Andrew Lloyd Webber's sensational new musical. Lloyd Webber has again joined forces with Trevor Nunn, the internationally renowned director responsible for staging some of the most successful musicals of all time, including Cats, Starlight Express, Les Mis rables and, most recently, the London revival of Anything Goes. EMI Classics. 2004.
The Woman in White, Andrew Lloyd Webber's first musical in four years, debuted in London in September 2004. "Freely adapted" from Wilkie Collins's gothic mystery-romance, it tells the story of a young art teacher, Walter Hartright (Martin Crewes), who encounters a mysterious woman dressed in white desperate to tell a secret. But she disappears, and Walter continues on to his assignment teaching a pair of sisters, Marian Holcombe (Maria Friedman) and Laura Fairlie (Jill Paice). Romance develops, but is threatened by the arrival of some shady characters, Sir Percival Glyde (Oliver Darley) and Count Fosco (Michael Crawford).

The score, featuring lyrics by David Zippel (City of Angels), recalls the composer's Aspects of Love, Phantom of the Opera, and Sunset Boulevard, as well as Victorian-themed shows Sweeney Todd and even The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It has some lovely moments, such as "Trying Not to Notice," "All for Laura," "Evermore without You," and "If Not for Me for Her," though for sheer beauty it's no Light in the Piazza. And as with any ALW nearly through-sung musical, a number of the themes recycle themselves to the point where you'll dread the mere mention of certain characters' names. Friedman and Paice give the strongest performances, while Crawford--in his much-anticipated reunion with Lloyd Webber after Phantom--doesn't have a lot to do other than the muggy showpiece "You Can Get Away with Anything." Note that The Woman in White was recorded before a live audience, but "You Can Get Away with Anything" had to be rerecorded in a studio because it was the only number with an audible audience reaction. Crawford's original live performance, however, is included as a coda at the end of the second disc. It's great to have the complete libretto, except that it specifies scene titles while the CD packaging shows track listings and song titles, which means that figuring out where you are takes some detective work. When The Woman in White opened on Broadway in November 2005, Friedman, Paice, and Angela Christian (Anne Catherick) reprised their roles from the London production, while Michael Ball replaced Crawford. --David Horiuchi

Customer Rating:
Summary: Pitiful lyrics and score, aimless story and zombie-like performances
Comment: Andrew Lloyd Webber has sunk to new lows with this boring adaptation of the novel. The music just goes on and on with tuneless melodies and mock-classic arrangements. The lyrics are just rambling sentences with little rhyme or reason.

He hasn't written a good score sense "Sunset Boulevard." He needs to find a good lyricist and stop plagarizing Puccini.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of Andrew's best!
Comment: If you enjoy Andrew Lloyd Weber, then Woman in White is for you. The music and story are great. The cast (including Michael Crawford) sing with tremendous energy.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great story
Comment: I love this story - I really enjoyed reading the book. I enjoyed some parts of this soundtrack more than others - there are a couple of songs I really loved and a few themes that I got really tired of by the end. I was especially disappointed by the change they made to the "secret." In the book, Sir Percival Glyde's secret is something entirely different from what it is in the play - I understand the need to adapt the book to the play - but I was disappointed in this particular change. Overall, I enjoyed hearing the story through music - there are definitely some songs I will enjoy listening to over and over!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Score, Should have Given 4 stars, THANKS ANDREW!
Comment: The soundtrack to the Woman in White has "grown on me" over time, and I now find that I enjoy it very, very much. It is not Phantom or Superstar, but it is it's own thing--and it just totally "works." If I had to rate it today, I would give it 4 stars out of 5. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed the music so much that I bought the sheet music for piano. An excellent score Andrew, thanks!
Best numbers: Trying Not to Notice,I Believe in My Heart, Lammastide,You Can Get Away with Anything, The Holly and the Ivy, If I Could Dream this World Away (which starts of great but goes downhill in quality), All for Laura (MAGNIFICENT), Evermore Without You, a song with the lyric "Sweet Tension Fills the Air," and the Finale of Act 2, and the Seduction. Also, the book that this musical is based on by Wilkie Collins is phenomenal. Another Lloyd Webber classic. I've worn out my CD player...again.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: You Can't Get Away With This
Comment: Since "Sunset Boulevard" opened in 1993 and closed soon after, Webber's works have followed an incline downward. "The Beautiful Game" opened on the West End in 2000 and many audiences questioned if the Master of Musicals had lost his flare. Now, in attempts to re-create another "Phantom", Webber has teamed with lyricist David Zippel (Why not stay with Tim Rice?) to transform Wilke Collins' classic tale of romantic suspense into a broadway operetta. The plot follows the marriage of a young girl, Laura Farlie, to a sinister man, Sir Percival Glyde. Haunting her, is the spector known as the woman in white who bears a striking resemblance to the beuaitful bride. In attemtps to create a love triangle, the drawing master, Walter Hartright, falls in love with the young bride, but the jealous sister, Marian Holcombe, forces him to leave his post and return to the slums of London. Seeking his help, after the death of her sister, Marian seeks out Hartright in the city, only to team up with him to uncover the secret behind her sister's death and who really is "The Woman In White"?
Though, the music is fair, it cannot compare to any other Webber musical I know. I might reccomend this buy due to a few great songs:
"You Can Get Away With Anything"
"I Hope You Like It Here"
"Lost Souls"
and "All For Laura"
Though it is not "Phantom of the Opera", it might interest you to accpet this offer of Webber's latest piece of work.

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