54. THE WOMAN IN WHITE (2005)

Between the Broadway opening of Sunset Boulevard in 1994 and the opening of School of Rock in 2015, Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the scores for five new musicals, only one of which has thus far received a Broadway hearing.  And that one show is The Woman in White.

A few years before The Woman in White opened in the West End, Lloyd Webber appeared on a British talk show where he admitted that he had no idea at the moment for a new musical.  A number of books, plays and the like were sent to his office, including Wilkie Collins 1859 novel The Woman in White.  Intrigued by the story, he hired actress-turned playwright Charlotte Jones to adapt the book for the stage and David Zippel (City of Angels) to handle the lyrics.  The Woman in White became Lloyd Webbers fifth collaboration with director Trevor Nunn.

Moving the action up to the turn of the twentieth century, the show centered on an art teacher who takes a position at a country house and a strange ghostly figure that haunts the countryside.  The show received mixed reviews when it opened in London but sold enough tickets to keep the show open for nineteen months.  Just a year after it had opened in London The Woman in White took its New York bow.

The show was plagued with problems.  During the preview period lead actress Maria Freedman was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Amazingly she underwent treatment and was ready to perform on the scheduled opening night.  Later Michael Ball, who had replaced Michael Crawford in London as the villainous Count Fosco, came down with a viral infection in his throat.  Such setbacks hurt the show but nothing could withstand the damning reviews.  The show clearly suffered from a convoluted plot and the video effects that were used seemed far more appropriate for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child then for an intimate musical melodrama, yet Lloyd Webber’s score was often soaring and atmospheric.  Alas, The Woman in White folded after just 109 performances.  In 2017 a mercifully scaled down production opened at Charing Cross Theater in London. Well received by critics, The Woman in White might be another show that finds its bearings and audience later down the line.