Simon Callow will succeed Anthony Andrews as Count Fosco in the London production of The Woman in White.
Callow, a versatile actor, director and writer, will take on the villainous role of the corpulent count in late August, following Andrews, Michael Ball, and Michael Crawford (who originated the part). The role will be nostalgic for Callow; he played Count Fosco in a BBC television version of the classic Wilkie Collins novel on which the musical is based.
Callow's West End credits include Simon Gray's The Holy Terror and Amadeus (in which he originated the title role of Mozart). Knighted in 1999, he received an Olivier Award for directing Carmen Jones; he has staged other plays as well as operas. As a film actor, he is familiar to those who have seen The Phantom of the Opera, Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings and a Funeral and A Room with a View. Callow penned well-reviewed biographies of Orson Welles and Charles Laughton (as well as his own autobiography Love Is Where It Falls), and he has written often on Charles Dickens, who he once portrayed in a one-man show.
Ruthie Henshall currently stars in the gothic romance as Marian, while the cast also includes Damien Humbley, Alexandra Silber, Michael Cormick and Elinor Collett as the white wraith of the title. The Woman in White opened at London's Palace Theatre on September 15th, 2004. Directed
by Trevor Nunn (Les Miserables, Chess), the show features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Evita, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera), lyrics by David
Zippel (City of Angels, The Goodbye Girl) and a book by Charlotte Jones (Humble Boy). William Dudley (sets and costumes), Paul Pyant (lighting),
and
Mick Potter (sound) make up the design team with Wayne McGregor behind
the choreography and
Simon Lee handling the music supervision. Visit www.womaninwhitethemusical.com for more information.