Callow as Woman’s Next Count Fosco???

Following the recent cast takeover in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whatsonstage.com Award-winning musical The Woman in White (See News 17 Jun 2005), there are already rumours of more major changes afoot. Simon Callow is tipped to play the next Count Fosco, perhaps taking over as soon as the end of August when Anthony Andrews (who replaced Michael Ball on 2 May 2005) finishes his contract. Although Callow is best known to theatregoers for his roles in myriad plays such as, most recently, Through the Leaves, Holy Terror and The Mystery of Charles Dickens (not to mention his many film appearances in the likes of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bright Young Things and Shakespeare in Love), the musical casting isn’t as far a leap as it might seem. Callow has already played Count Fosco in a 1997 (non-musical) TV adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ Victorian novel and, in terms of the Lloyd Webber connection, he played Andre in last year’s screen version of The Phantom of the Opera. The Woman in White has a book by Charlotte Jones, with lyrics by David Zippel set to Lloyd Webber’s score. It’s directed by Trevor Nunn and designed by William Dudley.

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