The stage production of Doctor Zhivago features the work of bookwriter Michael Weller (Moonchildren, Loose Ends), composer Lucy Simon (The Secret Garden) and lyricists Michael Korie (Grey Gardens) and Amy Powers (Lizzie Borden).
The cast album will be released July 31. Pre-order it here. The recording will be produced by the seven-time Grammy-nominated music producer Robert Sher (On The Town, How To Succeed... , Nice Work If You Can Get It). Ron Melrose serves as associate producer. J. Todd Harris is executive producer.
Based on the 1958 novel by Russian author Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago began previews March 27 and opened to cool reviews from critics April 21. It closed May 10 after 26 previews and 23 regular performances.
Click here to read the reviews.
The show received no Tony nominations; its star Tam Mutu was nominated for a Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance, and Paul Nolan received an Outer Critics Circle nod for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. The musical premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in May 2006 and was later revised for an Australian production produced by John Frost in 2010. Tony Award winner Des McAnuff, who helmed the American and Australian productions, again directed for Broadway. Mutu, the West End leading man known for his roles in Les Misérables, Love Never Dies and the Donmar Warehouse production of City of Angels, made his Broadway debut as Yurii Zhivago in a cast that also featured Kelli Barrett (Wicked, Rock of Ages) as Lara Guishar, Tony Award nominee Tom Hewitt (Rocky Horror Show, Dracula) as Viktor Komarovsky, Paul Alexander Nolan (Once, Jesus Christ Superstar) as Pasha Antipov and Josh Canfield as Liberius.
The cast also featured Lora Lee Gayer as Tonia Gromeko, as well as Jacqueline Antaramian, Jamie Jackson, Heather Botts, Wendi Bergamini, Melody Butiu, Julian Cihi, Briana Carlson-Goodman, Bradley Dean, Michael Brian Dunn, Drew Foster, Kira Guloien, Robert Hager, Ericka Hunter, Denis Lambert, David McDonald, Joseph Medeiros, Pilar Millhollen, Gary Milner, Spencer Moses, Julius Sermonia, Jacob L. Smith and Jesse Wildman.
Kelly Devine (Rocky, Rock of Ages) choreographed the production.
Doctor Zhivago had scenic design by Michael Scott-Mitchell, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Howell Binkley, sound design by Steve Canyon Kennedy, projection design by Sean Nieuwenhuis, with music arrangements by Eric Stern and musical supervision by Ron Melrose. Orchestrations are by Danny Troob.
The production was produced Anita Waxman, Tom Dokton, Latitude Link, Chase Mishkin, Ted Hartley/RKO Stage, Chunsoo Shin, Margo & Roger Coleman, The Pelican Group, J. Todd Harris, Corcoran Productions, Conrad Prebys & Debbie Turner, Parrothead Productions, Adam Silberman, Ahmos Hassan, Lisa & Bill Glenn, Carl- Henric, Louise & Johan Svanberg, The Goldiner Group/Caroline Lieberman, Wasserman Shaw, Bruce D. Long, La Jolla Playhouse, Stage Entertainment, Broadway Across America, Grove Entertainment, The Shubert Organization, Tom McInerney, Joan & Irwin Jacobs, Susan Polis Schutz, Tilted Windmills, The Stanford Group, Jim & Judy Harpel, John & Bonnie Hegeman, Itai Shoffman & Sar Inbar, Dark Style Agency, Kelvingrove Ventures, Stephanie Torreno/Eugenie & Keith Goggin, Rao Makineni/Jessica Green, David T. Loudermilk/Cheryl Lachowicz, Robert & Debra Gottlieb/Sharon Azrieli, Halloran Entertainment/Lyubov’ Productions, Lois Weiner & Dr. Robert Weiner/Carl Pate, Andy Tavel/Shelley- Quagline, Federman Ryan/Samajaca Productions, Denise Rich and John Frost. Junkyard Dog Productions is the executive producer.
According to producers, "Dr. Zhivago is an epic romance set during the final days of Czarist Russia, the First World War and the chaos of the Russian revolution. Raised as an aristocrat, Zhivago is a political idealist, physician and poet whose life is tossed by the tides of history as he is torn between a life with his devoted wife, Tonia Gromeko and the passionate and mysterious Lara Guishar. Zhivago is not alone in his yearnings for Lara, competing for her affections with the young revolutionary Pasha Antipov, and the aristocrat Viktor Komarovsky. Dr. Zhivago celebrates the strength of love and art, in the face of political oppression, war and revolution."
