‘WATER FOR ELEPHANTS’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
Based on the Novel by Sara Gruen
Book by Rick Elise
Score by PigPenTheatre Co.
Choreography by Jesse Robb & Shana Carroll
Directed by Jessica Stone
Imperial Theatre
249 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.waterforelephants.com

By David NouNou

Whatever happened to the adage “less is more”? There is so much and nothing going on here that the head literally reels. Water For Elephants starts out in a reasonable fashion and within minutes, it becomes an overwrought runaway train.

The fairgrounds have closed, the circus has been dismantled, and there is the elder Jacob Jankowski, the ever genial (Gregg Edelman) admiring and enjoying the pleasures the circus has provided him over the years. He is greeted by the current mangers, June (Isabelle McCalla) and Charlie (Paul Alexander Nolan) and wonder what he is doing there, only to be told he escaped from the old age home and came to enjoy the circus, and starts retelling them what he did as far back as 1931 when he started working for a circus. We now meet Young Jacob (Grant Gustin). His parents died in a car crash. He was young with nowhere to go, and accidentally jumped on board a circus train and hoping to get at least one day’s work at Benzini Brothers Circus.

Young Jacob is met with a lot of hostility and animosity from “kinkers and rousts,” the names of circus performers. He is hired by August (Paul Alexander Nolan) to do odd jobs from cleaning stalls to pitching tents. Jacob can do and does everything. Next enters Marlena (Isabelle McCalla), the star attraction with a beautiful white horse. The horse has been overworked and a spur is jutting from his foot; ultimately, he must be put down. Jacob—who was studying to be a veterinarian at Cornell but never graduated—euthanizes the horse and that brings an end to the specialty attraction of the circus.

Jacob has now been assigned to get a new act for the circus—and it is in the form of a giant elephant who speaks only one language. Wait for it. It is Marlena and Jacob who have to get the elephant act up and running in order for the circus to continue. Oh, did I mention that Marlena is married to the abusive August when this new trio forms?

That is basically the story condensed and is, hopefully, comprehensible. Also, a further clarification is needed that the story jumps to past and present, so stay alert and keep up.

A circus is basically a fun place to go to and be amazed by all the illusions taking place. What we have here is all the daily grind routines and pressures a circus endures with none of the pleasures involved. The book by Rick Elise is so top-heavy with every turgid cliché imaginable. It keeps hammering at you repeatedly if you missed it the first couple of times. The nice guy, the sinister malevolent circus owner, his gentle and sweet wife, all the fun and mean circus folk, on and on and on.

Next is the score by Pigpen Theatre Co. It has a depression-era bluesy 1930s sound and for every dirge inserted, an upbeat song follows, then another dirge, another rousing number and so on and so on. When all else fails, brings on the “kinkers and rousts” to do all the tumbling, scaling each other, with the acrobats throwing themselves across the stage, over each other and under each other. These routine antics, thanks to choreographers Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll, are akin to an alarm, keeping things moving to keep the audience awake. At this point, we haven’t even hit intermission yet.

Last year, director Jessica Stone delivered the beautiful musical Kimberly Akimbo with laser-focused direction. There is so much extemporaneous stuff  going on just before intermission, including a dreadful stabbing act that completely boggles the mind on why it even exists.  Her direction here is so loose and all over the place that at least half an hour could have been trimmed from the show and you would not have missed a thing. Why? Everything is repeated multiple times. Finally, the curtain comes down at almost two hours and 45 minutes.

Two things that do stand out are the ever-charming Greg Edelman, who makes the evening somewhat bearable; and making his Broadway debut is Grant Gustin. Mr. Gustin has boundless energy and is put through the wringer but comes out shining.

Not to worry, though, as this is one of the shows that out-of-towners can fully appreciate.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 29, 2024
Reviewed at March 28, 2024 press performance

‘WATER FOR ELEPHANTS’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘WATER FOR ELEPHANTS”: Marissa Rosen, Sara Gettelfinger, Taylor Colleton & Grant Gustin. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘WATER FOR ELEPHANTS’: Marissa Rosen, Gregg Edelman, Taylor Colleton, Sara Gettelfinger, Joe De Paul & Stan Brown. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

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‘PARADE’: Micaela Diamond & Ben Platt. Photo: Joan Marcus.

PARADE
Book by Alfred Uhry
Music & lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
Conceived by Harold Prince
Directed by Michael Arden
Through August 6, 2023
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
242 West 45^th Street
(212-239-6200), https://paradebroadway.com/

By David NouNou

A lot has happened since Parade originally opened in 1998 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. In its original form, it was compelling theatre; now it is very difficult to sit through. Not that the subject matter has changed—it’s the times that have changed. If anything, Parade is more relevant today than it was back then. Watching antisemitism in full display now, bigotry, the state of Georgia currently in turmoil and making headlines about an injustice perpetrated by a former president—plus, the divisiveness that is splitting the country on so many different issues—there is a lot to process here.

