Marti Webb

Marti Webb (born 1943) is an English actress and singer. She appeared on stage in Evita before starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one-woman show Tell Me on a Sunday in 1980. This included her biggest hit single, "Take That Look Off Your Face", a UK top three hit, with the parent album also reaching the top three.

Early life and education Marti Webb was born in Cricklewood in 1943. Her parents took her to variety shows and pantomimes as a child. Her father played the violin and her mother sang and played the piano. She attended dance lessons from the age of 3 and first performed in public at the age of 7, at the Scala Theatre, London, initially hoping to be a ballerina. Her mother had to take an additional job to order to pay for the school fees. While training, she appeared in BBC Schools programmes. Webb later commented that, having come from a normal school, she found it a shock to be asked to perform in front of her classmates.

The first musical she saw was Lionel Bart's Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be as some of her fellow students were performing in it. She first discovered her belt voice while rehearsing for the show. The playwright Beverley Cross's father George was the company manager on the production of Stop the World, I Want to Get Off and recommended his son audition Webb for the role. On the production's transfer to the West End in April 1967, Barry Humphries played Fagin. In 1968, she appeared opposite Stuart Damon in the first British production of the musical Grass Roots, written by Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford, which was directed by Anton Rodgers at the Leatherhead Theatre Club.

During the 1970s, Webb carved out a career as a respected, though not yet famous, West End actress and singer. In 1971, she was one of the original company of the London production of Godspell, the musical based on the Gospel of Matthew, opposite David Essex, Julie Covington and Jeremy Irons.

She left Godspell to play Nellie Cotterill in the 1973 original London production of The Card, a musical written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent which chronicled the rise of the title character from washerwoman's son to mayor of a Northern British town through initiative, guile and luck.

The production was short-lived but was followed by the 1974 original London production of The Good Companions, alongside John Mills, Judi Dench and Christopher Gable in which she played Susie Dean, a member of a touring concert party. She was flown to Manchester to join the show during its tryout when the original actress Celia Bannerman, whose voice had proved unsuitable for the role, left the production.

Evita and Tell Me on a Sunday After failing to land any stage roles as the decade wore on, by 1978 a somewhat dejected Webb was working in a travel agency and had stopped auditioning.

In early 1979, Webb was flown to New York to audition for Harold Prince after Gary Bond, then playing Che in the show, suggested her to the producers of Evita as a successor to Elaine Paige who was, at the time, expected to transfer to the recreate the role on Broadway. Prince was impressed and persuaded her to cover while Paige holidayed and sign up as a regular alternate for the remainder of Paige's contract, performing two shows a week, in preparation for succeeding Paige as the star.

At her original audition, show's composer Andrew Lloyd Webber had asked whether she would be interested if he wrote anything he thought appropriate for her voice. Assuming it was a kindly rejection, she was later surprised to be invited for a meal at Mr Chow, a London restaurant, with Lloyd Webber and the lyricist Don Black to discuss the concept of a song cycle inspired by the story of a friend of the writers who had moved from London to the United States to begin a new life. A one-off performance in January 1980 was recorded at the Royalty Theatre, London. It was a No. 2 hit in the UK Albums Chart and saw Webb become a household name. The lead single, "Take That Look Off Your Face", was a similar success, reaching No. 3 in the UK singles chart. She has since regularly performed at his Sydmonton Festival. He produced her second solo album Won't Change Places (1981) which featured the lead single "Your Ears Should Be Burning Now".

In January 2014, Webb again performed Tell Me on a Sunday initially for a week at the St. James Theatre, London, then for a fortnight at the Duchess Theatre.

Contrary to the 2004 revival, the show featured largely the original 1979 album tracks, with a few lyric amendments, plus the song "The Last Man in My Life", written for the show's incarnation as Song and Dance in 1982. The production came about after Webb met a commissioning editor for BBC Radio 2 at a concert honouring Don Black in late 2013 at which she'd performed two songs from the piece. Asked whether she could still do the whole show, she suggested that, with a small band, it could be recorded for radio broadcast. The producer Robert Mackintosh then suggested a week's run prior to the recording, the popularity of which led to another three weeks at a second theatre. The recording was broadcast on BBC Radio 2, alongside an interview with Lloyd Webber and Black conducted by Anneka Rice.

