Thom Southerland to Direct First London Revival of THE WOMAN IN WHITE

Acclaimed rising star director Thom Southerland (Titanic, Grey Gardens, Grand Hotel) is to direct the first ever revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tony and Olivier Award-nominated musical The Woman in White.

A tempestuous tale of love, betrayal and greed, adapted from Wilkie Collins' haunting Victorian thriller, this is the premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel's revised score.

The Woman in White will preview at Charing Cross Theatre from Monday 20 November, 2017 and run 12 weeks to Saturday 10 February, 2018. Press night is Monday 4 December, 2017 at 7.30pm.

Featuring one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's greatest and most romantic scores, The Woman in White premiered in the West End in 2004. Now, in its first major revival, Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel have revisited their original work to refresh the storytelling for a new generation of theatregoers. The original London production starred Maria Friedman and Michael Crawford alongside Angela Christian, Martin Crewes, Jill Paice & Oliver Darley.

Thom Southerland, Artistic Director of Charing Cross Theatre, said: "I am so excited about this new production. The Woman in White is a wildly exciting romantic thriller which is frequently tender and personal. The music is grand, sweeping and instantly captivating. Having long been an admirer of The Woman in White, I know that Charing Cross Theatre is the ideal intimate space for audiences to experience it for the first time or rediscover this lush Victorian Gothic thriller."

Walter Hartright's life is changed forever after a chance encounter with a mysterious woman, dressed in white, desperate to reveal her chilling secret. When he takes up his position as drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie and her half sister, Marian, he sees in Laura's face an eerie reflection of the forlorn creature he met previously. Walter and Laura's feelings for each other are thwarted by her engagement to the sinister Sir Percival Glyde. What is the connection between, Laura, Sir Percival, and the woman in white? Can true love prevail?

Casting to be announced.

Creative team: Director Thom Southerland. Movement Cressida Carré. Set Designer Morgan Large.Costume Designer Jonathan Lipman. Lighting Designer Rick Fisher. Sound Designer AnDrew Johnson. Casting David Grindrod Associates. Orchestrations David Cullen.

The Woman in White is produced by Patrick Gracey, Steven M. Levy and Vaughan Williams by arrangement with The Really Useful Group Limited.

Andrew Lloyd Webber (Music) - When Sunset Boulevard joined School Of Rock, Cats and The Phantom Of The Opera on Broadway in February 2017, Andrew Lloyd Webber became the only person to equal the record set in 1953 by Rodgers and Hammerstein with four Broadway shows running concurrently. Other musicals he has composed include Aspects Of Love, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and Love Never Dies.

His production of School Of Rock is the first British musical to have world premiered on Broadway. He has co-produced his own showsincluding Cats and The Phantom Of The Opera and as a solo producer he presented the groundbreaking Bombay Dreams which introduced the double Oscar winning Bollywood composer AR Rahman to the Western stage.

Other productions include the Olivier Award Winning Daisy Pulls It Off and La Bete, the record breaking Palladium production of The Sound Of Music and The Wizard of Oz.

He owns seven West End Theatres including the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the Palladium and most recently the St James which reopened this year as The Other Palace to provide a unique London home for new musicals in development.

He is passionate about the importance of music in education and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has become one of Britain's leading charities supporting the arts and music.

His awards, both as composer and producer, include seven Tonys, seven Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, the Praemium Imperiale, the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, a BASCA Fellowship, the Kennedy Center Honor and a Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Requiem, his setting of the Latin Requiem mass which contains one of his best known compositions, Pie Jesu. He was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 1992 and created an honorary member of the House of Lords in 1997.

David Zippel (Lyrics) - David Zippel's lyrics have won him the Tony award, the Olivier award, the Evening Standard award, two Oscar nominations, two Grammy award nominations, and three Golden Globe award nominations. His songs appear on over 25 million CDs around the world, and have been recorded by many great singers including Stevie Wonder, Christine Aguilera, Mel Torme, Ricky Martin, Cleo Laine, Elaine Paige, Barbara Cook, Sarah Brightman and Nancy Lamott. David Zippel made his Broadway debut with City of Angels (music by Cy Coleman, book by Larry Gelbart), he also wrote the lyrics for the Broadway musical The Goodbye Girl (music by Marvin Hamlisch, book by Neil Simon). He has contributed lyrics to the revues A...My Name Is Alice, Diamonds and, with composer Doug Katsaros, wrote the musical comedy Just So. With Wally Harper he has written numerous songs for Barbara Cook including It's Better With A Band and the original songs for her Broadway and West End show Barbara Cook, A Concert For the Theatre. Her acclaimed revue showcasing David Zippel's lyrics, entitled It's Better With A Band, played Off-Broadway and at the Donmar Warehouse. On film, in collaboration with Alan Menken, the songs for Disney's feature film Hercules; with Matthew Wilder, the songs for Disney's animated feature Mulan; with Marvin Hamlisch, the theme song for Frankie and Johnny; with Mervyn Warren the end title for the Jennifer Lopez movie The Wedding Planner; lyrics for The Swan Princess, an animated feature with music by Lex de Azevedo. Awards: Olivier award, Evening Standard award, Tony award, New York Drama Critics' Circle award and Drama Desk award for City of Angels; Outer Critics' Circle award nomination for lyrics for The Goodbye Girl; Oscar nominations for lyrics on Disney's Hercules and Mulan; Golden Globe award nominations for lyrics for Hercules, Mulan and The Swan Princess.

