An Open Letter to Charlotte Jones, David Zippel, and Andrew Lloyd Webber
A revival of the 2004 musical The Woman In White (based on the novel by Wilkie Collins) concluded its revival run in London to generally lukewarm reviews. Better than the original production, but still not great. One of the reviews pointed out that by shortening the already-condensed show into two hours, it leaves little room for character development while also trying to cram in all that plot. Other common complaints were that Andrew Lloyd Webber's score does not coalesce, and that the drama is muddled. This makes sense. The Woman In White is a gothic thriller that takes at least a half-hour to give a sensible synopsis of. This is not going to be one of your pleasant small-theater murder mystery musicals that can be done by ten in the evening. At the same time, many of the revisions made (at least, according to reviews -- I'm not in London) seem to be in the right direction. But much more can be done.
So here's an open letter to Charlotte Jones, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and David Zippel. Here's what we're going to do to make The Woman In White work. Because the best way to get your attention is through a post on my personal blog.
First things first, we're reorganizing the plot. This is a three-act story, and the intermissions should reflect that. No more awkward intermission in the middle of what should be Act II. Act I ends after the wedding with Anne's ominous "Lady Laura Glyde" bit, and Act II begins with the dialogue preceding "All For Laura." Act II ends with the funeral and Marion's reprise of "All For Laura." Act III begins with Walter in London. Each Act begins in a new location, and with a new focus for the plot. Act I is the love story. This leads into Act II, which is the supernatural thriller. Act III is the murder mystery. The end of each act reflects a change in focus, and this puts a marked change in mood in the middle of each act. (From romantic to ominous in Act I when Glyde enters, from ominous to threatening in Act II, when Anne is arrested (where the original intermission placement is), and from threatening to optimistic in the middle of Act III (the asylum scene.)) Now not only does the overall story follow a sensible arc, but each act has a coherent arc itself. This should help maintain audience interest.
In the new Act I, we have to get to the point sooner. Marion is the protagonist, and she has to be the protagonist. Walter is a false lead, so while we can stick with him for the first fifteen minutes or so, we need to put more focus on Marion sooner. Cut "I Believe My Heart." It's a pleasant tune, but doesn't accomplish anything plot or character-wise. And it's too early for a signpost song. "Trying Not To Notice You" might also be cut. "Perspective" is really the only song we need to set up the love story, and it also ties in better with the plot the audience is actually interested in, which is the ghost from the prologue who is also the title of the musical. Because this is a thriller, there should be a move away from excerptable "songs," in favor of music which moves the plot forward directly. And since this is a gothic melodramma, I think the audience can accept the ingenue and the tenor falling in love with only one duet rather than three in a row. Now, "Lammastide" was cut from the revival, which means that maybe "I Believe My Heart" can be kept in as a signpost song, but I'd need to pour over the script more to figure out exactly what needs to be done. This is the general trajectory though.
The new Act II, if we just cut it based on the current score, might only be a half-hour long. This is an awkward length for a middle act, and explains why Charlotte Jones might have felt it was so necessary to cut the story awkwardly in the middle. But I think we can make it work, firstly by expanding the Act's opening. Because we're not cutting directly from Limmeridge, we can spend more time at the top of the act introducing Blackwater House. The first principle song of Act II is "All For Laura," which is also the big ballad of the show. Having it at the top of the act is, I think, a good thing for the audience's impression of it. The act will also end with a reprise of it. This is the act where it is most clear that Laura is the central focal point of the story, so bookending the act with this song is thematically effective. Much more so than awkwardly having the song and its reprise fifteen minutes before the end of Act I and twenty minutes into Act II.
More can be made of Laura's sleepwalking in this act -- and in the prior act, for that matter. We only have Marion's word that Laura sleepwalks, and that comes almost an hour before it's actually relevant. So bring our attention back to that point. "If I Could Only Dream This World Away" is the other main song of the Act -- Again, one of the goals here should be to move away from excerptable "songs" and more towards "scenas" like "The Document," which should be a gripping scene at the beginning of the act, rather than a tedious scene at the end of it. I think we can add some space into this act with a good amount of room to breathe.
Act III is the final stretch, and has the most on-stage action of any of the acts. I'm on the fence about whether or not to cut "Evermore Without You." It's not strictly necessary, but if it occurs at the beginning of Act III, I think it will be less awkward than its current place in the middle of Act II, where it comes across as mildly clunky. If the audience is just coming back from intermission, we can afford to bring focus back to Walter for five minutes. I think we can cut "Lost Souls," and replace it with a much softer and shorter scene -- or not. We don't really need to explain how Marion is able to find Walter. It's not the most unbelievable thing in the plot that she's able to track him down, so we don't need a six-minute musical sequence explaining it. Remember that although the novel was, well, novel, when it was first published, gothic melodramma is now an established genre, and we can count on the genre conventions to carry us through some of the more tedious moments. The music for "Lost Souls" also does not mesh well. It seems to me it was added to give a kick of vibrancy midway through the second act to keep the audience from falling asleep, but really, it only serves to lengthen the act. We don't need it.
