DOCTOR ZHIVAGO Reviews — Page 7

"I know, but his premise is they're bad to begin with. Or am I losing my mind."

And Jesse Green opened his review with "Sprawling European novels do not make great musicals."

I enjoy Les Mis when done well (can't say I particularly like this current broadway production) and grew up loving Phantom. That being said, Zhivago is a wannabe Les Mis. There are certain songs that sound eerily like they are from other shows. The duet between Lara and Zhivago's wife is basically "In His Eyes" from Jekyll and Hyde. I actually enjoy the pop-opera if done well, and would lovingly open my arms for a new one to come to Broadway, but it needs to be deserving. Zhivago was not.

For the most part, I can come out of a show and find something I like. For this show, beautiful voices, fine acting, gorgeous costumes. Some of the songs were lovely, but it just seemed that Zhivago was trying to be soo much like other shows and not it's own entity. I can almost here the director saying "Oh yeah, let's do that because it worked for Les Miz."

Updated On: 4/22/15 at 01:08 PM

I keep hearing about all of these "gorgeous costumes." Maybe they were all at the laundry the night I saw it? That night, they were all black,white and grey...except the ludicrous blue they had Lara in. All the better to see the fake red blood, I suppose.

Someone said something yesterday about newspapers in Australia being paid to review shows, so they say kind things no matter what.

Uhh....is that a legal thing to do? It sounds like if they did that they would need to put "paid advertisement" in small print at the top of the review, because that doesn't sound very ethical to present them to the public as a critical review.

Sounds like Anthony Warlow (who did it in Australia) made the right decision to pass on the Broadway production. It didn't work/sell in Australia either.

Rarely seen such across-the-board pan of the lyrics. Rex Reed calls the lyrics "gag-worthy" & "dreck"; the WSJ critic dubbed them "lead-footed doggerel". Ouch. I and my family members likewise found the lyrics often laughable (not in a good way) and trite. later realized that they arent so much trite as "borrowed." Even the supposedly signature song, NOW, seems basically cribbed from Halestroms hit song or Paper Faces "breathe you in" lyrics, lol. Simons music, while overwrought and often indistinguishable from one another, at least strived for grandiosity, and at times soared. The lyrics though, were either boring or stretched to make ridiculous rhymes, like students in a lyrics 101 class patting themselves on the back for their self perceived cleverness. Ugh.

Uhh....is that a legal thing to do? It sounds like if they did that they would need to put "paid advertisement" in small print at the top of the review, because that doesn't sound very ethical to present them to the public as a critical review

Not necessarily. Every country is different with journalism. Having worked with journalists all around the world, there is no universal system. In Kenya, you must pay journalists to write a story. Though it may seem unethical to American eyes, it is how the media works there. Most of the journalists are freelancers, so you are paying them to write a story, not what to say. I'm unaware of Australian rules, but paying for stories is not unethical in much of the world.

Still no official announcement for a cast album?

Or to catch Paul Nolan's performance?

You just did.