I Believe My Heart – The Woman in White






Music by: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Directed by: Trevor Nunn


Lyrics by: David Zippel
Book by: Charlotte Jones

Based on Wilkie Collins’s The Woman In White




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, Marion, he sees in Laura’s face an eerie reflection of the forlorn creature he previously met. 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? Is Sir Percival’s friend Count Fosco really as charming and well-meaning as he seems. Can true love prevail? Read the complete synopsis from the London production, or the Broadway synopsis.

To get an even better picture of what happens in the show, browse through the lyrics from the original version, or the later London lyrics.

 
 


The enormously popular suspense thriller Woman in White appeared first in Dickens’s periodical All the Year Round in 1859-60. Using a multivocal narrative, Collins imitated the presentation of testimony from a number of witnesses in a court case. The book tells the story of the evil Sir Percival Glyde’s plot to steal his wife’s inheritance with the help of a sinister Italian, Count Fosco. Walter Hartright goes to Limmeridge House in Cumberland as drawing master to Laura Fairlie and her half-sister Marian Halcombe. He sees Anne Catherick on the night she left an asylum to which she had been committed by Sir Percival. Anne knows a secret about his past. Read some more about the novel or find out more about the history of the musical.


For now, the only recording available for this show is the 2-CD original London cast recording, but it’s definitely enough to give you a good taste of the show. Take a look at my review of the CD, or listen to a clip from one of my favourite songs.

When it turned out I was actually going to be in London on the night of the very first performance of this show, I knew I had to be there…and I was, in the middle of the front row! It was a wonderful and memorable experience. Although I wanted to see the show in New York as well, that just didn’t work out. But you can read more of my thoughts on that first performance.


The cast was one of the first things that struck me about this show – there are some wonderful characters, and it was great to see some of my favourites take on very different parts. Take a look at my thoughts on some of those performers! Or, once you’re done looking around here, check out some of the other fantastic Woman in White websites that are out there.

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