Missing The Woman in White...- Page 2

[EganFan2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:23am

I saw footage of some of the projections, and they do look like they would be distracting and even disorientating.

Does anyone think the show was too "English"? I never got that impression.

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:33am

I feel that the show just need to move into a much smaller theatre and ditch the moving semicircle and the projections.

That show is so well written you can do it with just furniture because the show should be an acting peice not a "zoetrope" musical.

[Michelleruth2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 10:55am

I actually liked the projections. I found them fascinating. Loved the train at the end.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:06am

"The producers should have built the suspense a lot more...pun intended."

What pun?

[chernjam]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 11:41am

I still don't understand all the complaints about the projections... I mean, there was a heck of a lot more to the show than just the scenery. I liked them and couldn't imagine how they would have been able to move from scene to scene without doing something new, innovative and creative like that. The only other way would have been to do something like the Aspects of Love tour where it was just curtains, lighting and some set pieces.

The pun was that the show is a suspense-filled thriller...

[NBC]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:05pm

I don't think the story was very complicated. Not if you've ever read a novel. (It may not have been riveting, but it wasn't particularly complicated.)

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:08pm

The projections were groundbreaking, ALW is taking risks with his latest projects...they succeed in London but fail in the USA.

[EganFan2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:13pm

Sadly, it closed in London, too, after being open just about a year and a half (?) or so. So it was more of a success than in NYC but not by too much.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:16pm

Well...it ran in NYC for 4 months and i think it ran for almost 2 years in London. It is a big difference.

[firescape]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 12:47pm

Regarding my last post I do want to correct myself in saying that last season did include a musical with an amazing and powerful sweeping score. That show was and still is Light in the Piazza.

[kec]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 2:31pm

I'm with those who say the show suffered from poor marketing. During the time I was in the U.S. (seven weeks) I only saw a tv ad for the show maybe 3-4 times tops. Hardly any interviews in the papers, and nothing on the local talk shows.

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 2:32pm

The thing that was so bad about the projections was the fact that they made them overkill..... During "I Hope You Like It Here" there is no reason to have 10 diffrent projections of rooms. The babbeling brooke during "Prospective" was way to large and it was annoying to the eye.

Someone where a waste of time and money while others fit perfectly into the show. And some where just nice scene change eye candy. I just wish there was more uniformity between them.

I think the most effective uses were during "All For Laura" and all of the main rooms ie. Count Fosco, The Uncle's room, the outside of Limerage House, and Blackwater.

Even though they annoyed me i still LOVED the show

[sharon1]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 2:37pm

I miss this show too. Had tickets for March. I think there are two main reasons for it not being a huge succes. First, some of the worst marketing I have ever seen for a major production. Don't know who to blame. I guess the buck would have to stop at the major producers. Secondly, the illnesses did not help. But I think they could have weathered that storm if they wanted to. I have always loved the score. I thought the sets were innovative and kept the show going at a good pace. All the performers were top-notch and gave it their all. But in the end I think after all the rationalizing the blame has to be with those in charge, the producers did not give their best to this production. I can see people talking about this show much like they speak of Aspects of Love. You either love it or hate it. I for one love it.

[livelife]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 2:52pm

in reply to lloyd webbers musicals failing in the us, Sweeney Todd opened for 3 weeks in london then closed due to non existent ticket sales

does anyone no what any of the cast of the Woman in White are up to now?

[bwaybabe85]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:06pm

I agree that the marketing was extremely poor and practically non-existent for this show. Perhaps the press agents felt that all the articles about Maria's cancer were enough publicity. Who knows.

What's interesting about the projections is that I had different reactions to them based on where I sat at the show. The times when I sat in rows C, E, G, and H, I found myself completely forgetting about the projections while watching the actors. Whereas with traditional scenery the actors and sets generally blend together to create the whole effect, I felt that this was not the case with WIW. (Am I making sense?) However, when I sat further back in rows M and N, I was able to look at the whole stage at once, and then the projections looked beautiful and worked better.

[chernjam]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:09pm

It's a typical thing for Broadway people to blame Andrew Lloyd Webber for these failures... but in The Woman in White's case, his company wasn't the lead producer. He was one of a group of (I could be wrong about this...) 6 or 7 producers. His main role was that of composer.

But seeing how the "group" did, I can see why he has the reputation of being a control freak as a producer. There's no reason the show didn't have a run of at least a year. It went from grossing 700K/800 K a week with houses above 75-80% in November and December to half that in January...

As for the score, I'm with you Sharon - it's up there with Aspects of Love, another one of my all time favorites, which is equally underappreciated.

[livelife]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:12pm

the show introduced computerised sets which i thought was cool

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:23pm

Marketing, illness, blah blah blah.

The show failed because it was terrible.

[sharon1]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:32pm

livelife
I understand several of the cast have moved on. Maria will be at the Cafe Carlysle in May. Ron is with a show but I forget which one. Jill is doing a reading of a new production. Michael is recording a new album and has one concert lined up at the moment. But I am sure others know more than I.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:54pm

Jennifer Hope Wills will play Christine in "Phantom" and the actor that played Glyde is in "I love you, you're perfect now change"

[chernjam]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 3:57pm

I wonder if Maria will do "All for Laura" at her cabaret act. I heard her do a version of it with just a piano accompaniment before WIW began previews in London and it was really moving.

[Fabrizio2]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 5:33pm

That would be nice. I wonder how to get tickets for it. I will be around those dates.

[Lori]

Posted: 4/4/06 at 7:29pm

I'm going to see Jill's reading in Boston on Thursday...such a lovely woman and so talented!

Daniel Torres is doing "JCS" in Florida in June and then on to rehearsals for "Pirate Queen" (Go Daniel!)

Adam Brazier is working on a CD and doing "A Few Good Men" with previews in Halifax in late summer.

Chernjam I hope Maria does "All For Laura" at the Carlyle...would be wonderful to see it with a different arrangement.

I'm so happy to see this wonderful company of actors "keeping busy".

Updated On: 4/4/06 at 07:29 PM

[chernjam]

Posted: 4/5/06 at 3:29pm

Does anyone have a link to info on Maria Friedman's concert...

Also, has anyone heard how Michael Ball is doing? - is he better, has he said what the heck happened to him?

[Kalimba]

Posted: 4/5/06 at 3:39pm

I love the cd, unfortunately I didn't get to see this production as I was away doing a show.