Lloyd Webber show to close
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End musical The Woman In White is to close, it was announced today.
The curtain will come down at the Palace Theatre after 19 months, with the final performance on February 25.
The show, adapted from the Wilkie Collins novel, will begin a year-long national UK tour in January 2007.
There are plans to bring it back to London in a “re-conceived production” either before or after the national tour.
The Woman In White opened on Broadway last November, where it is playing to packed houses.
Producer Sonia Friedman said: “I am very proud to have produced The Woman In White. A completely new musical is a rarity these days and, as is so often the case with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s work, it was a ground-breaking piece of musical storytelling and was also at the forefront of pioneering new technology with its innovative design.
“It is soon to be the end of the road for the show at the Palace Theatre. However, it is certainly not the end of the road for The Woman In White.
“The Broadway production continues its successful run and I look forward to announcing plans for the reconceived show in another London theatre and our full UK touring dates in due course.”
The musical saw Michael Crawford make his theatre comeback as Count Fosco, opposite Maria Friedman’s Marian.
Friedman is currently starring in the New York production.
The 45-year-old actress was diagnosed with breast cancer two weeks before opening night but went ahead with her Broadway debut, winning rave reviews.
