I think I’ve had my own ghostly figure floating about not wanting me to write about this thing, earlier today I lost my second half-written review. Let’s see if third time’s a charm.

I listened to this CD (the full cast recording, 2 discs packed full at over 70 minutes each, recorded on the opening night) on Christmas Day and my first reaction was, love the main theme, don’t follow the story, sounds a lot like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s other stuff, a few other cool moments.

Then came the week after. One by one, song by song, it came back to me, then flooded back to me. I think I know this whole show by heart almost after only two full listens. I can even play half of it by ear (or is that memory) on the piano. I can only guess that it’s so well structured by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the themes so well stated and repeated that it all logically fits together and is so easy to remember.

On the second listen I was able to follow the story completely, basically a mystery that becomes a murder mystery without the murder you thought, with the crucial element of a love story that all musicals need. I don’t know what’s in the novel so I can’t compare; though it’s on my ‘want to read’ list (hah! you can download it here!), and the other film and TV adaptations are on my ‘want to watch’ list too. This is certainly a great batch of characters: from the clean slate hero Walter Hartright, the one character with no true ties to the main story; the sisters Marian and Laura; the dastardly Count Fosco and Sir Percival Glyde; and the eponymous Woman in White, Anne Catherick.

This is definitely a musical I’d love to see onstage. I read that the staging is as spectacular as the story and music. In the meantime I’ll be humming “I Believe My Heart,” “Trying Not to Notice Him,” “All for Laura,” “You Can Get Away With Anything,” “Lammastide,” “I Hope You Like It Here”... well, the whole thing… till I go crazy myself.

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