I was at the press night and can report that the show received a standing ovation with Michael Crawford predictably stealing the largest cheers for his vurtuoso comic role as count Fosco. The rat too got a few catcalls.
The Woman in White boasts one of Lloyd Webber's most tuneful and inventive scores, with maybe a more operatic touch than before . It has a seamless quality with the use of numerous leading motives. Whereas in Aspects and Phantom there was a random quality about the use of themes to portray motive and character, here their use is highly sophisticated and includes moments of telling irony and menace.
The Woman in White is visually stunning. The computerized projections by William Dudley break exciting new ground and have to be seen to be believed - as when a train appears to come over the heads of the audience.
One refreshing aspect of this show is that it shows the hypocrisy and cruelty of the Victorians , most tellingly in the chilling depiction of a lunatic asylum. The London evoked is one that Jack the Ripper would have recognised - a seamy place of yellow fog and dirty streets. No picture postcard England here,
The performances are all good but I personally find Maria Friedman underpowered as Marian - she is inclined to shout to be heard which does not bode too well for her voice during the run. I suspect the show will need the services of an expert vocal coach like the legendary Ian Adam , the man who helped Michael Crawford to make Music of The Night a worldwide hit..
Maybe not a commercial show, but one London can be proud of.
Updated On: 9/16/04 at 12:20 AM
