Bound for Broadway

Less than two months after its West End opening, Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical A Woman In White is to transfer to Broadway - the fastest major British theatrical import to New York in years.

The show, based on Wilkie Collins's Victorian chiller novel, will open in New York on 10 November next year at the Nederlander Theatre.

Producer Sonia Friedman said: "There was a lot of interest from Broadway's A-list producers, and that's why we had to make such a quick decision."

The show has been doing brisk business at London's Palace Theatre. It has already taken £3.7 million at the box office and is selling between £60,000 and £70,000 worth of tickets a day. At the first night in London in September Broadway producers approached Lord Lloyd-Webber about a transfer before they had even seen the second half.

He told the Standard: "It is fantastic. It is the quickest turnaround [from London to New York] I've ever had."

Michael Crawford, who plays Count Fosco in the show, became a star in the US thanks to another of Lord Lloyd-Webber's musicals, The Phantom Of The Opera. Were he to reprise his performance-as Fosco on Broadway it would be a huge draw. However, Ms Friedman said no casting decisions had been made.

The show looks set to be Lord Lloyd-Webber's first huge international hit of the 21st Century, replicating the success of Joseph, Starlight Express, Cats, Evita and The Phantom Of The Opera. Of The Woman In White he said: "We've had offers from Canada, Australia and Japan - all the usual suspects are coming in."