As previously reported, Olivier Award winners Michael Crawford (Count Fosco) and Maria Friedman (Marian) will co-star in the new musical, with Angela Christian now set for the title role. The Woman in White will also feature Martin Crewes as Walter Hartwright, Oliver Darley as Sir Percival Glyde, Jill Paice as Laura Fairlie and Edward Petherbridge as Mr. Fairlie.
Based on Wilkie Collins' novel "The Woman in White," the musical has been adapted for the stage by Charlotte Jones, author of Humble Boy. City of Angels' David Zippel has penned the lyrics to Lloyd Webber's music. Trevor Nunn directs.
The remainder of the creative team comprises William Dudley (set and costume design), Paul Pyant (lighting design), Mick Potter (sound design), Wayne McGregor (dance and movement) and Simon Lee (musical supervisor).
According to production notes, The Woman in White concerns "a dashing young man, employed as the art tutor to two devoted sisters, [who] is stranded at a remote railway cutting. Out of the darkness looms a woman, a mysterious figure dressed in white, desperate to share a chilling secret. He and the sisters soon find themselves trapped in a web of betrayal and greed, the victims of a seemingly flawless crime. Together they will need all their resourcefulness and courage to outwit a hugely charismatic and ingenious villain. As the compelling plot twists and turns, low villainy vies with high romance in a world where nothing is as it first appears and where it is impossible to know who to trust."
Martin Crewes played Marius in the West End company of Les Misérables and was seen as Kaplan in the film "Resident Evil." Angela Christian received an Outer Critics Circle nomination for her work as Dorothy in Broadway's Thoroughly Modern Millie. Oliver Darley's work with the Royal Shakespeare Company includes The Alchemist, Romeo and Juliet, The Thebans and Columbus. Jill Paice starred as Sophie in the Las Vegas production of Mamma Mia!. Edward Petherbridge, a founding member of the National Theatre, was most recently recent in the West End production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The actor won an Olivier Award for his work in Strange Interlude. The Woman in White will play Monday-Saturday evenings at 7:30 PM with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2:30 PM. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Palace Theatre box office at 0870 895 5579.