Charlotte Jones (Book) - Charlotte Jones is an award-winning writer of theatre, film, television, and radio. She won the Critics' Circle Most Promising Playwright award in 1999 for In Flame and Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis. Her fourth stage play, Humble Boy, premiered at the National Theatre in 2001, and was awarded the Critics' Circle Best New Play Award, the People's Choice Best New Play Award, and was nominated for an Olivier Award. It transferred to the West End and ran for nine months before opening at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York and being nominated for a Drama Desk Award. In 2015, Charlotte was made an Honourary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, for her service to the arts. She currently has a number of films in development, and was the creator and writer of the television series, The Halcyon.

THE CREATIVE TEAM

Thom Southerland (Director) - Thom is the Artistic Director at Charing Cross Theatre. His opening season of major musicals included the return of his acclaimed multi award-winning Titanic and Ragtime (nominated for a record 14 Off West End awards) and Death Takes A Holiday. His production of Titanic has also been produced at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, and in Tokyo. He was longlisted Best Newcomer in the 2011 Evening Standard Awards for Parade. He was named Best Director at the 2011 The Offies for Me And Juliet at the Finborough. He directed Allegro, Grey Gardens, Grand Hotel, Titanic, Victor/Victoria, Mack & Mabel and Parade (Southwark Playhouse); The Smallest Show on Earth (Mercury Theatre, Colchester & tour) Jerry Herman's The Grand Tour (Finborough); The Mikado (Charing Cross Theatre); Daisy Pulls It Off, Irving Berlin's Call Me Madam! (Upstairs At The Gatehouse); the European première of I Sing!, Divorce Me, Darling!, Annie Get Your Gun, The Pajama Game and sold-out all-male adaptations of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore and The Mikado (Union); Noël and Gertie (Cockpit); the European première of The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Landor); the European première of State Fair (Finborough & transfer to Trafalgar Studios).

Cressida Carré (Musical Staging) - Cressida has previously worked with Thom Southerland on staging the award-winning production of Titanic in London, Toronto and Japan. Other selected theatre credits include the all-female version of POSH (Pleasance, Off West End Award nomination, Best Director), the UK tour of Avenue Q (director & choreographer); Laila The Musical, Britain's Got Bhangra, Great Expectations (Watford Palace & UK tour); The Jungle Book (Glasgow Citizens); CATS (Dubai); Spring Awakening (UK tour).

Morgan Large (Scenic Design) - Morgan has previously worked with Thom Southerland on Death Takes A Holiday at Charing Cross Theatre. He is currently designing a brand new production of Top Hat directed by Stephen Mear, and the UK tours of Son of a Preacher Man directed by Craig Revel Horwood, Tango Moderno directed by Karen Bruce, and Deathtrap directed by Adam Penford. Selected theatre credits include: Dance Til Dawn (West End & UK Tour); Forbidden Broadway (Menier Chocolate Factory & West End); Flashdance (West End); Xanadu (Southwark Playhouse); Othello (Sheffield Crucible); and the UK tours of Love Me Tender, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, and Equus.

Jonathan Lipman (Costume Design) - Jonathan Lipman has previously worked with Thom Southerland on Grey Gardens, Allegro (Southwark Playhouse), Ragtime, Death Takes A Holiday (Charing Cross Theatre), and a U.S. tour of Peter Pan. Selected theatre credits include: The Country Girl directed by Rufus Norris (West End & UK Tour), and the UK tours of Larkrise to Candleford and Jekyll & Hyde - The Musical.