Webb later performed the show for two nights at the Kenton Theatre, Henley-on-Thames, in September 2015.

Work with Don Black At the meal to discuss the Tell Me on a Sunday project, Lloyd Webber asked Don Black, who had maintained parallel careers as a lyricist and as the manager to Matt Monro, to become Webb's personal manager, a role he undertook from 1979 until the early 1990s, when he became too busy with work on Sunset Boulevard. Andrew Lloyd Webber saw the show and suggested the idea of a charity recording to Black, who mentioned that Webb was recording an album at the time. The single reached No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart and was included on her 1985 album, Encore. It became a UK top-20 hit and inspired an album of the same name in which she covered other television themes. The album, which peaked at No. 65 in the UK Albums Chart, was later released on compact disc entitled Marti Webb Sings Small Screen Themes.

Later career In 1982 Tell Me on a Sunday was combined with Lloyd Webber's other successful album Variations, which had featured his brother, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, to create the show Song and Dance.

In the mid-1980s, she again succeeded Elaine Paige, as Grizabella in the musical Cats both in the West End production at the New London Theatre and subsequently on a UK tour. A commemorative roll of honour, marking a century of the Blackpool Opera House, lists significant performers at the theatre between 1889 and 1989, beginning with Wilson Barnett and ending with Webb, due to her time with the show there.

In 1983, alongside Sarah Brightman and Gary Bond, Webb appeared in an early workshop version of Lloyd Webber's musical Aspects of Love at his Sydmonton Festival.

In 1995, at the age of 50, Webb reprised her leading role in a UK tour of Evita, opposite Chris Corcoran as Che and Duncan Smith as Peron. Despite some criticism over her age, the popularity of the tour, produced by Robert Stigwood and David Land with the orchestrations, stage design and direction of the original 1978 London production, led to it being extended throughout 1996. The cast also included her former husband Tim Flavin.

In 2003, she joined the UK touring production of The King and I, taking over from Stefanie Powers in the role of Anna Leonowens opposite Ronobir Lahiri as The King. Elaine Paige, Webb's predecessor in Evita and Cats had appeared in the London version of the production three years earlier. Later in 2003, she appeared in the original London stage production of Thoroughly Modern Millie uniquely alternating the role of Mrs Meers with Maureen Lipman, to allow Lipman to care for her terminally ill husband, the English playwright Jack Rosenthal.

At the beginning of the following year, she again reprised her role in Tell Me on a Sunday, first for a limited run before the closure of the show in the West End and subsequently on tour. The show had been substantially rewritten for a production starring Denise van Outen, but a combination of the new and original scores was created specifically for Webb.

In 2007, Webb performed alongside Sheila Ferguson and Rula Lenska in a UK touring production of Hot Flush, a new musical about the menopause. She played Helen, a middle-aged widow whose daughter had recently left home. She also appeared on Elaine Paige on Sunday, a show on BBC Radio 2, during which she selected a number of 'Essential Musicals'.

From September to December 2008, she appeared as Mrs Johnstone in the long-running UK tour of Willy Russell's musical Blood Brothers, succeeding Linda Nolan who left due to illness. The producer of the show, Bill Kenwright had been trying to persuade Webb to play the role for around 20 years and she was only free by chance.

Webb starred as Aunt Eller in Oklahoma!, touring the UK throughout 2011. Mark Evans, who had previously appeared in the BBC show Your Country Needs You, played Curly.

Throughout 2012 Webb appeared as Dorothy Brock, a past-her-prime prima donna in a UK tour of 42nd Street. Dave Willetts and Bruce Montague also toured with the cast.

Recent work In 2017, she played Jacqueline in the first UK tour of the musical La Cage Aux Folles opposite John Partridge and Adrian Zmed, produced by Bill Kenwright.

In July and August 2018, Webb appeared opposite Tommy Steele in The Glenn Miller Story at the London Coliseum.

From January until August 2020, Webb was to have toured with the play The Cat and the Canary. It was curtailed by the industry-wide shutdown of performances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and relaunched in 2021.

In March 2022, she performed in The Unexpected Guest, as part of the Theatre Royal, Windsor's On Air season, which featured semi-staged productions of radio plays. In 2023, she appeared in A Murder Has Been Arranged and Blithe Spirit, as part of the same series.