"If Not For Me, For Her" can be kept in. This is really the only entirely justifiable ballad in the show, because it is directly tied to the plot. Even "All For Laura" is a little clunky in context, but this song definitely works. Good job David.
I'm not convinced that we need the roulette scene. It makes Glyde much less calculating (and therefore less threatening), and its only purpose from a plot perspective is to explain why Fosco and Glyde have parted ways. (It also provides a buffer between the two consecutive Walter/Marion scenes, but I think we can work around that.) But Fosco has already said earlier that he'll be taking the documents to London. So once the dirty work has been done at the end of the second act, and Glyde and Fosco think they're home free, it's perfectly reasonable that Fosco might go to London while Glyde waits for June first to roll around. (The whole June first thing is arbitrary too, except that it buys Marion a bit more time.)
"You Can Get Away With Anything" and the following scene is perfect. Fosco is generally the best-written character in the piece. And we're good through the asylum scene.
After that, I think the next five minutes need to about double in length. They come up with all the necessary information and devise the final plan far too quickly. With the cuts made, I think we have room to expand this scene, and show the characters actually coming to the relevant conclusions rather than just sort of awkwardly rushing to the finale. And since the last intermission was only forty minutes ago rather than an hour, we can afford to take the time. The finale itself is good.
After rearranging and streamlining the plot, and inserting another intermission, the run time should probably come somewhere between the three hours of the original and the two hours of the revival. The nice thing about breaking it up in to friendlier dramatic chunks like this is that we can afford to have it edge closer to three hours, since the audience does get to spend a bit more time out of their seats. Still, three hours is probably the upper limit for a musical.
Unless any opera companies wanted to take this on?
Now we come to staging. The original production was a big spectacle directed by Trevor Nunn. The revival a small minimal affair in a tiny theater. I think we need somewhere in between. Basically literal sets in a mid-size venue. The problem being the orchestra. This score calls for a big orchestra, which would tend to push up the minimum size of the theater you can perform it at. (I would even opt for upping the orchestra size up to at least thirty as per the Sunset Boulevard revival, which, I hasten to add, was phenomenal.) Stephen Sondheim pointed out that Passion had this conundrum as well, with the orchestra and the drama demanding very different spaces. But with the right director, I think it can be pulled off. Real spaces, fluid transitions. In the end, I think The Woman In White should be a sort of Ibsen-esque opera, if that makes sense.
So... Andrew, let me know what you think, alright? This is a strong show, and has a lot of potential. It might be worth trying to get an opera company to give it ago. Just maybe don't use your first name in the marketing, change your middle name to "von" and drop one of the "b"s from your last name.
So here's an open letter to Charlotte Jones, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and David Zippel. Here's what we're going to do to make The Woman In White work. Because the best way to get your attention is through a post on my personal blog.
First things first, we're reorganizing the plot. This is a three-act story, and the intermissions should reflect that. No more awkward intermission in the middle of what should be Act II. Act I ends after the wedding with Anne's ominous "Lady Laura Glyde" bit, and Act II begins with the dialogue preceding "All For Laura." Act II ends with the funeral and Marion's reprise of "All For Laura." Act III begins with Walter in London. Each Act begins in a new location, and with a new focus for the plot. Act I is the love story. This leads into Act II, which is the supernatural thriller. Act III is the murder mystery. The end of each act reflects a change in focus, and this puts a marked change in mood in the middle of each act. (From romantic to ominous in Act I when Glyde enters, from ominous to threatening in Act II, when Anne is arrested (where the original intermission placement is), and from threatening to optimistic in the middle of Act III (the asylum scene.)) Now not only does the overall story follow a sensible arc, but each act has a coherent arc itself. This should help maintain audience interest.
In the new Act I, we have to get to the point sooner. Marion is the protagonist, and she has to be the protagonist. Walter is a false lead, so while we can stick with him for the first fifteen minutes or so, we need to put more focus on Marion sooner. Cut "I Believe My Heart." It's a pleasant tune, but doesn't accomplish anything plot or character-wise. And it's too early for a signpost song. "Trying Not To Notice You" might also be cut. "Perspective" is really the only song we need to set up the love story, and it also ties in better with the plot the audience is actually interested in, which is the ghost from the prologue who is also the title of the musical. Because this is a thriller, there should be a move away from excerptable "songs," in favor of music which moves the plot forward directly. And since this is a gothic melodramma, I think the audience can accept the ingenue and the tenor falling in love with only one duet rather than three in a row. Now, "Lammastide" was cut from the revival, which means that maybe "I Believe My Heart" can be kept in as a signpost song, but I'd need to pour over the script more to figure out exactly what needs to be done. This is the general trajectory though.