Rick Fisher (Lighting Design) - Rick Fisher is a multiple Tony and Olivier Award-winner. He is known for his collaborations with director Stephen Daldry on Billy Elliot the Musical and An Inspector Calls (for both of which he received the Tony Award). He has done the lighting design for many opera companies, including the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the New York City Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. Other selected West End credits include: Sunny Afternoon, Jerry Springer the Opera, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, The Threepenny Opera, and Lady in the Dark, Chips with Everything, Hysteria and Machinal at the National Theatre (for which he received Olivier Awards).

Andrew Johnson (Sound Design) - Andrew's recent credits including the Olivier Award-winning smash hit The Play That Goes Wrong. Other selected theatre credits includes: Titanic, Ragtime, Death Takes a Holiday (Charing Cross); Grey Gardens, The Toxic Avenger - The Musical, Grand Hotel, Dogfight, Victor/Victoria (Southwark Playhouse); Calamity Jane (UK Tour); Let It Be (UK Tour, Moscow, Japan); The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (UK Tour); Midnight Tango (West End & UK Tour); Top Hat (UK Tour); A Clockwork Orange (Theatre Royal, Stratford East).

THE PRODUCERS

Patrick Gracey - Patrick Gracey is an international producer and general manager based in London's West End. Patrick has produced and general managed plays and musicals in London's West End, on Broadway, in Australia, and on tour in the UK. Most recently, Patrick produced Pedro Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in the West End starring Tamsin Greig, and Constellations starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson on Broadway for Ambassador Theatre Group. On Broadway, Patrick was the general manager of the Tony Award-winning production of Death of a Salesman starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring Scarlett Johansson. As general manager of the Donmar, Patrick supervised over a dozen productions in the UK, U.S. and Australia, including the Donmar's West End season at Wyndham's Theatre. Productions included Ivanov starring Kenneth Branagh, Twelfth Night starring Derek Jacobi, Madame de Sade starring Judi Dench, and Hamlet starring Jude Law. In Australia, Patrick was the general manager of Disney & Cameron Mackintosh's award-winning production of Mary Poppins.

Steven M. Levy - Steven has spent the past 30 years as a theatrical producer, general manager and theatre owner in both New York and London. Broadway includes: Whoopi - The 20th Anniversary Show; Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All starring Ellen Burstyn; Our Town starring Paul Newman; I'm Not Rappaport starring Judd Hirsch and Ben Vereen; Dame Edna: The Royal Tour; The Beauty Queen Of Leenane; The Lonesome West; Waiting In The Wings starring Lauren Bacall. West End includes: Titanic, Ragtime, Death Takes a Holiday, In The Bar Of A Tokyo Hotel, Piaf, The Mikado, Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris, Long Story Short, Finian's Rainbow, Ushers: The Front Of House Musical, Jerry Herman's Dear World, the Olivier Award-winning La Bohème, 6 Actors In Search Of A Director (written and directed by Steven Berkoff), Fascinating Aïda - Cheap Flights, The Man On Her Mind, John Leguizamo - Ghetto Klown, Patricia Routledge - Facing The Music, Thrill Me (Charing Cross); Singular Sensations, Tom Stoppard's The Invention Of Love (Theatre Royal, Haymarket); Nixon's Nixon (Comedy); Gross Indecency (Gielgud); The Boys In The Band (Aldwych). Film includes: Our Town starring Paul Newman; Whoopi (HBO, starring Whoopi Goldberg); The Man On Her Mind (The Talking Pictures Company). Steven's productions have been the recipient of 14 Tony Award nominations, 5 Tony Awards, as well as the recipient of the Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and OBIE Awards.

Vaughan Williams - Vaughan was a founder shareholder in and is Chairman of the Charing Cross Theatre, where he has been a regular producer. Following an English Literature degree at London University, Vaughan enjoyed a long career in the City of London. Initially qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte, he then joined merchant bankers Morgan Grenfell & Co., where he was appointed to the main Board in 1993. Following the merger with Deutsche Bank, he was appointed a Managing Director in Deutsche's Investment Bank. Since retiring from banking in 2012, Vaughan divides his time between the theatre and property industries. His theatre productions include: Death Takes A Holiday, Christina Bianco: O Come All Ye Divas!, Ragtime (Offie Award for Best Musical), Titanic, 6 Actors In Search of A Director; the UK premiere of Jerry Herman's Dear World, the Olivier Award-winning production of La Bohème, In the Bar of A Tokyo Hotel, by Tennessee Williams, and a number of shows currently in development. Vaughan has also recently fulfilled a long-held ambition to appear as lead guitarist in a rock and roll band.

For more information visit www.charingcrosstheatre.co.uk or www.thewomaninwhite.co.uk.

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