DOCTOR ZHIVAGO Previews- Page 8

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 1:56pm

They should change it for the battlefield and ice palace scenes at least.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 2:03pm

Thanks for your review Roxy.

I know you won't see this, but I always appreciate your reviews (even if you always compare everything to Wildhorn )

 

And I lol'd at the Q-bert reference.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 2:05pm

I agree with the above sentiment. How love can flourish amid such turmoil is one of the questions the novel asks of the reader and the musical is attempting to ask the same of their audience. I think the contrast in romanticized ballads and gory violence is intentional but not entirely successful. 

Roxy, I don't know that it would be possible to change the stage floor mid show for only certain scenes. I've never seen that done before.

[nathanjones]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 3:33pm

I agree that the 'empty chairs and empty tables' metaphor is awkwardly similar to Les Mis. But it is explained/justified in the show, not just decorative. Like during the hanging scene a character literally pointed at the empty chairs and said something like 'look at all the empty chairs where poets used to write'. Dr. Zhivago's writing chair and table stays onstage the entire show.

Mass execution of poets was an actual thing and not just a plot device e.g. Night of the Murdered Poets.

[nathanjones]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 3:33pm

double post

Updated On: 4/11/15 at 03:33 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 9:13pm

Saw it on Thursday. Thought the sets, costumes and projections were gorgeous. The music was fine but nothing really hummable. And that is ok. It served the piece. A Wildhorn show did not even enter my mind but Les Miz did.Really enjoyed the first act and my friend and I looked at each other at intermission and said " why are people ripping this apart". My problem was that the second half got a little too melodramatic and I wish she had not mentioned 

 

******possible spoiler*****

The change in her body. It would have had a much better impact had we seen the child at the grave without anything being said.

****end spoiler****

 

But overall I think they did a fine job. Just wish the book was a bit stronger. Also, my favorite visual was of the black silhouetted people on the back screen. That was quite impressive, in my opinion.

Updated On: 4/12/15 at 09:13 PM

[anthony smith]

Posted: 4/12/15 at 9:18am

Sadly i wanted to see this in Preview as being from Sydney i really hoped they had improved this show from what we saw in Sydney.

It appears from post here that basically nothing much has changed and in so doing i believe this Show will not reach the heart and soul of the work.

Staging and bare set, checkered floor which played trick on the eyes and embarrassing projections (which drew laughter from the audience in Sydney when i saw it) seem to have all been retained.

The Score has some beautiful parts though all the criticisms raised here are extremely valid and seems there has been nothing added except the Theme from the Movie!

The characters are never developed nor their interactions and u feel zero at the finale for them!

Having the two Female Leads both being written for the same voice spectrum is boring and a big mistake! one of them SHOULD have been written for soprano as when they sing together there is no beautiful blend of differentials of voices to identify each of the characters.

I had so wished to hear Zhivago had been reworked, re-imagined etc, but alas from the postings here NOTHING has been done to rescue it as a work!

 

 

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 4/12/15 at 6:47pm

I just saw it. It just didn't do it for me. I think the two leads have wonderful voices but never connected at all emotionally. There was something missing in that they are drawn to each other with this almost cosmic connection and I felt nothing.  I also felt the actress who played Tonya was stronger than Lara - which is the opposite of how it should be. The actor who plays Pasha has all the fire and emotion that the two leads are missing.

I thought the music was pleasant but very generic - I don't mean we need to have specifically only Russian style music but maybe a hint of Eastern Europe would have been nice from time to time. I felt like the same music would have worked if the musical was set in the middle of anywhere... And to use the famous "Lara's Theme" in the middle of the show as just one of the songs- never to hear it again - was just silly. It's a theme or it's not.

With so many special effects, I was thinking I was at Radio City Music Hall - fire, rain, smoke, haze, geesh. The floor pattern was distracting - I was sitting in the balcony and it's like one of those optical illusions where you are trying to figure out where the tops of the cubes are..some people see them face left, others right. Sort of like the Blue/Black - Gold/White dress. Sometimes the floor puzzle was more interesting than the show.

