DOCTOR ZHIVAGO Previews

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 3/25/15 at 12:32pm

With Fun Home beginning previews on Friday, I thought I'd start the thread for Doctor Zhivago which also begins previews Friday.

Now I know a number of your are expecting this to fail. It may fail financially, but in terms of artistic integrity, I'm interested.

So who's gonna be going?

[Phillypinto]

Posted: 3/27/15 at 12:26am

anyone going tonight?

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/27/15 at 11:39am

"Now I know a number of your are expecting this to fail. "

A number of my what?

[verdigris]

Posted: 3/27/15 at 11:44am

I am very interested to hear opinions about this show. I wasn't able to attend the show here in Brisbane a few years back. I heard a fair few raves about it at the time.

Updated On: 3/27/15 at 11:44 AM

[rclocalz]

Posted: 3/27/15 at 12:57pm

I haven't seen a run of it yet, but my video company shot some of the dry tech... all I can say is this show is HUGE. The set is epic, they have one of the largest LED screens ever used on a Broadway stage, and I can't wrap my head around all of the machinery and equipment below the stage, there is tons of it. There are about 400 costume pieces, something like 30 folks in the cast, 18 piece orchestra. Looking forward to seeing folks' reactions to tonight's first preview. If anyone is coming out tonight, my camera crew will be taking some shots of people outside the marquee so wave to the camera!!

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/27/15 at 1:41pm

I am very curious to hear about this one.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/27/15 at 1:56pm

Glad to hear its an epic production! Befitting for the material.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/27/15 at 1:57pm

Seeing it 4/10 thanks to TDF

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 3/27/15 at 11:42pm

Did anyone go tonight? How was the show?

[Dallas Theatre Fan]

Posted: 3/27/15 at 11:43pm

So any reports on how this is?

[Cupid Boy2]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 12:01am

I'm also curious. I don't know what to expect from this one; I'm hopeful it'll be good. A quick look at Twitter and ATC proved fruitless for tracking down some opinions on this show. Perhaps a good majority of the typical first preview-goers were at Fun Home tonight instead.

Updated On: 3/28/15 at 12:01 AM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 12:04am

I'm back from the first preview and I can't say I was all too thrilled with Dr. Zhivago, although a bright spot did peak through here and there.

My biggest issue was that the piece felt like a relic from the 80's, much like A Tale of Two Cities, even tough I enjoyed that score much more. I obviously wasn't expecting something as innovative and inspired as Natasha, Pierre, but that show really puts this one to shame. During the prologue I thought, oh god, I need a Sonya is good, Natasha is young and Andrey isn't here! Dr. Zhivago desperately wants to be the next Les Miserables when it really should be finding its own identity. (IMO the material seems far better suited for a Eugene Onegin style opera. Grander. More interesting vocal lines. Lara badly needs a Tatyana Letter Aria to establish the wants of her character.)

The score is pretty, but somewhat nondescript. A few songs do rise above, especially in the first 30-40 minutes of the second act, which is by far the strongest portion of the evening.

A big problem with the 90 minute first act is that the quintet of leads sing so little of music. Here's a chorus from the people of Moscow. Here's a soldier's chorus. Up next is the nurse's chorus. And we're back to the soldiers again. It's fine chorale work, but we need to be spending more time with the leads. Even when they are given passages to sing it is often broken up dialogue or the ensemble so the numbers rarely feel like set pieces.

I thought Paul Nolan gave the strongest performance and I was always sad when he left the stage. Much better her than in JCS and he really let some notes soar. His character takes an interesting turn in act two that made me perk up, but just as soon as he did he vanished from the story again and I felt like so much was left unexplored.

Tam Mutu has a nice voice. I feared at any moment he was going to run downstage center, drop to his knees, rip open his shirt and sing out, who am I? I'm 24601!!! (I hear Ramin's contract is up in August and I'll probably be available!) Unfortunately his part isn't so exciting, and the "epic" love affair with Lara feels like such a minor subplot. They hardly spend any time together, and when they do the love mostly stays unrequited.

Kelli Barrett didn't do much for me as Lara. Her In His Eyes duet with Lora Lee Gayer was a highlight of the night though. Gayer, who was such a delight as Young Sally in the last Follies revival is mostly wasted as the underwritten Tonia, but when she does sing it's lovely.

Tom Hewitt has even less to do than Gayer.

The other vocal highlight for me was the quintet in act two for the leads. Why wasn't there so much more material like this? Things were finally starting to hit their stride, but the second half of the act sputtered out until the simple and rather beautiful finale.

The stage is extremely raked, so much so that I was worried the actors were going to slide right into the pit. The set stretches all the way to the back of the theater, making the space look huge. I wish there was a framing device because it all seemed to take place in a marble ballroom- I know Zhivago was a poet and not a novelist, but maybe the company could have been putting on the epic poem he wrote for Lara or something?

The costumes are beautiful.

