emma, raw and real, sings her inner thoughts in a conversational tone. She also tells off a guy or two in confrontations ("Take That Look Off Your Face").

The music is pop-rock, but the lyrics range from melodramatic ballads ("Come Back with the Same Look in Your Eyes," "It's Not the End of the World") to raging bitter rants ("Let Me Finish"), with the most recognizable, "Unexpected Song," a lovely, lilting number.

Porter gives a virtuoso performance, a marathon of mettle — a testament to her talent but also her ability to courageously show us every facet of this ordinary woman.

As Emma goes through her misadventures, Porter must project a range of mercurial emotions: throwing out a cheating lover, spurning a married man, and discovering harsh truths while uncovering lies.

She also maintains a believable British accent through her vocals, no easy feat, with excellent dialect coaching by Laurie McConnell.

Through song, Emma reveals her dashed dreams and crushed happily-ever-after fantasies. You won't forget "Nothing Like You've Ever Known" or "The Last Man in My Life."

At one point she moves to L.A. with a Hollywood hotshot, and although she tries to fit in to La-La Land, never truly does ("Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad"). Left alone quite a bit — how much lounging by the pool can she do? — she gets fed up and moves back to Manhattan.

In soul-baring, and very funny, letters home to Mum, she laments American customs, misses the comforts back in merry old England, but forges ahead, optimistic about finding true love someday and her place in the world.

The project, which started with lyricist Tim Rice in 1977 as a planned episodic TV program, has been revised a number of times.

With lyrics by Don Black ("Aspects of Love," "Sunset Boulevard"), it came to Broadway in 1985 as the first act of "Song and Dance" starring Bernadette Peters, who won a Tony for her performance.

As a stand-alone one-act, it opened off-Broadway in 2008, enjoyed a London revival two years ago, and now is having its regional premiere here.

The material may first appear slight, but the never-ending battle between the sexes provides fertile ground for character growth. Webber's score is more accessible than usual — hey, this is about real people, not cats or horror movie creatures or macabre movie stars!

Many songs are gorgeous, and the stellar band, under the robust direction of Nate Jackson, heightens the experience. The cellos enhance the lush orchestration. Eric Bateman, Clancy Newell, Harrison Rich, Jake Stergos and Jackson are exceptional musicians.

The scenic design and lighting design, both by Rob Lippert of O'Fallon, perfectly sets the scene, whether it's a full moon over the Manhattan skyline or a sleek mansion in L.A. Kimi Short's props add style to Emma's small apartment space. Benjamin Rosemann's sound design amplifies the story well.

This show is a stripped down, change of pace for New Line, and appealing summer fare to close their vibrant 25th anniversary season. They may make the show look effortless, thanks to the consummate skill of all involved, but it's obvious much attention to detail was paid.

This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Feisty performer handles one-woman show with aplomb."