DOCTOR ZHIVAGO Previews — Page 8

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.

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.

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

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..

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.

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.

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

OK, that Follies quote was actually funny.

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.

What is the ice palace set like?

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.

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.

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.