From August to December 2023, she appeared as Celia in a UK tour of Calendar Girls the Musical. The production featured a revised score and book and was one of the last shows to be produced by Bill Kenwright.

Pantomime Webb has spent many Christmas seasons in pantomime in venues throughout the UK. She was the Principal Boy, Robin Hood, in the 1987 London Palladium pantomime, Babes in the Wood, alongside Cannon and Ball, John Inman and Barbara Windsor. During her later career, she has played the Fairy Godmother or Wicked Queen characters. In 1997, she was a late replacement for Linda Robson in Cinderella in Croydon, when Robson became ill. She appeared in productions of Cinderella in Bath in 2000 and Malvern in 2001. In 2006 she played the Fairy Godmother in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Theatre Royal, Windsor.

In 2018, Webb joined the cast of Dick Whittington at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, to play Fairy Bowbells, for the early part of the show's run. Anita Harris, who had originally been cast in the role, covered for Anne Hegerty's Queen Rat while the latter took part in I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Upon Hegerty's return to the UK, Harris resumed the role of the fairy. She returned to the Theatre Royal, Windsor, from November 2019 until January 2020, to perform in the pantomime Aladdin, alongside Paul Nicholas.

Concert work After completing her run in the London production of Evita, Webb and Gary Bond played a series of concerts featuring Lloyd Webber's music. She has since regularly performed in concert alongside her appearances in musicals. She also performed a solo concert at the Warrington Festival in 1985. In 1993, she appeared opposite Michael Barrymore in a summer season at Blackpool Opera House.

Webb co-devised and starred in The Magic of the Musicals, a UK concert tour featuring songs from musical theatre, opposite Opportunity Knocks winner Mark Rattray. The show toured twice in 1991, before two follow up tours in 1992. The gold-selling album of the show was co-produced by Webb's former husband, sound engineer, Tom Button and her outfits designed by Bruce Oldfield. A performance at the Bristol Hippodrome was also filmed and broadcast on BBC Television. In 1999 Dave Willetts was the co-star, followed by Robert Meadmore in 2002. Webb and Meadmore were joined by Wayne Sleep in 2006.

A live recording of her season of cabaret performances with broadcaster David Jacobs at London's Café Royal was released in 1998 as Marti Webb Sings Gershwin: The Love Songs. Featuring material from her earlier Gershwin recording, the album was co-produced by Webb and West End sound designer Mick Potter.

She has performed her cabaret show on a number of P&O cruise ships, including the MV Arcadia in 2009 and 2010.

In 2016, Webb gave a series of solo concerts. She also performed at These Are a Few of My Favourite Songs: with Don Black at the Royal Albert Hall.

From 2016 onwards, Webb has performed a number of cabaret concerts at The Pheasantry, London, including Dreams Lost, Dreams Found, a show in which she performed a mixture of the songs with which she is closely associated and those from shows that she did not have the opportunity to appear in. In January 2021, she performed the concerts in Malvern.

Television Particularly since coming to fame through Tell Me on a Sunday, Webb has regularly performed on British television. In the 70s and 80s she appeared on the BBC TV show, The Good Old Days, on one occasion performing the song "Sing Us One of the Old Songs, George", a piece which became her own for the show. Prior to her performance in Evita, though, she appeared in the television series The Songwriters, about songwriting partnerships. The final episode of the series featured Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and she first met the pair, briefly, while recording the programme.

In 1982, Webb recorded a second television special, Marti Webb: Together Again, which was broadcast on BBC Two. It also featured David Essex, Christopher Gable and Angela Richards.

Recording After Tell Me on a Sunday, she recorded a number of solo albums, including some live work, and more recently Limelight featuring a mix of her best known material and then latest productions.

In summer 1987, she released Gershwin on BBC Records, to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of George Gershwin's death. She also performed background vocals on the album's closing number, There But for the Grace of God Go I.

Technique Webb is unusual among musical theatre performers in that she never warms up her voice prior to a performance. She has said she wouldn't recommend this as a technique for other performers. She tries to eat sensibly and dislikes spending time in air-conditioned environments as they dry out the throat.

She married actor Tim Flavin in New York in April 1985 after a courtship of just two weeks but he had a number of affairs during their marriage which ended in divorce in 1986.

She subsequently married sound engineer Tom Button, some two decades her junior, in New York in January 1992. The couple, who met working on a production of Cats in Blackpool in 1989, separated some years later.