You don't see the kids much but I think both Sophia and Jonah have lovely classical voices in what they were asked to do.. voices that were not used in their previous work at Matilda. I wished we heard more of them..

 

[UptownScribe]

Posted: 4/12/15 at 8:20pm

"The show is not only at odds with the film; it's aesthetic is at odds with itself. Brutal violent staging, a palette of black, slate and gray, and vast deep box of a set with no attempt to humanize the characters all compete with poor Lucy Simon's melodies yearning to be heard in the gloom. How love could bloom at all in such a deadly cold world is something somebody involved with this show should have considered before all those staging and design choices were made."

Ridiculous amount of graphic violence that didn't advance the plot.

That's the thing. Once five characters were singing in harmony I was satisfied to hear the Lucy Simon sound from "The Secret Garden." A couple next to us in the balcony this afternoon said it seemed Zhivago had been Disneyed. I get it.

Lara must, must, be sphinx-like, as Julie Christie played the role. The three male characters project their idea of Lara on her and pine for her. Isn't she a metaphor for Russia for each of them? This Lara was cast and directed as if she's a a naif, like Belle in "Beauty in the Beast." Her voice is beautiful but she has no character. Lara is supposed to be Fantine but instead she seemed like Cosette.

Pasternak was an acclaimed poet who wrote a novel about an acclaimed poet upon whom the history of late-Czarist/early-Soviet Russian history is written. I can only guess that the book writers returned to the novel for a story I haven't read because this wasn't the David Lean version. There were key plot points from the Lean film that should be emotional pivots that were missing here. I puzzled over the omissions as I did watching the film of "Into the Woods."

There was no chemistry between the characters. As for Pasha, just as I was tiring of his imitation of Javert he walked upstage...

 

[Freckles1329]

Posted: 4/13/15 at 10:43am

I saw this on Friday and I just wanted to give a heads up on Orchestra seating, if this hasn't already been mentioned. There's a table Downstage Right, that remains for the entire show, at which I stared for 2.5 hours. I was on Row J on House Left. I felt really bad for anyone in front of me, who legitimately couldn't see behind the table. Also, at the beginning and at a significant moment at the end, the entire left side of the orchestra is treated to the backs of actors when it would be really helpful to see their faces or certain props they might be holding. I was only able to tell what happened at the end by guessing based on the other cast members' reactions.

So, long story short, try to avoid sitting House Left, or if you did, the further back, the better.

[broadwayfan24]

Posted: 4/13/15 at 5:54pm

Someone actually made a twitter page for that table. https://twitter.com/TheZhivago

 

First tweet said "Used in 5% of the show but block 90% of the view"

[Freckles1329]

Posted: 4/13/15 at 6:04pm

Oh my god, that's amazing. I'll go check that out. I thought I was losing my mind for it to be there for the entire show.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/13/15 at 6:18pm

I can attest to the fact it is there throughout the entire show.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 12:02am

"Someone actually made a twitter page for that table.https://twitter.com/TheZhivago"

OK, that Follies quote was actually funny.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 12:28pm

A great publicity coup would be to invite Omar Sharif & Julie Christie to the opening. I know it will not happen but fun thinking about it.

[Sauja]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 5:46pm

This was such a disappointing show. I commented earlier in the thread that I have an affinity for bombastic, epic musicals. For better or worse, I'm willing to forgive a lot in a show like Miss Saigon or Les Mis. And when I saw complaints about the stage violence, I thought, "Well, that won't bother me." And it didn't. In fact, I think the occasionally brutal second act is leaps and bounds better than the first act. Unfortunately, it's still not very good at all.

 

Some of the songs sound lovely, but they don't move the action forward in any noticeable way. So the book has to do seriously heavy lifting in order to get across the plot which covers...30 years? 40? Everything feels crammed in, so there's no room for emotional connection or character development. Most criminally, there isn't even really a moment where Zhivago and Lara seem to fall in love. Instead, they just...bump into each other a lot.

 

So instead of connection, we get clarity. I could follow the various twists and turns of the epic story. I just wasn't given any reason to care about them. It's not the fault of the cast who are doing solid work. They just don't really have anything to actually play.

