THE WOMAN IN WHITE...

[Pgenre]

Posted: 5/7/05 at 11:49pm

Hey everyone! I'm really hoping everyone interested will post their thoughts and opinions on this topic with the hope that members of the creative team for the Broadway-bound production may be reading this...

THE WOMAN IN WHITE

I admit to being a great fan and admirer of Andrew Lloyd Webber's work. This may be a rare opinion on this board, but his music moves me more consistently than most other composers (Sondheim and LaChiusa excluded). I have listened to THE WOMAN IN WHITE cast recording many times now, trying desperately to fall in love with it like I have for THE BEAUTIFUL GAME, EVITA, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and (dare I say it) WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND. Admittedly, my affection for the later stems for absolute adoration (and nearly obsession) for Jim Steinman. (Say what you will, I honestly feel DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES has one of the best scores of the last twenty years... the German recording evidences the lush, romantic,dramatic intricacies of the score and the sweeping melodic nature of Steinman's masterpiece). THE BEAUTIFUL GAME showed a lot of promise, at least to me, that Webber had not lost that youthful energy so vital to JCS, and the ability to create gorgeous melodies as well as exploring many new sounds and music very abstract compared to his lush scores for POTO and ASPECTS. Also, the subject matter was very uncommon and almost shocking given Webber's usual choices. Before I actually heard the recording, THE WOMAN IN WHITE immidiately seemed to me like an attempt to cash in on THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA film- i.e. give the audience a similarly romantic, lush score in the typrical poperetta style. I tried to love it on the first listen, and it didn't happen. I tried again and again and in all this searching for the heart and soul of THE WOMAN IN WHITE, I have come up completely short.
True, the show may rely more upon a full theatrical experience to be truly felt, but that has rarely been a problem with any score I have encountered in the past.

For some reason, THE WOMAN IN WHITE simply doesn't grip me at all. (Pun, semi-intended) It just seems like some sort of drawn-out semi-operetta. It seems almost wholly comprised of verse and bridge with no chorus. True, "I Believe My Heart" is standard, expected ALW fare... but I just find myself left cold by the majority of the music, something I can rarely say about ALW. I think sections are quite good, and the lyrics are very befitting and more scholarly than any lyrics ALW has had in years. I just think the show needs some big, beautiful melodies that ALW's fans expect from him. He seems to be attempting a Sondheim-like, PASSION-lite without the subtlety, brilliance or rewards of that score that the listener derives upon repeated listenings. I just don't GET this score. I really, honestly hope that a lot of work is done to the show... and some more memorable passages replace the ASPECTS and WHISTLE rehases (if I hear the "No one's ever looked at me..." section from WHISTLE one more time in WIW I will simply scream). Also, the ending left me completely cold.

In closing, I think there are sections that show definite promise and reveal skill and texture previously lacking in many ALW scores, especially the Prologue, "All For Laura", the Lammastide, "Evermore Without You" and "You Can Get Away With Anything". BUT, the show needs work, and I fear they will bring it to Chicago as a carbon copy of the London version and hurriedly make SUNSET-type changes (i.e. a few lyrical changes and the addition of a negligible number or two like "Every Movie's A Circus"). I wanted to love this show, I really did. But something MAJOR is missing from the score to me.


A Good Nightmare Comes So Rarely,
P genre

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 3:07am

Oooh, a DOTV fan. You must see my haven for Jim Steinman:

www.freewebs.com/lordofexcess

I haven't heard Woman in White yet, or Beautiful Game

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 8:02am

I actually think THE WOMAN IN WHITE is one of Webber's best scores, definitely in the league of EVITA and SUPERSTAR. But then, my first experience of it was watching the show in performance in London. I think the show itself is extremely well done. Perhaps your opinion will change once you are able to put a visual to what you are hearing.

[RYANWOODS]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 8:15am

The score is actually quite good, however very repetive and it features no real joyus numbers its all sombre. I think Webber has done the best he can with a plot which takes just too long to get your teeth into - reading the book you can put it downa nd come back to, theatre you cant and watching the first half towards the end is like watching paint dry. The production is just empty i found.

