MICHAEL CRAWFORD - CRAWFORD COMES HOME

Veteran showman MICHAEL CRAWFORD is returning to his roots on the London stage in a new ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER musical, after an 18-year absence.

Crawford - who was the original lead in hit West End show PHANTOM OF THE OPERA before he signed to the Broadway, New York, version in 1986 - will appear in THE WOMAN IN WHITE, a $7.6 million (GBP4 million) adaptation of WILKIE COLLINS' Victorian thriller.

The Woman in White, with an original score by Lord Lloyd Webber and directed by SIR TREVOR NUNN, opens at the PALACE THEATRE in September (04).