The Woman in White (2004 Original London Cast)
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Music CD Cover
Edition: Music CDFormat: Cast Recording, Import
CD Release Date: 2005-05-24
Music Label: EMI Import
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Prologue
- I Hope You'll Like It Hear
- Perspective
- Trying Not To Notice
- I Believe My Heart
- Lammastide
- You See I Am No Ghost
- A Gift For Living Well
- The Holly And The Ivy
- All For Laura
- The Document
- Act One Finale
- If I Could Only Dream This World Away
- The Nightmare
- Fosco Tells Of Laura's Dream/The Funeral/London
- Evermore Without You
- Lost Souls
- If Not For Me For Her
- You Can Get Away With Anything
- The Seduction
- Asylum
- Back To Limmeridge
- Finale
- You Can Get Away With Anything (Opening Night Performance)
Free Music Notes for The Woman in White (2004 Original London Cast)
Free Music Review: The Woman in White put chills up my spine! Andrew Lloyd Webber's best work since Phantom!
Hit: 5 Stars
That said, this is one fantastic musical. It is my second favorite after, unsurprisingly, "The Phantom of the Opera" and undoubtedly marks a long-awaited comeback to his more classic roots. With an evocative score, sweeping melodies, talented performers, a winning story, and a goodly amount of atmosphere, it all combines into one seamless package that undoubtedly, in my opinion, amounts to sheer brilliance.
Like "Phantom of the Opera", Webber's "Woman in White" harkens back to the days of Victorian theatre, where spectacle and melodrama are the norm, unexpected plot twists are found at every turn, and thrills, chills and suspense abound. The show's mildly Gothic setting carries a uniquely historical flavor, and its dark, moody, and interesting score coupled with the appropriate touches of comedy, beauty, and operatic theming is simply amazing to listen to. Based on the semi-Gothic thriller by Wilkie Collins, Webber's treatment brings all the nineteenth-century drama to the twenty-first century stage without modernizing or desecrating it in any way.
I bought this CD after reading the original book, but this recording took none of the enjoyment away from me. If anything, it only added to it. The story came absolutely bounding off the page, so to speak, when put to music. I honestly felt as if I had been transported back in time to the vision of 1860's England so vividly painted within the book as I listened. Taped live on the opening night at the Palace Theatre in London, this recording has all the energy and freshness you'd expect from a live performance, but with all the pristine quality of a studio recording. The entire show is included here, with no edits, so everything from the libretto, including the transitional dialogue, is present.
The play begins centered around a young drawing-master, Walter Hartright, who is on his way to Cumberland to tutor two half-sisters, Laura Fairlie and Marian Halcombe, who live together with their invalid uncle at Limmeridge House, the family's estate. While delayed at the signalman's box, Walter encounters a disturbed, mysterious woman dressed all in white. She reveals herself as Anne Catherick, and explains that she has been badly wronged and holds a dark secret against her tormentor. She is desperate to reveal it to Walter, but she is frightened away before she has a chance to tell it. Mystified, Hartright finally arrives at the house, greeted warmly by his future pupils, and is struck at the resemblance between Laura, the youngest and prettier of the two sisters, and the strange woman he met in the road.
Without giving too much away, this show has it all: humor, drama, romance, action, suspense, tragedy, and mystery. There is the perfect balance between characters, with likable protagonists and despisable yet charismatic villians. The plot is fantastically thrilling and ingeniously-wound. Anne's secret keeps you hungering for resolution and hanging to every word, and gradually involves everyone, coming to an exciting conclusion in the final act.
The lyrics in the whole show are witty and memorable, and together with the amazing cast and score makes for a thoroughly enjoyable listen. The dialogue is sung through, which gives you the feel of old-fashioned opera. Webber continues his talent for weaving recurrent leit-motifs through the whole score, and helps cement the simple but lingering themes into your mind.
As for the cast, they are all in top form, playing their roles with a ton of pathos and strength. Jill Paice is a great Laura, and together with Angela Christian as Anne Catherick, Martin Crewes as Walter Hartright, and Oliver Darley as Sir Pecival Glyde, they make a formidable supporting cast and a joy to listen to.
Concerning the bigger stars of the show, Maria Friedman shines as Marian, the less-pretty but plucky half-sister of Laura; she is made a more primary character than any of the other main characters, a great improvement from the novel. Maria's beautiful voice soars with the show's beautiful vocals and provides a nice contrasts to Paice's lighter soprano and Christian's shrill and slightly mad Anne; and I mustn't forget my favorite part of the show, the marvelous "Napoleon of Crime", the ridiculously Italian but deliciously enjoyable Count Fosco.
I know that it is hard to believe that this is the same man who only eighteen years before was playing the Phantom himself on the London stage, but listen closely: it is! Michael Crawford once again displays his phenomenal talents with an inexhaustible verve. His role as the obese villian with a penchant for sweets, white mice, and shady dealings is probably the biggest show-stealer, and to quote the man himself, he does "get away with everything". He can clearly do anything and be anyone, and no one in the world could play his part for him. All subsequent players just don't even begin to hold a candle to his stellar portrayal. Mr. Crawford completely embodies Count Fosco in every respect; he just IS the man, and makes you both laugh with pleasure and shake your head in disgust for this dual-personalitied creation.
Sinister, charming, hammy, and seductive, his Fosco is entertaining and larger-than-life without being overblown. His luscious honey-sweet tenor from his Phantom days hasn't deserted him, either. While opting for a less hypnotic tremor, he still has a mind-boggling power of voice and displays it expertly in Fosco's various ups, downs, and other acrobatic feats of opera-spoofing skill. For a good example, check out his Opening Night version of "You Can Get Away With Anything", the final track on disc 2. He successfully holds a single note for a throat-straining twenty seconds without taking a breath. I can't imagine doing that myself for even half that time!
Mr. Webber's score stands out wonderfully against the usual flightiness of most musicals today. Every song has such feeling behind it, it's hard not to form some sort of connection to each and every one. I have too many favorites to pick just one, so I'll highlight a few that stand at the top of my list:
"Trying Not To Notice" is an especially pretty song. A nice trio between Marian, Laura, and Walter, it gently highlights the growing but unspoken feelings of both sisters for the drawing master, and the latter's for one in particular.
"All for Laura" is especially affecting. Essentially an aria and soliloquy, it is, as one reviewer previously noted, electrifying; it is perhaps one of the sweetest melodies Andrew Lloyd Webber has ever composed.
Despite how magnificent each of those pieces are, Count Fosco's big number in the second act, "You Can Get Away With Anything" is just a masterpiece. If you can get through even one listen without collapsing into a fit of giggles like I do, then you must have nerves, or at least a sense of humor forged of steel. David Zippel's wickedly clever play on words takes a light-hearted look at various legally questionable activities that never fails to bring a smile to my face.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this album to anyone who loves a genuinely good musical or is just a fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber in general.
The Woman in White (2004 Original London Cast) Poster
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
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