All change for troubled show

No matter how many cast changes or "creative modifications" Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest musical undergoes, one year after opening it remains a troubled show. Ruthie Henshall and Simon Callow are the new recruits, but decent performances do not cancel out deep-rooted problems in other departments.

The music fares better on a second hearing - although a few more instantly hummable tunes wouldn't go amiss - and Callow proves to have a passable singing voice. The over-the-top Italian Count Fosco is a role custom-made for this permanently exuberant actor and he is well matched by the spirited, sweet-voiced Henshall as Marian Halcombe, out to seek justice for her wronged half-sister.

Charlotte Jones's book singularly fails to capture the sense of gothic melodrama that makes Wilkie Collins's novel a perennial favourite and director Trevor Nunn generates far too little atmosphere as the plot twists through murder and dastardly scheming.

The greatest miscalculation, however, remains William Dudley's video design, which replaces any sort of set and leaves the actors marooned on a bare stage. It seems as though the cast is parading before - and at times simply distracting attention from - an ever-rolling advert for English Heritage. This woman is distinctly not all white.

Booking until 1 April. Information: 0870 895 5579.

The Woman In White