The Woman in White [Cast Recording]

Woman in White (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 8, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Angel Records
• ASIN: B000BGR128
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,389 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Prologue

2. I Hope You Like It Here

3. Perspective

4. Trying Not To Notice

5. I Believe My Heart

6. Lammastide

7. You See I Am No Ghost

8. A Gift For Living Well

9. The Holly and the Ivy

10. All For Laura

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. If I Could Only Dream This World Away

2. The Nightmare

3. Fosco Tells Of Laura's Death/The Funeral/London

4. Evermore Without You

5. Lost Souls

6. If Not For Me For Her

7. You Can Get Away With Anything

8. The Seduction

9. The Asylum

10. Back To Limmeridge

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

Product Description

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A dark and interesting score..., November 29, 2004

By 

Andrew J. Yarrows "andy_nyc" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Woman in White (2004 Original London Cast) (Audio CD)

...but flawed, as most of Lloyd Webber's scores since "Sunset Boulevard" have been. Granted, every score, regardless of the composer, has its flaws, but I have noticed a trend with Lloyd Webber, starting with "Whistle Down the Wind," that continues here, where several strong songs are diminished by lesser ones and occasionally dull recitative dialogue sequences.

"The Woman in White" is in some ways the most complex and interesting score composed by Lloyd Webber since "Sunset Boulevard," which I found as thoroughly enjoyable as "The Phantom of the Opera" in many respects. Here, we have a dark setting, an air of mystery, quite a few intriguing characters and many opportunities for dramatic scoring and romantic performances, all of which add up to a generally winning end result. The opening sequence is memorably spooky, and the cast's vocals shine throughout, particularly on songs like "I Believe My Heart," "Evermore Without You," and my personal favorite, "All For Laura," which is absolutely electrifying.

There are many more good tunes in the score, as well as plenty of skillfully executed recitative dialogue, but there is also quite a bit of bland recitative (the kind where you can't really put your finger on any melody, a situation not helped by occasionally medicore lyrics) and less memorable songs.

Also, it's impossible not to notice that Lloyd Webber has (yet again) ripped off his own "Jeeves" score ("By Jeeves" to those who know its reincarnated version better) as well as "Whistle Down the Wind." Numerous times you can hear the original bridge section of "Half a Moment" from "Jeeves" (a.k.a. the introduction to "Half a Moment" in "By Jeeves"), a clear and direct lift. This is made worse by the fact that Lloyd Webber had already stolen it and used it as the bridge to "As If We Never Said Goodbye" from "Sunset Boulevard," and made even worse, yet again, by his turning around and stealing it back for a revised "Half a Moment" in "By Jeeves." In other words, this melody has been recycled twice too many times... time to dig up a new melody! You will also hear, several times, a musical passage from "Whistle Down the Wind" (it's the one near the climax of "Whistle" where Swallow sings to the pseudo-Jesus/escaped convict: "No one's ever looked at me... the way you're looking at me now..."). And I cannot put my finger on it (yet), but you can definitely hear one or two "inklings" of "Aspects of Love" in this score, although these instances are less obvious than the others.

Maria Friedman gives a stellar vocal performance on this recording (and given her rather excellent track record on the stage, might she soon inherit Elaine Paige's throne?), as do the other female principles. Michael Crawford is good as Count Fosco, but his role is not as juicy as it could have been and he seems to have far too little to do. The male villain and male romantic/hero lead handle their roles well.

In all, I very much like the score to "The Woman in White." It's not as satisfying as I had hoped, but considering the hit-or-miss nature of the scores to "Whistle Down the Wind" and "The Beautiful Game"--both strong scores I liked--where a few gorgeous songs were surrounded by somewhat lesser material, this seems like a step in the right direction.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful new Gothic musical, June 6, 2005

By 

Lady Blakeney "bookworm221" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Woman in White (2004 Original London Cast) (Audio CD)

Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals have never been popular with the critics, but as box office records show, audiences eat them up with a spoon. They are meant to serve as entertainment, and entertain they certainly do.

"The Woman in White" is not much different from standard Lloyd Webber fare, as the dialogue is still sung through and filled with melodies that repeat over and over and over again. While this might seem annoying, Lloyd Webber manages to get away with it because if there's one thing he can do, it is create pleasant tunes that you don't mind encountering more than once. There are not as many memorable melodies as you might find in "The Phantom of the Opera", but the "Woman in White" theme, "I Believe My Heart", and "You Can Get Away With Anything" are definitely standouts.

The plot is "freely adapted" from the novel by Wilkie Collins, and is very easy to follow. Though it's a touch simplistic and perhaps even a wee bit predictable, it is executed in such a way that it propells you on to see what the outcome will be.

The performances on the CD, recorded live on opening night, are perfect across the board. Michael Crawford, who originated the title role in "The Phantom of the Opera", is at his villainous best as Count Fosco, the obese Italian who pairs with the sinister Sir Percival Glyde (Oliver Darley). Marian and Laura, the half-sisters caught in the middle of the mystery (Marian Friedman, Jill Paice) are wonderful to listen to, and the eponymous Woman in White (Angela Christian, "Miss Dorothy" in the OBC of "Thoroughly Modern Millie) simply breaks your heart.

