- Paul Chai
Doctor Zhivago Variety Review
By PAUL CHAI
February 26, 2011
Making a musical of “Doctor Zhivago” (based on the 1957 novel by Boris Pasternak, by way of the 1965 David Lean movie with Omar Sharif and Julie Christie) seems like a bold undertaking. But you have to wonder which of the numerous plots and subplots in this sprawling narrative, set in turbulent 1917 Russia, creatives Michael Weller (book), Michael Korie & Amy Powers (lyrics) and Lucy Simon (music) would choose to musicalize and dramatize. The answer is: All of them. The immortal love story of Zhivago and his Lara is up there, but so, too, is the entire Russian Revolution, which in 1917 completed its upheaval in less than a year. Here it seems to drag on for ages.