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.

The musical is based on an idea originally conceived by Tim Rice, who intended to develop it as a cycle of television shows with songwriting partner Andrew Lloyd Webber.

He opted for Don Black who, following a successful stint in Hollywood (including an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Born Free"), had begun writing for the theatre.

The two decided to cast Marti Webb, who was portraying Eva Perón at the matinee performances of Evita, as their heroine,[2] and the show was first presented at the 1979 Sydmonton Festival.

He previously had considered writing a brief operatic piece about the friendship between Giacomo Puccini and Ruggiero Leoncavallo, going so far as to compose a melody that would later become "Memory", but decided it would not fit well with the girl's saga.

[5] In 1982, the creative team decided to combine Tell Me on a Sunday with a ballet choreographed to Lloyd Webber's Variations, a classical piece based on the A Minor Caprice No.

Black, unimpressed that Peters had insisted on gathering background information about the character, later said he preferred the original London production and Webb's performance.

[7] Reverting to its one-act format, Tell Me on a Sunday was substantially rewritten, with five new songs and additional material by Jackie Clune, for a 2003 London production at the Gielgud Theatre.

The BBC critic observed, "this may be the smallest show Lloyd Webber's ever written, but the score (to appropriately conversational lyrics by Don Black) contains several of his very best songs.

Marti Webb succeeded Van Outen and subsequently toured the UK with the show, alternating with former Steps vocalist, Faye Tozer, and actress Patsy Palmer.

In 2008, the Alloy Theater Company[9] staged the original one-act version with Irish actress, Maxine Linehan,[10] at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in New York City.

It was translated by Christian Ranke and Martine T. Lundeberg 'The girl' arrives in New York City, and tells her friend that she does not want to become a hard-bitten career woman or a user of men.

Back in Greenwich Village, 'the girl' meets a salesman, and once again faces disappointment when she learns he frequently has been in town with other women when he supposedly was away on business.

Intent on succeeding in her career and acquiring a green card, she is content with the noon-to-two relationship they share, until he announces he plans to leave his wife and marry her instead.