[EganFan2]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 10:24am

Webber's scores often are repetitive. However, in some I find that quite charming and don't mind it at all.

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 11:26am

I loved this show!.... although it took me about a week to get use to it. I surely was not love at first sight (play). But the music kinda grew on me. It does have some musical repetition, but not as busy as the Sunset Score.

I say give it some time. Put the CD on the shelf and wait till you get the urge and try it again. This is one Webber's finest achievments.

Musicaly, Women and White does sound like the love child of Phantom of the Opera and Apects of Love. But the lyrics, I believe, are better.

[LouW95]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 12:38pm

Love Webber and his use of repetition of musical themes. I saw the Woman In White in London and it was not the typical ALW type of score. Unlike Phantom, WIW only had one memorable song (I Believe My Heart which reached #1 in the UK as a pop version). The show has cutting edge technology used as scenery (I wont give it away). The music is interesting but you dont go out singing anything other than the one song I have mentioned. The story is based on a great classic and is filled with interesting twists and turns. The audience reaction was VERY enthusiastic and this was with Michael Crawford being out and an understudy playing his role -not Michael Ball. Woman In White will probably receive mixed reviews but should still do well here in the USA.

Posted: 5/8/05 at 12:43pm

I haven't seen the production, but I will add that I have been captivated by the recording of the score. Brooding, complex, witty, fun. I can't stop listening to it.

The score is leagues beyond some original scores I heard recently in several Broadway theatres.

[kec]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 12:50pm

I, too, have seen the stage show and enjoyed it very much. I wasn't familiar with the story on which it was based, so I was quickly caught up in the mystery surrounding the "woman in white," and her secret.

Yes, the music is repetitive, but I didn't find it to be much of a problem. There are two stand out songs for me -- "I Believe My Heart," and "You Can Get Away with Anything," sung by Count Fosco. Both songs have stuck in my mind after I play the OCR. I saw the show with Michael Ball, who simply floored me with his performance as the Count. The audience in attendence the three times I saw the show were all very enthusiastic and appreciative.

[Sally]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 2:46pm

RYANWOODS---

<< it features no real joyus numbers its all sombre. >>

It's a Victorian melodrama, unashamedly melodrama, but how about "A Gift for Living Well," "You Can Get Away With Anything," and "Lammastide"? I don't care much for the last, but it is pretty cheerful

<< reading the book you can put it downa nd come back to, theatre you cant and watching the first half towards the end is like watching paint dry. The production is just empty i found.>>

I enjoyed the second act more than the first---different strokes for.....

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 5:12pm

LOVE!!!!

[jo]

Posted: 5/8/05 at 7:59pm

I listened to the OCR once, before I saw the show. I thought it sounded very promising, but I needed to appreciate it fully with the stage production. I saw the show twice in London and I came out of the theatre haunted by the musical score. The music is romantic, haunting, sweeping, evocative, and soaring at times. There are the grand songs, like I BELIEVE MY HEART, ALL FOR LAURA, EVERMORE WITHOUT YOU, LAMMASTIDE, IF NOT FOR ME FOR HER, and of course Count Fosco's hilarious I CAN GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING. But the refrain that really sticks in my head is one that Walter Hartright used to introduce himself to Anne Cathrick, in the Prologue section.

The real showstopper of course ( other than the romantic I BELIEVE MY HEART) is Count Fosco's song. I was lucky to have seen Michael Ball's universally acclaimed performance twice. His golden voice and multi-layered take on the role made I CAN GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING utterly funny and hugely enjoyable. I wish though that a love song had been written for Fosco to muse about his tendresse for Marian - maybe a tentative love ballad to express his unusual feelings for this lady.

I have always appreciated how ALW uses the same musical theme for different lyrics - there is something evocative about recitatives used to move the story along sung to the tune of familiar music but with a different connotation. I loved it in ASPECTS OF LOVE and I think they fit just right in THE WOMAN IN WHITE.

This is no jukebox musical from a song catalog or musical comedy interspersed with some witty songs. It is musical theatre at its best - integrating book, lyrics and music.

It grows on you more and more upon a second, a third, a fourth, etc., listening. Very wonderful music! I hope the Broadway production will be enjoyed by many musical theatre fans.