WIN: Tickets to Tell Me On A Sunday at Sunderland Empire

Jodie Prenger in Tell Me on a SundayJodie Prenger in Tell Me on a Sunday
Jodie Prenger in Tell Me on a Sunday
Musical theatre favourite Jodie Prenger returns to Sunderland next week '“ and you could be there for free.

She’s on the road with one-woman show Tell Me On A Sunday, which plays Sunderland Empire on Monday.

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It tells the story of Emma, a young woman who heads off to New York in search of life and love.

Jodie as EmmaJodie as Emma
Jodie as Emma

Her story is told through song in a series of conversations with friends and letters to her mum, which has had many incarnations since its inception in 1979 from a song cycle to the first half of song and dance to a self-contained one-act show in itself.

Jodie, who shot to fame after being crowned the winner of TV’s I’d Do Anything, winning the role of Nancy in Oliver, said: “We thought about doing it as song and dance again but the world wasn’t ready for me in head-to-toe lycra. What we do this time is the one-act show, and then have a second act which is me singing at the piano, and then we have a question and answer session.

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“It’s been fantastic, the audiences get really engaged with it. We’re hoping to find a way to work Twitter into it too so people can Tweet their questions in.”

Speaking about what drew her to the show, she said: “The songs are beautiful, little gems. Years and years ago I had a ‘best of the musicals’ double cassette and it had Take That Look Off Your Face and Tell Me On A Sunday on it.

Jodie as EmmaJodie as Emma
Jodie as Emma

“I loved it and played it over and over. But all the songs together create a journey that every woman has gone through at some point in her life. Tell Me On A Sunday is a song that really affects people – I can hear them sniffing.

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“We’ve all gone through what she goes through, bought the t-shirt, got the scars. And I really understand her. It’s so brilliantly written and we’ve gone through the lyrics with a fine tooth comb.

“They aren’t just lyrics, it’s a script set to music. She’s got the guy who cheats on her, then the man whose pink mansion should have told her something, then the younger man that she pins her hopes on but it crumbles, and then the married man.

“It’s all familiar stuff. I’ve been cheated on, lied to, I’ve had horrible things said to me but I think women have a certain strength, a fight in them which makes them get up again and carry on despite the knockbacks.

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“We’re survivors, we’ve all been in relationships that we keep trying to make work even though we know it’s not quite right, and the wonderful thing about Emma is that when she reaches the point where she wants to run back to the safety of her Mum, she finds a new strength. And it’s lovely that it isn’t a happily ever after ending where she runs off into the sunset with a man.”

•Tell Me On A Sunday is at Sunderland Empire on Monday, March 21. Tickets from 0844 871 3022 or online at www.ATGtickets.com/Sunderland.

•To win a pair of tickets, answer this question, in which TV show did Jodie shoot to fame? Email your answer and contact details to [email protected] by noon tomorrow.