WOMAN IN WHITE Palace Theatre, London - 15 September, 2004 Music by ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER, book by CHARLOTTE JONES, from the story by WILKIE COLLINS. Presented by Sonia Friedman Productions Ltd and the Really Useful Theatre Company Ltd STORY On a midnight train trip on the way to Limmeridge House as a drawing teacher, Walter Hartright sees a strange woman dressed entirely in white, apparently fleeing from someone and desperate to share a terrible secret with him. The signalman is scared because although he saw no-one, it was predicted a year earlier that in a ‘year to this day’, someone would be found dead on the railway track. Walter meets his new students: Marian Halcombe and her pretty half-sister Laura Fairlie, who is heir to the estate which includes Limmeridge House. He tells them about his encounter, and they resolve to solve the mystery. A love triangle develops as Walter and Laura quickly fall in love, but Marian also falls for Walter and those feelings are not reciprocated. The peasants on the Limmeridge Estate sing and dance to celebrate the harvest. A girl is excluded from the festival because her mother believes her to be ‘telling tales’. She tells Hartright of a ghost of a woman in all white. Hartright goes to the graveyard where the child saw the ‘ghost’ and meets Anne Catherick, who tells him her name and the name of the man who she fears: “Sir Percival Glyde”. Marian tells Walter that Laura is engaged to a man of ‘titled property’: Sir Percival Glyde. Later Glyde arrives at Limmeridge, pretending to be a long-standing friend to Marian. He suggests that they move the wedding up from spring to Christmas and Laura eventually agrees. Count Fosco, Glyde’s friend, and best man for the wedding, arrives and becomes attracted to Marian. When questioned by Walter about Anne Catherick, Glyde tells him that she is mad. He mentions that he tried to help her, and she thinks that he is her enemy. Laura is reluctant to marry Glyde, but Marian encourages her to honour her father’s dying wish. Walter receives all this news angrily and leaves for London, but not before Laura returns a picture he drew of her. Laura and Glyde are married. Anne Catherick decides to travel to Laura’s side to help her, because she insists that Glyde ‘knows no mercy’. Marian moves into Blackwater House, Glyde’s estate. Laura becomes angry and distrustful of Marian because her advice led her to marry a man whom she discovers to be a physically abusive husband; he only wants her for her money, to pay off his debt. Marian is determined to free Laura from this ill-fated marriage. The next day, Glyde presents Laura with a document to sign, but he will not tell her its contents. Laura is immediately suspicious and refuses to sign something she knows nothing about. Glyde is furious but cannot force her to sign the document. The girls go for a walk to calm down and meet Anne Catherick. They witness Anne being taken back to the Asylum. They are then completely convinced that Glyde and his friend Fosco are villains. Laura and Anne realize how similar they are to each other. Marian eavesdrops on Sir Percival and Count Fosco and overhears their evil plans to steal the Limmeridge Estate. She also overhears their plans for Anne Catherick, but Count Fosco figures out that he is being watched before he reveals anything important about the madwoman. He leaves the library to put Marian to bed. Marian, having gone to bed, starts to dream a montage of events that have occurred recently, mixed in with some noises. The noises, though not apparent to Marian, are actually Laura arguing and screaming. Marian shortly is woken up by Count Fosco, who tells her that Laura was walking in her sleep and fell out the window. Marian is quite shaken by the tragic news. Fosco, avoiding drama, heads off to his house in London. However, being infatuated with Marian, he gives her his address in case she needs anything. At the village funeral Glyde suggests to Mr Fairlie that they get to the papers that need to be attended to. In a show of grief
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