The Woman in White to close 25 Feb 2006

The Woman in White to close 25 Feb 2006

The Woman in White is to close 25 Feb 2006 after a run of 18 months at the Palace theatre.

The Woman in White , which opened on Broadway last November, will undertake a one-year major national UK tour, which will open in January 2007 in Milton Keynes. There are plans to bring the show back to London in re-conceived production, either before or after the national tour.

Producer Sonia Friedman said, "I am very proud to have produced "The Woman in White". A completely new musical is a rarity these days and, as is so often the case with Andrew Lloyd Webber's work, "The Woman in White" was a groundbreaking piece of musical storytelling and was also at the forefront of pioneering new technology with its innovative design..."

Yvette Robinson will star as 'Marian' from Monday 6 February, replacing Ruthie Henshall, who leaves at the end of her contract on 4 February. Yvette Robinson has starred in many musicals in her native Australia, including "Starlight Express", "Les Misèrables", "Beauty and the Beast", "Miss Saigon", "My Fair Lady" and "Evita".

David Burt will continue to star as 'Count Fosco', with Damian Humbley and Alexandra Silber playing 'Walter Hartright' and 'Laura Fairlie'.

Elinor Collett plays 'Anne Catherick' (aka 'the Woman in White'), Michael Cormick plays 'Sir Percival Glyde', with Edward Petherbridge as 'Mr Fairlie'.

The Woman in White opened 15 Sep 2004, following previews from 28 Aug, to moderate notices from the popular press: MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "Andrew Lloyd Webber's best score in years and Trevor Nunn's visually vibrant production can disguise the fact that this show is saddled with an impossible book." CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "A terrible disappointment.....Yes, there are moments when Lloyd Webber comes up with the big lush romantic melodies that are his forte, though these days they tend to sound alarmingly like retreads of his own earlier work." PAUL TAYLOR for THE INDEPENDENT says, " Fluent production....I suspect The Woman In White will be haunting the West End for some time to come." NICHOLAS DE JONGH for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "So old-fashioned it deserves to be stuffed and displayed in a museum for deceased musicals... I came out humming with boredom."

This new musical is freely adapted by Charlotte Jones from Wilkie Collins's Victorian thriller. It has lyrics by David Zippel and score by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

It is directed by Trevor Nunn, designed by William Dudley, with lighting by Paul Pyant and sound by Mick Potter. Dance and movement will be by Wayne McGregor and Simon Lee is the musical supervisor

A dashing young man, employed as the art tutor to two devoted sisters, is stranded at a remote railway cutting. Out of the darkness looms a woman, a mysterious figure dressed in white, desperate to share a chilling secret. He and the sisters soon find themselves trapped in a web of betrayal and greed, the victims of a seemingly flawless crime. As the plot twists and turns, low villainy vies with high romance in a world where nothing is as it first appears and where it is impossible to know who to trust.