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.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
