The Woman In White to close on the 19 Feb 2006

The Woman In White will play its final performance at Broadway's Marquis Theatre on the 19 Feb 2006.

The show began previews on the 28 Oct 2005 and played 20 preview performances. It will have played 109 regular performances since its opening night on the 17 Nov 2005.

'We are enormously proud to have produced The Woman In White on Broadway," said producer Bob Boyett. 'It is a groundbreaking piece of musical storytelling and at the forefront of pioneering new technology with its innovative design. The production and the performances of this extraordinary cast have given pleasure to hundreds of thousands of people in London and New York while Andrew Lloyd Webber's glorious score has been hailed by critics as his best since The Phantom of the Opera.

'Unfortunately, early in previews, the show experienced a number of medical problems among the cast. Maria Friedman performed admirably through a diagnosis of breast cancer and its treatment and Michael Ball battled a serious viral infection. As a result of these and other health issues among the company, audiences got to see the entire original cast perform just 31 of the 108 performances played to date since the show's first preview."

Composer Lloyd Webber added, "There have been performances when two or more leads have been absent due to illness. I'm not sure even The Phantom of the Opera could have survived the illnesses which have beset this wonderful company."

Though it was previously announced that Maria Friedman would take a medical leave of absence beginning the 12 Feb, she will continue in the role of Marian Halcombe through the final performance.

In The Woman In White a dashing young man, employed as the art tutor to two devoted sisters, is stranded at a remote railway cutting. Out of the darkness looms a woman, a mysterious figure dressed in white, desperate to share a chilling secret. He and the sisters soon find themselves trapped in a web of betrayal and greed, the victims of a seemingly flawless crime. As the plot twists and turns, low villainy vies with high romance in a world where nothing is as it first appears and where it is impossible to know who to trust.

The Woman In White is directed by Trevor Nunn and features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by David Zippel and a book by Charlotte Jones.