'WITCHES OF EASTWICK' ENCHANTS LONDON AUDIENCES, CRITICS

Box-office sales have remained brisk since the musical comedy opened July 18 in the 1,903-seat Theatre Royal Drury Lane (the former home of Miss Saigon) to mostly upbeat reviews.

Composer Dana Rowe, a Columbus native, and author-lyricist John Dempsey, a former Gahanna elementary-school teacher, have earned praise for their eclectic score and witty adaptation of the John Updike novel, which concerns three women whose small-town lives are revitalized by a devilishly charming visitor.

British critics have hailed Witches as "refreshingly tuneful" (The Times); "likable, rambunctious" (Daily Mail); "sexy, spectacular and an awful lot of fun . . . full of wonderfully wicked one-liners" (The Mirror); and "worth making a song and dance about" (The Daily Telegraph) after "a dismal string of duds this year."

Charles Spencer, the Telegraph critic, added that the book and lyrics are "blessed with genuine wit" while the score is "exuberantly brassy," with some songs of "aching tenderness . . . leaving no doubt that this American team is clearly a hot prospect for the future."

Perhaps the most positive review has appeared in The Guardian:

"What is most surprising is that this is really an old-fashioned book musical, in which Dana Rowe's tunes grow logically out of John Dempsey's story," Michael Billington wrote. "At their best, Dempsey's book and lyrics have a nice snap and crackle that evoke the lost art of musical comedy. . . . In a genre that has become top-heavy with portentous spectacle, this show gaily reminds us of the musical's traditional mission to delight and divert."

Witches has its share of spectacle.

Several reviews have compared the first-act finale, in which the witches fly over the audience, to Peter Pan. Parallels also have been drawn between the Act 2 climax, in which a church tumbles down, and the falling chandelier of The Phantom of the Opera, one of the biggest hits for producer Cameron Mackintosh.

Certainly, his global success with Miss Saigon, Phantom, Cats and Les Miserables raised the visibility of Witches -- but also critical expectations.

Predictably, several reviews have focused more on the producer's past than on the writers' future.

"Is this the return to form for the producer with the Midas touch? I don't think so," Roger Gore-Langton wrote in The Daily Express.

The Mirror was more balanced: "While it seems unlikely that The Witches of Eastwick will repeat the preposterous, money-spinning success of Cats, Phantom and Les Miserables, it is a genuinely likable and witty show that sends you out into the night with a spring in your step and a smile on your face."

More than half of the $7 million invested in the London production came from Mackintosh -- a sign of his confidence in the show.

Buoyed by the initial reviews and ticket sales, he recently told Variety, the weekly trade magazine for the U.S. entertainment industry, that he hopes to mount a Broadway production by 2002 or 2003.

"Quite frankly," Mackintosh said, "the reviews are better than we had for Cats, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera at this stage."

Even more promising for the American prospects: a Matt Wolf review for Variety.

"As long as its ladies are onstage . . . batting out the most arresting numbers of John Dempsey and Dana Rowe's eclectic and . . . immensely likable score, Witches pretty much leaves one flying -- just as its distaff leads are seen doing prior to intermission," Wolf wrote. "One eagerly awaits the show's next incarnation, by which point Rowe and Dempsey may have rejiggered a score whose undeniable glories occur more or less all in the first act."

Rowe reacted to the early reviews with relief.

"One doesn't work this hard or long on something without a bit of anxiety," he said. "We're glad the critics' overall reaction to the show is positive, but the most thrilling part of this whole thing has been the response of the audiences. We get a fairly consistent standing ovation -- which is not at all normal for London audiences."

Rowe and Dempsey, who spent half a year in London preparing the show, have returned to New York to begin work on a Disney musical.

They will return to London in September to record the Witches of Eastwick cast album.

"From the first preview, the audiences have been remarkable," Dempsey said, "and, as we got the last 5 percent or so in order, the show really took off.

"Opening night went like a dream. It's so wonderful to hear the sound of 2,000 people laughing. That doesn't happen a whole lot in musicals these days."