THE STORY of a musical - whether a conventional favourite like Grease, or an outlandish fantasy like the Rocky Horror Show - should always revolve around a quest for love.

In Andrew Lloyd Webber's early years, this eternal quest was refracted through some unusual prisms, but Evita's search for the love of Argentina and Jesus' love for the world were still twists on the same old story.

In the same period as those acknowledged classics, however, Lloyd Webber wrote a short piece which dealt with the search head-on.

Tell Me on a Sunday follows an English girl in New York, her adventures in the city that never sleeps and her growing cynicism as she looks for love in all the wrong places.

Originally filmed for television, it features some of the composer's most poignant tunes, including the title song, Take That Look Off Your Face and Unexpected Song.

It combined dry English wit with the sass and freedom of the New World in a show that was much acclaimed. Last year the show was expanded with the help of original lyricist Don Black, and staged in the West End, with Denise Van Outen as the star.

Five new songs were added and the one-woman show became a whole evening's entertainment.

It was a roaring success - and this weekend the show returns to its roots with its original star.

Tell Me on a Sunday was originally written for and released as an album by Marti Webb, one of Britain's best-loved musical actresses, and reached number one.

Now Marti is recreating her role, a quarter of a century later, in a national tour which calls at Bristol Hippodrome tonight and tomorrow. Tickets range from £9.50 to £25.50 and shows are at 7.30pm, with a 2.30pm matinee tomorrow. Box office 0870 667 7500.