Books - The Woman in White

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	Books - The Woman in White

The Woman in White is a novel written by Wilkie Collins and published in 1860. It was recently made into a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel with a book by Charlotte Jones. It is considered to be to the first mystery novel.

The Novel

The Woman in White was published in 1859, and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of 'sensation novels'.

The story begins when the hero, art master Walter Hartright, encounters a mysterious woman dressed all in white on a moonlit road in Hampstead. She is in a state of confusion and distress, and Hartright helps her to find her way back to London. In return, she warns him against a certain (un-named) Baronet, "a man of rank and title". Immediately after they part, Hartright learns that she may have escaped from an asylum.

He goes to Cumberland to take up a position as art tutor at Limmeridge House to two young women - Marian Halcombe and her wealthy half-sister Laura Fairlie. He finds to his amazement that the story of the woman in white may be entangled with the lives of the two sisters. As a further complication, Walter and Laura fall rapidly in love. But she is already engaged, by her father's wish, to a man named Sir Percival Glyde.

Walter and Marian together delve deeper into the mystery of the strange woman, and engage in a battle of wits with Glyde's enigmatic Italian friend Count Fosco. The various strands of the plot combine to produce a thrilling story, leading this particular type of fiction to be described as 'sensation'.

The Woman In White is also an early example of a particular type of Collins narrative in which several characters in turn take up the telling of the story. This creates a complex web in which readers are unsure which narrator can, and cannot, be trusted. (Collins used this technique in his other novels, including The Moonstone
.) This techinique was also used by other novelists of the period, including Bram Stoker, author of Dracula
.

As was customary at that time, The Woman in White was first published as a magazine serial. The first episode appeared on 29th November 1859 in Charles Dickens's magazine All the Year Round in England, and Harper's Magazine in America. It caused an immediate sensation. Julian Symons (in his 1974 Introduction to the Penguin edition) reports that "queues formed outside the offices to buy the next instalment. Bonnets, perfumes, waltzes and quadrilles were called by the book's title. Gladstone cancelled a theatre engagement to go on reading it. And Prince Albert sent a copy to Baron Stockmar."

Production History

Musical adaptation of the book opened in London's West End, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by David Zippel, and book by Charlotte Jones, freely adapted from the novel. Directed by Trevor Nunn, it opened Wednesday, 15 September 2004 at the Palace Theatre in London. It gained attention for its set design, which employed projections rather than traditional scenery. The scenery tended to divide audiences and critics; some found it innovative, but Ben Brantley of The New York Times liked it to being "trapped inside a floating upscale travel magazine." The Broadway production opened on 17th November 2005 at the Marquis Theatre to mostly negative critical reaction. This followed much publicity after the show's star, Maria Friedman, who had created the role of Marian Halcombe in the original London production, was diagnosed with breast cancer during previews; however, she underwent treatment to return for the Broadway premiere.

On Friday 20 January 2006, it was officially announced by produced Sonia Friedman and The Really Useful Theatre Company, following weeks of rumours, that the show would close in London on Saturday 25th February 2006 after a run of 19 months just reaching its 500th performance. It will be replaced at the Palace Theatre, London by Andrew Llyod Webber's Whistle Down The Wind (musical) for a short and selective period of time from the 15th March to the 12th August 2006 and then the theatre will reopen on the 2nd October with the production of Monty Python Spamalot

Additionally, in a surprising announcement, the Broadway production closed even earlier than the London production on Sunday 19 February 2006 at the Marquis Theatre having played just 109 regular performances and 20 previews. The producers cited Friedman's frequent absences (as well as the negative reviews) as difficult obstacles to overcome.

However, it is not the end; The Woman In White will undertake a one-year major national UK tour, which will be opening January 2007 in Milton Keynes. Furthermore, there are even plans to bring the show back to London in a reconcieved production, either before or after the national tour.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Woman in White ]

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