The projections were not. In fact they were often distracting, ugly and/or laughable. There was enough of a physical set the projections could really be junked. This is mostly a respectable, earnest show and the projections sometimes cheapened that.

There is little to no humor, which is a major drawback. When following the Les Miserable mold they forgot how important the Thénardiers/Master of the House are to lighten the mood.

By the end I was restless and not emotional involved in the story or love affair. All the stakes seemed to fall with the Russian revolution and not the lovers so I found it hard to care for them on a personal level.

I honestly don't know what they can do at this point except trim the fat away and get the runtime down to 2.5 hours.

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 12:27am

Quite the slog this evening. Stock dialogue and characters; generic music; trite lyrics. Another relentlessly drab, ugly, (and cheap) physical production. Why are all our musicals so ugly nowadays?

Paul Alexander Nolan gives the evening some sorely-needed brio. Tom Mutu and Kelli Barrett sing their nondescript ballads nicely.

Anya of long ago was prettier to listen to and much prettier to look at.

[Mike Costa]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 12:32am

As always, Whizzer is clear and right on the nose with his reviews.
I happened to see the same performance and wish them all well.

They did perform it all without a hitch and it is a large beast to bring forward. The full house rarely was roused beyond polite applause after each number though.
Glorious work by Danny Troob and an 18 piece orchestra already masterfully prepared.

[dave1606]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 12:32am

I saw it tonight and for me, it falls sorely in the middle. It is perfectly respectable, and I even liked a good chunk of the score. (The duet the women sing in act 2 is GORGEOUS).

My problem with the show is that staging is just totally unoriginal. Des is stealing from himself here, with a giant moving platform in the center of the stage! The rest of the set, especially in act 1 is especially disappointing. Though the floor's design may be interesting, I started to feel like the whole show as taking place in the corner of some museum. Even the moving platform is the same pattern, so when it is used as a train an other sets, it just feels cheap.

Most of act 1 seems to be following the Les Mis model. Miserable people, soaring melodies, chairs everything for form a barricade? Yeah, we've seen this before, many many times. There's even a climactic scene at the end of act 1 with soldiers waiving a red flag.

I thought most of the performances were fine, though no one really has a character that pulled me in that much. Unfortunately, by the time we get to the end of act 2, we've passed several deadly book scenes that not even a good actor could save.

As I have said, the score is the show's most redeeming quality. While there are some generic numbers, there are a few really beautiful songs, and the choral work, especially in the finale is stunning. A show that will likely live on disc much better than the theater.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 12:43am

Dave, you're so right about those deadly book scenes near the end of act two. The biggest culprit is the one between Zhivago and Pasha (Nolan). Here are the two male leads and rivals for Lara's love talking for 10 minutes when they should have been singing! In fact they don't sing a duet THE ENTIRE SHOW! At this point just do a name change and have them sing In Lily's (Lara's) Eyes. How could this show have been in development for so long without having them sing a duet, especially when this spot in the show is screaming for them to do so?!

[binau]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 1:05am

Looks like it hasn't improved much (if at all) from Sydney. At least we had Warlow there.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 1:07am

Did you see the Sydney production? This is an all new creative team (except the book and score), correct?

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 1:26am

What did it run tonight?

[After Eight]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 1:28am

It ended about 11:00.

[binau]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 1:40am

Yes, I saw the Sydney production. Some/(a lot?) of the team have actually remained on board (e.g., Director, Set Designer, the main Australian producer is still on board in some capacity too). From these details and my fading memory, I'm not sure exactly what has changed (in terms of team or the show itself). But I remember having a similar reaction to those described here. And it is (or was 4 years ago) so disappointing given the team involved. They ended up cancelling the cast recording (which was advertised in print) for some reason and it just kind of died, until now.

The description that they are desperately trying to be the next Les Miserables is so apt, and (even though he does attract criticism), I have to agree with After Eight's comments too.

I feel guilty/annoying that in every Dr Zhivago thread I keep expressing my dissatisfaction with the show. I guess my issue is that on paper everything about this show was exciting, and to have a new "Broadway musical" come 18,000km to me was such a novelty. I'm surprised that they can still get it this wrong after so many years of development.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 3:08am

Des is such a terrible director. I don't know how he still gets work.

[RW3]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 11:01am

For the people that saw the show yesterday, what song(s) did you like the most?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 11:16am

Ugh this is so disappointing, but not unexpected to hear. I recently read Pasternak's novel for a class about banned Soviet fiction--and there is so much great, intimate etail in the novel that is not in the movie. I had hoped his would mine that. Lucy Simon is such an under reprecented composer .

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/28/15 at 11:25am

Des is such a terrible director. I don't know how he still gets work.

I would agree he has waned in the last 8 years, but I don't believe his work on Big River, A Walk in the Woods, Tommy, How to Succeed, Thoroughly Modern Millie, 700 Sundays, Jersey Boys and The Farnsworth Invention was considered "terrible".