Don Black Reveals He's Working on a Gay, Male Production of TELL ME ON A SUNDAY

In a recent interview with BBC, lyricist Don Black revealed some projects that he had been working on prior to the health crisis.

Black said that he was working on a new version of Tell Me On A Sunday, with a gender-swapped lead.

"Before coronavirus I'd started work on what I think is a great idea," Black said. "We were trying out a new version of Tell Me On A Sunday, the musical Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote 40 years ago and I did the lyrics for. It was a hit in London and on Broadway."

Tell Me On a Sunday is a show that charts the course of an English girl newly arrived in New York. She sets out to find success, companionship and love. But as she weaves her way through the maze of the city and her own anxieties, frustrations and heartaches she begins to wonder if she's been looking for love in all the wrong places. The original production was led by Marti Webb.

However, in this new production, the lead would be male and gay.

"We workshopped it in a rehearsal studio with Rebecca Frecknall as director," Black said. "We knew immediately it could open up resonant new areas of the story. I'll be so delighted if we can put it together."

In addition, Black said he was also working on a musical version of the film The Third Man, and reworking the show Feather Boy.

Read Black's full interview on BBC.

In a prolific career spanning six decades, Black has provided lyrics for many musical theatre productions, working with Andrew Lloyd Webber on Tell Me On A Sunday, Aspects Of Love, Whistle Down The Wind and Stephen Ward.

His collaboration with Christopher Hampton on Sunset Boulevard won them a Tony Award for Best Book in 1995. Other stage credits include A. R. Rahman's musical Bombay Dreams, John Barry's Billy and Brighton Rock, and Frank Wildhorn's Dracula, The Musical.

Alongside his theatre work, Black's output includes numerous film and television themes, as well as hit songs. He has written lyrics for Quincy Jones, Lulu, Meat Loaf, Michel Legrand and Debbie Wiseman, among many others.

Black is particularly known for his long association with the James Bond films, starting with the Thunderball theme in 1965, and continuing with John Barry's Diamonds Are Forever and The Man With The Golden Gun. A further collaboration with Barry on the title song of the film Born Free won Black a 1966 Academy Award for Best Song.