The new Act II, if we just cut it based on the current score, might only be a half-hour long. This is an awkward length for a middle act, and explains why Charlotte Jones might have felt it was so necessary to cut the story awkwardly in the middle. But I think we can make it work, firstly by expanding the Act's opening. Because we're not cutting directly from Limmeridge, we can spend more time at the top of the act introducing Blackwater House. The first principle song of Act II is "All For Laura," which is also the big ballad of the show. Having it at the top of the act is, I think, a good thing for the audience's impression of it. The act will also end with a reprise of it. This is the act where it is most clear that Laura is the central focal point of the story, so bookending the act with this song is thematically effective. Much more so than awkwardly having the song and its reprise fifteen minutes before the end of Act I and twenty minutes into Act II.
More can be made of Laura's sleepwalking in this act -- and in the prior act, for that matter. We only have Marion's word that Laura sleepwalks, and that comes almost an hour before it's actually relevant. So bring our attention back to that point. "If I Could Only Dream This World Away" is the other main song of the Act -- Again, one of the goals here should be to move away from excerptable "songs" and more towards "scenas" like "The Document," which should be a gripping scene at the beginning of the act, rather than a tedious scene at the end of it. I think we can add some space into this act with a good amount of room to breathe.
Act III is the final stretch, and has the most on-stage action of any of the acts. I'm on the fence about whether or not to cut "Evermore Without You." It's not strictly necessary, but if it occurs at the beginning of Act III, I think it will be less awkward than its current place in the middle of Act II, where it comes across as mildly clunky. If the audience is just coming back from intermission, we can afford to bring focus back to Walter for five minutes. I think we can cut "Lost Souls," and replace it with a much softer and shorter scene -- or not. We don't really need to explain how Marion is able to find Walter. It's not the most unbelievable thing in the plot that she's able to track him down, so we don't need a six-minute musical sequence explaining it. Remember that although the novel was, well, novel, when it was first published, gothic melodramma is now an established genre, and we can count on the genre conventions to carry us through some of the more tedious moments. The music for "Lost Souls" also does not mesh well. It seems to me it was added to give a kick of vibrancy midway through the second act to keep the audience from falling asleep, but really, it only serves to lengthen the act. We don't need it.
"If Not For Me, For Her" can be kept in. This is really the only entirely justifiable ballad in the show, because it is directly tied to the plot. Even "All For Laura" is a little clunky in context, but this song definitely works. Good job David.
I'm not convinced that we need the roulette scene. It makes Glyde much less calculating (and therefore less threatening), and its only purpose from a plot perspective is to explain why Fosco and Glyde have parted ways. (It also provides a buffer between the two consecutive Walter/Marion scenes, but I think we can work around that.) But Fosco has already said earlier that he'll be taking the documents to London. So once the dirty work has been done at the end of the second act, and Glyde and Fosco think they're home free, it's perfectly reasonable that Fosco might go to London while Glyde waits for June first to roll around. (The whole June first thing is arbitrary too, except that it buys Marion a bit more time.)
"You Can Get Away With Anything" and the following scene is perfect. Fosco is generally the best-written character in the piece. And we're good through the asylum scene.
After that, I think the next five minutes need to about double in length. They come up with all the necessary information and devise the final plan far too quickly. With the cuts made, I think we have room to expand this scene, and show the characters actually coming to the relevant conclusions rather than just sort of awkwardly rushing to the finale. And since the last intermission was only forty minutes ago rather than an hour, we can afford to take the time. The finale itself is good.
After rearranging and streamlining the plot, and inserting another intermission, the run time should probably come somewhere between the three hours of the original and the two hours of the revival. The nice thing about breaking it up in to friendlier dramatic chunks like this is that we can afford to have it edge closer to three hours, since the audience does get to spend a bit more time out of their seats. Still, three hours is probably the upper limit for a musical.
Unless any opera companies wanted to take this on?
Now we come to staging. The original production was a big spectacle directed by Trevor Nunn. The revival a small minimal affair in a tiny theater. I think we need somewhere in between. Basically literal sets in a mid-size venue. The problem being the orchestra. This score calls for a big orchestra, which would tend to push up the minimum size of the theater you can perform it at. (I would even opt for upping the orchestra size up to at least thirty as per the Sunset Boulevard revival, which, I hasten to add, was phenomenal.) Stephen Sondheim pointed out that Passion had this conundrum as well, with the orchestra and the drama demanding very different spaces. But with the right director, I think it can be pulled off. Real spaces, fluid transitions. In the end, I think The Woman In White should be a sort of Ibsen-esque opera, if that makes sense.
So... Andrew, let me know what you think, alright? This is a strong show, and has a lot of potential. It might be worth trying to get an opera company to give it ago. Just maybe don't use your first name in the marketing, change your middle name to "von" and drop one of the "b"s from your last name.
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