Watched Dr. Zhivago for the 1st time

Last night, I had the chance to sit down and watch the film version of "Dr. Zhivago". First, the movie is 200 minutes long. I have no clue what stuff the creative team is cutting or keeping in order to make it a 2hr and 40 minute musical, according to Telecharge. Basically, a lot of stuff does happen in movie. Despite the long running time, I actually liked the movie. The plot is very heavy, but in no way confusing. After watching the film, I do see Tam Mutu as Yuri Zhivago. However, I'm not so sold on Kelli Barrett. I don't know how she will look with a blonde wig on. Hopefully, she looks good. However, my biggest issue is the placement of musical numbers. When I was watching the movie, there weren't any points where I thought "Oh, this would be a great place for a song!". Anyway, these were just my thought. Most of the cast starts rehearsals tomorrow, except Mutu.

The stage musical is based on Boris Pasternak's (600-page) novel, not Robert Bolt's 1965 film script (nor Andrew Davies' 2002 television film script). There's no telling yet how the musical's book (by Michael Weller) will compare to previous adaptations.

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Updated On: 2/1/15 at 08:43 PM

I'm pretty sure one of the recent articles said they are including that music.

I am not sure how much has been changed but I saw the first performance of this in Sydney and it was the second worst musical I have ever seen. Incredibly boring and uninspired.

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To each his own

Your description could be applied to a number of long running hits now on Broadway.

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I remember seeing Dr Zhivago as a kid and hating it. I can't imagine it as a musical.
The one musical clip I heard sounded like "the song that goes like this" from Spamalot--only not as interesting.


But what do I know? I think Honeymoon in Vegas is the best thing I've seen on Broadway in a long time.

Definitely Wicked

Another is Mormon

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Thanks for clarifying Mr.Roxy.
I myself don't find WICKED boring or uninspired.. I did not enjoy BOM but would never describe it as boring or uninspired - but like you said it's each to their own.
I look forward to seeing how its received on Broadway at any rate. Third time round maybe it will work.

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"From what I can see so far, they have cast three girls and one boy...do we know if any of the kid roles are double cast?

Jonah Halperin is obviously going to be young Yuri - but not sure what the 3 girls are doing. Does anyone know? "

In the Australian production there were four child characters: young Yuri, young Tonia, Yuri's son and Lara's daughter. So, 2 girls and 2 boys. Unfortunately, they decided it wasn't worth casting children in the roles in Australia (child labour laws are a lot stricter here) and instead just had short adults (including a woman playing Yuri's son).

"However, I'm not so sold on Kelli Barrett. I don't know how she will look with a blonde wig on. Hopefully, she looks good."

Lucy Maunder (who is amazing) remained a brunette for Lara while Taneel Van Zyl was a blonde Tonia.

As I've said before, I enjoyed Zhivago the musical. It wasn't my favourite by any means, but it was still good. There were some good songs (unfortunately the cast recording never eventuated so I'm reduced to the couple that were recorded plus a couple of bootlegs) and some very interesting stuff done with the set. I hope it does well.