 

The projections are, as has been noted, completely appalling. When (small spoiler warning) Lara is singing about her terrible sexual relationship with Viktor, there is an image of her from behind which changes to drop her robe and expose her bare back. (End small spoiler). It was horrifying. The others are inoffensive in terms of content, but they are no more successful. For god's sake, don't have projected silhouettes doing the opening number's choreography. It looks absurd. And we can tell the difference. Similarly, don't project smoke and ALSO have a smoke machine. We can again tell the difference.

 

And the ice palace set...gurl, I can't even. Can. Not. That and the choreography of the "women and work" song that opens the second act are the only two laughably bad elements. For the most part, it's just punishingly mediocre.

 

The audience around me was the most vocally negative I've ever encountered. They were silent through both acts, but intermission was just an explosion of animosity on their parts. "I want to meet the producer and shake his hand. If he can raise money for THIS dreck..." "I haven't seen the movie, but I know this is totally different because I remember that people liked the movie." "If we weren't all here together, the two of us would be leaving right now. Maybe I can sleep during the second act." If I had really been enjoying the show, I would have been furious with them. Instead, I had a few uncomfortable chuckles as I prayed that no one nearby was friends or family of the cast.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 5:47pm

Ouch.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 6:13pm

What is the ice palace set like?

[Sauja]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 6:18pm

"What is the ice palace set like?"

 There are one or two drops that are cartoon-y broken windows/falling walls (it's a dilapidated mansion in the middle of winter for those who don't know the novel/movie/show). And then rows and rows of paper icicles are dropped in. It's just a bizarre choice. The rest of the show is done with sets that aren't really literal at all. Then we get this set that looks like it's where the Abominable Snowman in the old Rudolph cartoon lives.

 

I'll say this, though: the costumes are pretty fantastic, so at least one of the designers was on point!

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 7:32pm

This is supposed to be RUSSIA in a cold brutal winter and first you see these cartoony snowflakes and icicles - and then you see gentle snow floating from the sky during a tender moment. This is the most UN-RUSSIAN Russia I have ever seen. 

And yes absolutely not ONE element of any character development at all. Character feel emotions and change emotions based on when the script indicates they should....not on any real development.

I am not the most critical reviewer - I often like things that people here just rip apart..but this just uniquely is a MISS on so many levels. It's a shame.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/14/15 at 9:27pm

I still think the music is beautiful and the book is an admirable attempt to cram that novel into 2 and a half hours. The lyrics still need work but if this production is not a success I think the material can be salvaged one day. Some of the choices along the way have muddied the concept and the scenery is clearly a problem. Part of me wonders how Broadway audiences would have responded to Heidi Ettinger's designs from the original production at the La Jolla Playhouse. There's a gallery on her website if anyone is interested.

http://heidiettinger.com/gallery/ 

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 4/15/15 at 1:07pm

I agree with you about the music. I think it IS beautiful. I am not sure if its suits the material however - there is nothing that evokes the time and place they are singing about. I feel the songs would work just as well if the characters singing them were set in for example...Little house on the Prairie or anything else. I miss Russia in all this...and Dr. Zhivago is first and foremost about Russia.

The script is less appealing to me - mostly because it's a lot of action (Russian history 101) without much character. I sort of felt the playwright was writing the show for people who already knew the characters - i think if you were coming in green, it would be harder to understand a lot that's going on.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 4/19/15 at 11:00am

Saw this last night. Book is terrible-- I could not follow the plot. Very talented actors all doing their best to try to elevate a terrible show. They felt the need to constantly remind us that Zhivago is a poet, for no reason. Also, the much talked about desk and chair that stay stage right the entire show and look stupid and just get in the way.

Hideous direction and awful projections (mostly used in act 1.) The chairs used as metaphor for war was just insane. Also, for such an expensive production, the set was very cheap looking. 

It's a shame that Tam Mutu is stuck in this project.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/20/15 at 4:08am

So I know nothing about this production. I watched the trailer and they rhymed "now" with "how." In a major love song. That was the end for me. Somewhere, Larry Hart is crying silently.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/20/15 at 9:27am

It was probably easier than working in "cow."