A keen gardener, during the 1980s, she had a house in Fulham, South West London and a country home in Chichester, West Sussex. Since the early 1990s, she has lived in a cottage in Langport, Somerset, which she shared with her mother, Selina, before her death. Webb was at one time a patron of The Players Music Hall Theatre in London, which specialises in Victorian variety theatre.

Webb appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs in May 1982.

In early 2014, she said that she had been treated for an aggressive form of bowel cancer in 2006, just a month after the death of her mother. The illness was not made public at the time and in fact Webb returned to the stage, including dancing in a pantomime, just two months after major surgery.

In a 2016 interview, she described herself as being semi-retired. Moonbeam 1958-1959 New Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool Pillar to Post Susie Dean 1974-1975 Original production, Manchester tryout before London opening Palace Theatre, Manchester (tryout); Her Majesty's Theatre, London The Great American Backstage Musical Kelly Moran 1978 Original production Regent Theatre, London Evita The Girl 1984 UK tour Palace Theatre, Manchester; Theatre Royal, Plymouth; Birmingham Hippodrome Babes in the Wood Robin Hood 1987–1988 Pantomime London Palladium Song and Dance The Girl 1988 UK tour Various Cats Dick 1994–1995 Pantomime Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury Evita Fairy Godmother 1997–1998 Pantomime Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon The Goodbye Girl Fairy Bowbells 1999–2000 Pantomime Richmond Theatre, London Dinner with George Sue Turner 2000 UK tour Various Cinderella Fairy Godmother 2000–2001 Pantomime Theatre Royal, Bath Cinderella Fairy Godmother 2001–2002 Pantomime Malvern Theatre The King and I Anna Leonowens 2002–2003 UK tour, taking over from Stefanie Powers Various Thoroughly Modern Millie Fairy 2005-2006 Pantomime His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen The Adventures of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Guest performer 1963 Performed songs from Half a Sixpence with Tommy Steele Woman's Hour Guest 1963 Interviewed about Half a Sixpence Royal Variety Performance Performer 1963 Performed songs from Half a Sixpence at the Prince of Wales Theatre My Perfect Husband Cast member 1965 An excerpt from the Blackpool production The Good Old Days Guest performer 1966 Half a Sixpence Guest performer 1969 Recording at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton BBC Play of the Month: Stephen D Singer 1972 David Essex Guest performer 1977 Performed songs from Godspell alongside other original cast members The Mike Douglas Show Performer 1977 The Songwriters Ensemble 1978 The Good Old Days Guest performer 1978, 1983 Tell Me on a Sunday The Girl 1980 The televised version of the original album Top of the Pops Performer 1980 The British in Love Performer 1980 Performed "The Long and Winding Road" The Night of One Hundred Stars Performer 1980 A recording of a live show at the National Theatre, Olivier The Val Doonican Show Guest performer 1980, 1981 Des O'Connor Tonight Guest performer 1980, 1981, 1985 Friday Night, Saturday Morning Guest 1980 Starburst Performer 1980 Won't Change Places Presenter and performer 1981 A Marti Webb special, with guests Paul Nicholas, Julian Lloyd Webber and Rod Argent The Val Doonican Show Guest performer 1981, 1982 Appeared in two episodes during 1981 A Royal Gala – The Palace Reopens Performer 1981 A concert to celebrate the reopening of the Palace Theatre, Manchester A Century of Song Guest performer 1981 Recording of a concert at the Royal Albert Hall The Two Ronnies Guest performer 1981 Performed "He Made Me Laugh" Nice to See You Performer 1981 Together Again Presenter and performer 1982 A Marti Webb special, with guests David Essex, Christopher Gable and Angela Richards Marti Caine Guest performer 1982 Parkinson Guest 1982 Appeared alongside Andrew Lloyd Webber Six Fifty-Five Performer 1983 Performances of songs from I'm Not That Kind of Girl Paul Squire, Esq Guest performer 1983 Pebble Mill at One Performer 1983 Performances of six songs from I'm Not That Kind