The musical is expected to make the leap from the West End to Broadway soon. Hopefully "The Phantom of the Opera" will continue to run for years, but if not then "The Woman in White" looks to be a worthy successor.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars THE WOMAN IN WHITE: ALW'S UNEVEN NEW MUSICAL, December 2, 2005

By 

Marijan Bosnar "(the historian)" (Croatia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Woman in White (Audio CD)

When in September 2001 Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest musical "The Beautiful Game" closed after only a year's run in the West End, people began to wonder has he completely lost his touch. The general opinion was that he needs to get back to the form he knows best: blockbuster productions interwoven with the lush and catchy tunes; a formula that proved magical for the most part of his long career and thus provided him with two of the longest musicals in the history of the theatre (i.e., "Cats" and "The Phantom of the Opera).

Hopes ran high when it was announced that his next project was going to be based on Wilkie Collins' famous novel "The Woman in White". This book was a smash hit after its first release in the 1860-is and its dark, gothic and mysterious story seemed a perfect challenge for a man who demonstrated he can successfully tackle similar subjects, as proven with the Phantom. The show opened in London in September 2004 and will have its American premiere in Chicago this year. Despite the fact the audiences are pouring into the London's Palace theatre to see it, this double CD recording of the show will not be totally satisfying for many ALW's faithful fans.

The CDs capture most of the show and this is actually the live recording from the opening night performance, with the audience's noises and applauses cut out. The problems of "The Woman in White" stem from several facts. First, there is the score. One cannot deny the fact there are some lovely melodies here: the haunting title's character leitmotiv; a powerful love duet `I believe my heart' (released as a separate pop single), the poignant `All for Laura; big ensemble numbers like `Lammestide' or playful `Lost souls' and a vivid comic number called `You can get away with everything. They are all decent, if not exquisite musical peaces with the familiar ALW signature. The problem is, there are too few of them to keep the whole score together. The rest follows the pattern from `Aspects of love' by setting the dialogue to music. This, in turn, means that there are only few real songs here and that makes things difficult for the plot, for one gets the feeling it is dragging on with a very slow pace. On the whole, the score is not altogether bad, but it does not hit the target and grabs only sporadically.

On the other hand, the story, set in 1860-is, does have some potential. Some things have been changed, but the basic plot of the book is retained on the stage. We follow a young drawing teacher Walter Hartright, who is on his way to Cumberland to become an art tutor to two half-sisters, Marian Halcombe and Laura Farlie. Before he gets to his destination, Walter has a chilling encounter on a foggy train station with the mysterious young woman, all dressed in white. She is desperate to share her secret with someone. When he finally meets the two sisters, Walter is amazed how much one of them, Laura, resembles to the woman in white. After a while, Laura and Walter fall in love, but she is already promised to a young aristocrat, Sir Percival Glyde. Marian, herself keen on Walter, is determined that Laura should marry Glyde so the two of them could have a secure future. Before she sends Walter away, he has another encounter with the woman in white, who warns him Laura mustn't marry Glyde under any circumstances. Marriage does take place and Marian finds out too late that Glyde was only after Laura's money. With the help of the mysterious woman in white's secret, Marian and Walter now must work together to save Laura from the evil plan Glyde has formed. Besides the mystery of the secret in question, we are also intrigued by Glyde's charming Italian friend, count Fosco. Is he, with his unusual taste in white mice, vanilla bonbons and poison, a friend or a foe? Overall, the story has its merits, since when listening to the recording you really want to find out what is the big secret. Hence, despite slow pacing, the plot's main question will occupy the listener's mind.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the cast; for most of them do not stick out. Maria Friedman, who likes to be thought of as a current big name in the West End, lacks a good vocal power. Her voice is at times too thin at the lover tones and when it tries to reach highs it becomes unpleasantly husky, despite her passable rendition of the Act One big number `All for Laura'. The rest, Martin Crewes, Jill Paice and Oliver Darley do their best but rarely evoke passion. Only one name is of the top quality here and that is Michael Crawford, the man who rose to stardom by being the first and overall the best Phantom in "The Phantom of the Opera". His tenor hasn't lost any of the charms it had during the time he wore the Phantom's mask. However, his potential remains vastly unused here, mostly due to the fact count Fosco is only a supporting one and second; Crawford has only one big tune to deliver - quite a waste for both his name and voice. His big number, "You can get away with anything", especially its opening night version at the end of disc two, shows what a talent he is, plus it's a very nice, Italian-flavored tune. Thusly, the way Crawford plays this interesting character is one of the rare highlights on this recording.

David Zippel's lyrics tell the basic story, but nothing more. They can be terribly predictable at times and for the most lack inner depth. The CD package comes with the full libretto and a couple of production photos.

So in the end, "The Woman in white" comes as a bit of a disappointment, since it could have turned out to be a much stronger, better written piece.

"You can get away with anything", sings Michael Crawford in his big number. Alas, I am not too sure that Andrew Lloyd Webber can get away on the whole with this one.