A rundown of reviews - "Woman in white" gets very mixed reception....

[leeinlondon]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 7:40am

It is an irony that some of things picked out as being very strong in the full version of some reviews are lambasted in others !!!! (especially lyrics - each side pulling out examples to prove their point)

Evening Standard:

"Nicholas De Jongh says he could only raise one small, subdued cheer for Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest escapade, a show so old-fashioned it deserves to be stuffed and displayed in a museum for deceased musicals... "

The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1305704,00.html

"You can get away with anything," sings Michael Crawford's Count Fosco in The Woman in White. But, although musicals get away with murder, not even 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. "

The Times:

This lady is too pale and plump for thrills
Benedict Nightingale
2 stars out of 5

"as played by Michael Crawford, Glyde’s chum Fosco combines urbanity, superficial kindness and a body so overblown that I thought the actor had blown himself up with a stirrup pump, then attached an inverted rhino’s nose to his hippo’s face and topped it with fur shaved from a big black poodle. The effect is silly and, at the end, so is the performance. "

"And though his major-key melodies could have their more dissonant moments (Laura’s fateful wedding and Marian’s dream sequences are exceptions) you can’t expect Puccini suddenly to become Schönberg. And when Friedman in particular is on song, the score soars."

The Independant

"we're a long way here from the brilliance of Sondheim's Victorian musical Sweeney Todd. Too many of the songs emit the generic pop-opera sound of Lloyd Webber-land. And for all Crawford's efforts to frisk up Fosco, the lyrics don't have enough comic lift, the cod-Italianate "You Can Get Away With Anything" being the nearest to something truly funny.

That said, Lloyd Webber seems more in his element here than in his last two comparative failures. I suspect The Woman In White will be haunting the West End for some time to come."

Mark Shenton in Whatsonstage

"It draws out Lloyd Webber’s best and most melodically textured score since Phantom, but because it’s largely through-sung, also has to propel both plot and character. This results in inevitable stretches of plot-setting recitation, particularly early on, but Lloyd Webber hasn’t stinted on spectacular ballads. There’s one of absolute classic here in “Ever More Without You”, for which American lyricist David Zippel has crafted poetic words with emotion and skill. "

[leeinlondon]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 8:21am

This is a link to the official site - they now have up the first official show photos:

http://www.womaninwhitethemusical.com/frameset.html

[leeinlondon]

Posted: 9/16/04 at 9:46am

For the guys lookign for reviews - here is the summary thread.