of Girl A Royal Concert of Carols Performer 1983 It's Max Boyce Guest performer 1984 3-2-1 Guest 1984, 1986 A Question of Sport Guest 1984 Halls of Fame Gracie Fields 1985 Recording of a concert at the Palace Theatre, Manchester Loose Ends Guest panelist 1985 Appeared in two episodes during 1985 That's Life Guest performer 1985 Performed the single "Ben" Lyrics by Tim Rice Guest performer 1985 Performed "All Time High" and "I Don't Know How to Love Him" Give Us a Clue Guest 1985 A Royal Night of One Hundred Stars Performer 1985 Royal Gospel Gala Performer 1986 Recording of a concert at the Royal Albert Hall Royal Variety Performance Gracie Fields 1986 Recorded at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane Blankety Blank Guest panelist 1986 Guested alongside Rory Bremner, Harry Carpenter, Vince Hill, Liz Robertson and Barbara Windsor The Guinness Book of Records Hall of Fame Guest performer 1986 Performed a medley of songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber Shout! Performer 1986 Pebble Mill at One Guest 1986 New Faces of 86 Panellist 1986 Des O'Connor Tonight Live Guest 1986 The Andrew Lloyd Webber Story: A South Bank Show Special Contributor 1986 Clip of Webb performing "I Don't Know How to Love Him" Pamela Armstrong Guest 1986 Cliff From the Hip Guest performer 1986 Performed "Always There" and a duet with Cliff Richard: "All I Ask of You" The Ronnie Corbett Show Guest performer 1987 Hudson and Halls Guest 1987 Cleo Laine Sings The Best of British Guest performer 1987 The Les Dawson Show Guest performer 1989 The Music of the Night with Jose Carreras Guest performer 1989 Appeared alongside Carreras, Stephanie Lawrence and Jane Harrison Happy Birthday, Coronation Street! Performer 1990 Performed "Take That Look Off Your Face" Royal Variety Performance Guest performer 1991 The Magic of the Musicals Performer 1992 Recording of the concert tour at the Bristol Hippodrome. Broadcast on BBC One. The Music Game Guest 1993 Songs of Praise Guest performer 1994 The Olivier Awards telecast Award presenter 1996 Presented the award for Best Lighting Designer Meridian Masterclass Presenter 1997 This is Your Life Guest 1997 Guested on an edition in honour of Justin Hayward Call My Bluff Guest 1998 Songs of Praise Guest performer 2001 Performed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar Breakfast Interviewee 2004 Interviewed about returning to Tell Me on a Sunday Songbook: Don Black Performer 2010 Performed "Ben", "Tell Me on a Sunday", "Take That Look Off Your Face" and "As If We Never Said Goodbye" The Many Faces of... Interviewee 2011 Interviewed about Judi Dench The Story of Musicals Performer 2013 Performed a selection of Don Black's songs Michael Grade's Stars of Musical Theatre Interviewee 2014 Discussed her role as Nancy in Oliver! The Alan Titchmarsh Show Interviewee and performer 2014 Interviewed about the upcoming production of Tell Me on a Sunday and performed the title song Diamonds Are Forever: The Don Black Songbook Performer 2014 Performed "Take That Look Off Your Face" and "Tell Me on a Sunday" Love Your Weekend Interviewee 2024 Interviewed about her career

Radio

Discography

Solo albums BBC Records and Tapes/Carlton Home Entertainment Marti Webb Sings Small Screen Themes 1988 BBC Records and Tapes Reissue of Always There on CD Performance 1989 First Night Records The Magic of the Musicals 1992 55 Flying Music/Music Club Credited to Marti Webb and Mark Rattray Music and Songs from Evita 1995 Pickwick Recording also featured Dave Willetts, Carl Wayne and Jess Conrad If You Leave Me Now|1995 Hallmark Reissue of Encore with tracks reordered Marti Webb Sings Gershwin: The Love Songs|1998 A live recording, self financed by Webb Limelight'' 2003Self financed by Webb

Cast recordings

Singles

Compilation albums +AlbumYearTracksAndrew Lloyd Webber: The Premiere Collection1988"Take That Look Off Your Face" "Tell Me on a Sunday"Magic from the Musicals 1991"Send in the Clowns" "If He Walked Into My Life" "I Don't Know How to Love Him"The Don Black Songbook1993 "Tell Me on a Sunday" "The Last Man in My Life" "Anyone Can Fall in Love" "Always There" "Anything But Lonely" "Tell Me on a Sunday"

Guest appearances