THERE was not only one change of haircut that caused a shock last night. David Beckham had said goodbye to his blond locks, and so too had former Steps pop princess Faye Tozer. All the publicity photographs, production shots and even the programme cover had Faye pictured in a golden ray.

Instead, an auburn glow frames her face on the opening night of her eight-week run in her musical debut and first live engagements since the demise of Steps in 2002.

Hair newly darkened, Tozer is starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black's one-woman show about an English everywoman - ageless and nameless, optimistic and ubiquitous - looking for love and success in New York.

The show began life in 1979 as a Lloyd Webber experiment in smaller-scale musical storytelling with a new lyricist partner, Black, and was originally conceived as an album, television special and one half of the Song And Dance show.

It made a star of Marti Webb on the back of hit single Take That Look Off Your Face, and now the show has been re-worked and expanded into a full-scale musical with five new songs and additional material by comedienne Jackie Clune.

The West End production, starring Denise Van Outen, has been nominated for an Olivier Award, and now Tell Me On A Sunday is on the road, with Marti Webb, former EastEnders soap actress Patsy Palmer, and Faye Tozer sharing the tour itinerary. Palmer was in Bradford earlier this month; Tozer is in Hull this week.

Tell Me On A Sunday was the only musical she would consider doing at this stage of her career. "There's a lot of drama in the role; the character is like me and seems relevant to me and where I am now; and it's got this Sex In The City thing going on," she says. Tozer has indeed thrown herself in at the deep end. Not for her a cameo role in a big cast or Cinderella in a big-city pantomime, but instead she has gone for a solo role, singing 27 songs in diverse musical styles in a performance where the musicians are out of view until the encore.

The focus falls wholly upon Tozer, and the 28-year-old performer's past experience as a dancer and lounge singer at the Hilton, Park Lane, serves her well. She moves around the revolve stage with assurance and a natural manner, at ease with stage props, and the solo spotlight does not faze her.

The show is sexy and funny and touching, and so is Tozer, whose singing is emotive rather than dramatic and peaks in the ballad Unexpected Song. Director Christopher Luscombe had encouraged her in rehearsal not to hold back, advice that bears the juiciest fruit.

Box office: 01482 226655

Updated: 09:46 Tuesday, April 20, 2004