"Woman In White" pushed back

Webber's new musical "The Woman in White" has been pushed back for it's Broadway opening. Originally scheduled to open in November 2005, the show will now arrive on Broadway at a Nederlander theatre in the spring of 2006. The show will first have a pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago. The link to the Playbill.com article is below.
Woman in White article

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"The Woman in White" in Chicago will be the first show at the LaSalle Bank Theater in November, which is the former Shubert Theater following a multi-million dollar renovation that started when "Spamalot" closed there in January. Funny they've got an ALW show following a show that spent much of its time making fun of ALW.

Oh yay! For once, I don't feel so bad about not living in New York! That's the third pre-Broadway tryout we've had this year! (I count All Shook Up and Spamalot as being this year)

As you said it could mean ALW is having trouble booking a theatre which shows his lack of support on broadway, and the lack of support for his show from broadway theatres.

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The article states that it will play at a Nederlander theatre. Currently at Nederlander theatres are:

All Shook Up - Palace (Not a good theatre for the show)
Beauty and The Beast - Lunt Fontanne (not closing anytime soon)
Democracy - Brooks Atkinson (Probably wouldn't be out by Nov.)
Fiddler- Minskoff (More like the Palace of London but there are no intentions of closing yet)
Hairspray- Neil Simon (Well, you can guess)
LA Cage - Marquis (may or may not be out by Nov)
Movin Out- Richard Rogers (Again I don't think it is going anywhere)
Rent - Nederlander (Is it going soon? I don't know.)
Wicked - Gershwin (Need I say anymore. Plus the Gershwin is a cavern for a production with cyclorama projections.)

So as you can see, the theatres are a little full right now. If ALW wants a house similar to the Palace he needs something like the Minskoff, which is occupied with an open run right now. I believe he is simply waiting his turn for a good theatre. Chicago also might give him time to try out multiple casts before bringing one to Broadway. If he wants to encoroprate Americans into the roles as well as Brits, he needs to have a tryout somewhere. I don't beleive he intends to bring everyone over a la Phantom. Maria will be coming at the least. About Crawford/Ball, Crewes, or the rest, that is uncertain.

mister matt, again on another thread arguing with me :-P

yes alw has two long running shows BUT anything he has brought recently has been a flop. Ie. bombay dreams (produced by him), by jeeves (a london transfer), sunset blvd, la bete, even aspects lasted just under a year, starlight express, song and dance. (I know I skipped phantom and Cats in that time period but thats 2 compared with 7) That's not a great current track record going back to 1985. None of those lasted more then a year. Even the revival of joseph only lasted 6 months.

So if you are concerned for the finacial welfare of Broadway bringing a ALW may not help at all!

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Woohoo!

Today is a day when I love Chicago - especially when they schedule the tryouts when I'm home from school.

umgeoboy - It's true that ALW has not had a hit since Phantom, but the fact that he has produced all those shows you mentioned, though he did not produce them alone, means that Broadway has never stopped supporting him. And yes, I do argue with anyone (not just you) who makes unsupported flippant remarks. There is nothing about an out-of-town tryout that suggests ALW or anyone else is not supported by Broadway theatres. If so, then Broadway has failed to support nearly every major writing team for over 50 years, but then supports them again later, I suppose.

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Mister Matt I have no problem with out of town try outs I think they vastly improve shows. I was making a comment about the fact that he is having trouble securing a broadway theatre.

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brdlwyr I agree out of town try outs are probably the best thing for a bdway show. The cast bonds, the show irons out any problems, and the show is nearing perfection when it opens in previews on bdway. I think all shows should have to try out, out of town before opening on broadway.

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Thank God they are renovating the Shubert, I thought the building was gonna colapse during the pre-broadway run of Spamalot. I definitely plan to try to see the pre-broadway engagement of Woman In White. I must say that I dislike ALW though. I just can't stand most of his musicals.

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Thats good news because I'm looking for a good new musical!

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I loved THE WOMAN IN WHITE. I liked it better than MARY POPPINS.
Maria Friedman was awesome..she blew me away.Everyone was good. And Martin Crewes...what a voice! What a looker! I think we actually saw Michael Crawford's last performance, Dec 27th. I know he was out the next night. I think I read somwhere that he has not been back,due to that illness. I wonder if he will come back for final three weeks of his contract? I do hope he and Freidman open the show here in the states.