Doctor Zhivago on Broadway opening on April 21 2015
The tale of five intertwined lovers set during final days of Czarist Russia will be led by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff, who also directed “Jersey Boys.” Casting is to be announced soon. Previews will begin March 27 with an opening on April 21 at the Broadway Theatre New York.
It originally premiered as Zhivago at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2006 where Ivan Hernandez played the title role. It was revised and premiered as Doctor Zhivago at the Lyric Theatre, Sydney on 19 February 2011 with Anthony Warlow as Yuri Zhivago, Lucy Maunder as Lara, Taneel Van Zyl as Tonia and Martin Crewes as Pasha. The production was directed by Des McAnuff. The show has received positive reviews.
Composer Lucy Simon has stated she always had Anthony Warlow in mind for the role of Yuri, after seeing him as Archibald Craven in the 1995 Australian production of her first musical, The Secret Garden. Anthony Warlow was last seen, starring on Broadway as Daddy Warbucks in the 2012 Revival of Annie at the Palace Theatre.
Doctor Zhivago the 1965 film version is a classic, starring Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger and Alec Guinness.
Video from the 2011 Australian Production
Take a Look at the Australian Production Souvenir Brochure for more Pictures from that production Click Here
Cast Broadway TBA
Creative Team Broadway
Michael Weller (Book)
studied music composition with Harold Shapiro, Irving Fine and Martin Boykin at Brandeis University, where he wrote scores and libretti for original musicals. After receiving a theatre diploma from Manchester University he spent the next seven years living and writing plays in the UK. His work came to public attention with Cancer at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Under its new name, Moonchildern it went on to Broadway, off-Broadway and around the world. He’s written dozens of produced plays (most known: Loose Ends, Spoils of War, Fifty Words) and screenplays (Hair, Ragtime, Lost Angels), and in television he was writer/producer on “Once and Again.†He developed and supervised for its first ten years the acclaimed Mentor Project of the Cherry Lane Theatre. Awards: Academy Award nomination, N.A.A.C.P. Outstanding Contribution Award, Critics Outer Circle Award, Rockefeller Foundation Grant, Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, Helen Merrill Award, Flora Roberts Award. The Broken Watch Theatre Company named its playhouse after him. He’s President of the Writer’s Guild Initiative (of the Writers Guild of America, east, Inc) and a counsel member of The Dramatists Guild of America. He teaches a class at the New School for Drama.
Lucy Simon (Composer)
is a Grammy Award-winning, critically acclaimed singer/songwriter and composer for the American musical theatre. Born into a musical family, Ms. Simon began her professional career at age 16 with her sister Carly as part of The Simon Sisters. This was followed by a career as a songwriter and recording artist. While she was raising her children, she co-wrote and produced the children’s albums, “In Harmony†and “In Harmony 2,†both of which won Grammy Awards. She found her true calling writing for the musical theater. Ms. Simon made her Broadway debut in 1991 as the composer of The Secret Garden for which she received Tony and Drama Desk nominations, The Drama-Logue Award, and a Grammy nomination for the recording of the score. The Secret Garden was produced in Australia in 1995 and for the Millennium, in the UK by The Royal Shakespeare Company. It broke box office records in its run at Stratford before transferring to the West End. Ms. Simon wrote and produced the songs and soundtrack for the multi-award winning HBO movie, “The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom.â€â€‹ Ms. Simon returns to home ground as she develops her next musical based on an iconic and beloved American story.
Michael Korie (Co-Lyricist)
was nominated for a Tony Award and received the Outer Critics Circle award for his lyrics to Grey Gardens with music by Scott Frankel and book by Doug Wright, directed by Michael Greif. Following its Playwrights Horizons premiere and subsequent Broadway run, the musical has been produced across America and internationally, and will receive its London premiere in 2015. Korie wrote the lyrics to Far From Heaven produced at Playwrights Horizons and developed at the Williamstown Festival, also with music by Frankel, book by Richard Greenberg and direction by Michael Greif. He wrote lyrics to Happiness at Lincoln Center Theater with composer Frankel and playwright John Weidman, directed by Susan Stroman. For opera, Korie wrote the libretto to composer Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath produced at Minnesota Opera, Los Angeles Disney Hall and Carnegie Hall. Korie’s librettos to operas composed by Stewart Wallace include Harvey Milk at San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and New York City Opera, Kabbalah at Brooklyn Academy, and Where’s Dick? at Houston Grand Opera directed by Richard Foreman. Korie’s lyrics have received the Kleban Award, Jonathan Larson Award, and the ASCAP Richard Rodgers Award. His songs with composer Frankel were spotlighted at The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage Broadway Today. He serves on the council of The Dramatists Guild, moderates the musical theater division of the Dramatist Guild Fellows Program, and teaches lyric writing at Yale.
Amy Powers (Co-Lyricist)
Emmy-nominated lyricist Amy Powers creates songs for film, television, commercials, pop and country artists, animation, theme parks and children’s brands, as well as theater. Her work has been featured in Oscar- and Tony- winning productions and recorded by #1-selling and multi-platinum artists worldwide, including Barbra Streisand, Alabama, Katharine McPhee, Ashley Tisdale, Patti LuPone, Diamond Rio, Brian McKnight, and Tina Arena, among others. Her songs have been featured on “Glee,†“True Blood,†“Sons of Anarchy†and many other TV shows, and in films from The Muhammad Ali documentary When We Were Kings to Make Your Move, directed by Duane Adler. A Vassar College, Harvard Law School and Columbia Business School graduate, Powers writes frequently for Mattel’s Barbie movie series, as well as for the Disney Channel, Universal Family Entertainment, and Nickelodeon. Her theatre credits include ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’ and ‘With One Look’ from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard; Lizzie Borden (Goodspeed), and The Game (Barrington Stage), starring Sara Ramirez. She is also a Regional Vice President with Arbonne; and, with her husband J. Todd Harris, a co-producer of Heathers, The Musical (written by Lawrence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy; directed by Andy Fickman).
Des McAnuff (Director)
is a two-time Tony Award-winning director and the immediate past Artistic Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. He is also Artistic Director Emeritus of La Jolla Playhouse, where during his tenure he directed more than 30 productions of classics, new plays and musicals. Broadway: Jesus Christ Superstar, Guys and Dolls, Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention, Jersey Boys (Tony and Olivier Awards: Best Musical), Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays (Tony Award: Best Special Theatrical Event), Dracula the Musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Who’s Tommy (Tony and Olivier Awards: Best Director), A Walk in the Woods, and Big River (Tony Awards: Best Director, Best Musical). Other New York: Fetch Clay, Make Man (New York Theatre Workshop); The Crazy Locomotive (Chelsea Theater Center); The Death of Von Richtofen As Witnessed From Earth, Henry IV Part 1, Mary Stuart and Leave It to Beaver Is Dead (Public Theatre). Stratford highlights: A Word or Two, Caesar and Cleopatra, The Tempest (all with Christopher Plummer) Opera: Faust (Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera). Film: Cousin Bette (director), The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (director), Iron Giant (producer) and Quills (executive producer).
Kelly Devine (Choreographer)
is a Tony Award-nominated, internationally-recognized choreographer whose work spans the mediums of film, television and live performance. Broadway: Rocky, Rock of Ages (1st National Tour, London, Australia, Helpman Award Best Choreography, Toronto, Las Vegas), Jersey Boys and Memphis as Associate Choreographer. Opera: Faust at the Metropolitan Opera House/London Coliseum. Off-Broadway: Rock of Ages; Fat Camp; Frankenstein; Anne Wrecksick. La Jolla Playhouse: Peter and the Starcatcher (in association with Disney Theatricals); Doctor Zhivago (Australia; Helpman Nomination); and Private Fittings. Stratford Shakespeare Festival: Cabaret; Romeo & Juliet. Regional: Toxic Avenger (The Alley Theater); A Christmas Story (Kansas City Rep. and 5th Avenue Theatre); Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Kirk Douglas Theatre); Sneaux (L.A. Weekly Theater Award for Best Choreography); Wozzeck (San Diego Opera); The Wiz (Associate Choreographer). Film/Television: Dear Dumb Diary; Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List; Happy Texas; Zombie Prom; Mozart in the Jungle; “So Little Time;†“Two of a Kind.†Upcoming New York: Director/Choreographer Bliss- A New Musical, Jawbreaker, and The David Foster Project.
Michael Scott Mitchell (Scenic Design)
one of Australia’s most outstanding designers, studied architecture at Sydney University before receiving a Bachelor of Dramatic Art from NIDA. He has extensive credits in opera, theatre and special events and has won many awards for his designs. Michael is known for the design of the Cauldron, Sydney 2000 Olympic Games; Cauldron, Asian Games Doha 2006 and set design for State Opera of South Australia’s production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle (Helpmann Award for the Best Scenic Design). For the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) he has designed over 28 productions and was Bell Shakespeare Company’s inaugural designer. Michael has worked extensively in opera, designing for Opera Australia and all the state opera companies. Michael’s recent designs include Boundary Street for Black Swan and the Brisbane Festival, Honour, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Travesties and Elling for STC, La Fanciulla del West for State Opera of South Australia, West Australian Opera, Opera Australia and Opera Queensland. Other recent designs include FIFA World Congress Sydney 2008, Don Giovanni for Opera Australia and World Youth Day 2008 – Stations of the Cross, broadcast
Paul Tazewell (Costume Design)
has designed extensively for theatre, dance and opera. Selected credits: Broadway: Noise/Funk (Tony nomination), The Color Purple (Tony nomination), In The Heights (Tony nomination), Memphis (Tony nomination), Streetcar Named Desire (Tony nomination), On the Town, Def Poetry Jam, Elaine Strich: At