The story is set in Georgia, the time is 1913-1915, and it is about the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl, Mary Phagen (Erin Rose Doyle), and the subsequent arrest, trumped-up trial, unjust sentencing and lynching of a Jewish factory superintendent, Leo Frank (Ben Platt).

Leo Frank moved from Brooklyn to Atlanta to be with his Southern Georgian Jewish wife, Lucille (Micaela Diamond), whose uncle offered Leo a superintendent’s job and hopefully a better life to be able to raise a family. He is totally uncomfortable in this environment because he is Jewish and feels out of place. It is Memorial Day 1913: Mary Phagen (Miss Doyle), has come to the pencil factory on a Saturday for her weekly pay of $1.20. The next day she is found dead in the basement of the factory. The suspects at the time are the black janitor, Newt Lee (Eddie Cooper) and Leo Frank.  Prosecutor Hugh Dorsey (Paul Alexander Nolan) is coerced by Tom Watson (Manoel Felciano), a writer for The Jeffersonian, an extremist right-wing newspaper, and conspire to release Newt Lee reasoning “hanging another Negro ain’t enough this time. We gotta do better.”

Leo is sentenced to jail to eventually hang. His wife Lucille goes to Governor Slaton (Sean Allan Krill) to show the inconsistences of the trial, which Slaton reluctantly looks over, and ultimately finds enough evidence of conspired lying decides to transfer Leo to another jail, only to be hauled away at night by “rebels seeking revenge” and hanging him.

The book by Alfred Uhry is fascinating and intriguing, while the score by Jason Robert Brown is too lugubrious and unmemorable. For such an intense subject matter, the play could have used more book and less score to make the point of injustice more effective. You yearn for the scenes that have Leo and Lucille speaking frankly to each other or Lucille making her point to Governor Slaton. Originally directed by Harold Prince, director Michael Arden has taken a darker approach to the proceedings. It’s apropos for the times.

What mesmerized me most and made the evening more tolerable was Ben Platt. With the role of Leo Frank, he has finally shed his teenage persona of Evan Hansen, and taken the mantle of Broadway’s next leading man. He is so convincing as Leo that I could not see a sign of Evan. He is solid, as an actor and a singer and genuinely believes in his role.

Two other performances that leapt out were Micaela Diamond as Lucille Frank, her unrelenting pursuit to exonerate her husband and the love behind her motives are palpable. The other performance is from Sean Allan Krill as Georgia Governor Slaton, with his commanding voice and charming Southern gentility; he delivers genuine compassion in trying to resolve this heinous case. The rest of the cast is the usual stereotypes one would find in the South.

Parade is making a meaningful and lasting impression on this year’s theatrical season. It’s mirroring the times in which we live.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 22, 2023
Reviewed at March 21, 2023 press performance.

‘PARADE’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘PARADE’: (left to right) William Michals, Jackson Teeley, Paul Alexander Nolan, Eddie Cooper & Max Chernin. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘PARADE’: Alex Joseph Grayson. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘PARADE’: Jay Armstrong Johnson & Jake Pedersen. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘PARADE’: Erin Rose Doyle & Jake Pedersen. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘PARADE’: Paul Alexander Nolan & Alex Joseph Grayson. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘PARADE’: Benn Platt. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘PARADE’: Micaela Diamond. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘PARADE’: Manoel Felciano. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘PARADE’: Stacie Bono & Sean Allan Krill. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘SLAVE PLAY’ (On ground, left to right): Ato Blankson-Wood, James Cusati-Moyer, Sullivan Jones, Annie McNamara, Joaquina Kalukango, Paul Alexander Nolan. (In red boxes, left to right): Irene Sofia Lucio & Chalia La Tour. Photo: Matthew Murphy

SLAVE PLAY
By Jeremy O. Harris
Directed by Robert O’Hara
Through January 19, 2020
Golden Theatre
252 West 45th Street
212-239-6200, https://slaveplaybroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Sex and race are topics that push everyone’s proverbial buttons, and the two themes are explored via outrageous extremes in Jeremy O. Harris’s provocative Slave Play.

The show, in the beginning, is a series of uncomfortable, absurdist S&M sexual vignettes but ends up actually being a send-up of psychotherapy and relationships. It also tries to make serious statements about race in America. Playwright Jeffrey O. Harris’s overlong one-act tale mostly chronicles, in the first hour, titillating simulated sex scenes among interracial couples, followed by a second hour that explains, from a psychological and historical perspective, everything we’ve seen previously.

The scenes in the show’s first half are stereotypical in the absolute worst porn-style way and so intentionally offensive that they just look absurd and pointless. In the first vignette, Kaneisha (Joaquina Kalukango) is an African slave shown twerking to Rihanna’s “Work” while white overseer Jim (Paul Alexander Nolan) reveals how much he likes her, brandishing a whip as she calls him “master” (please, don’t ask).

There is the antebellum older white woman Alana (Annie McNamara), seen sporting 19^th century finery, while speaking in derogatory sexual innuendoes to her well-dressed, younger black lover Phillip (Sullivan Jones). She calls him her “Mandingo” (perhaps an homage to the awful “blaxploitation” film and novel of the same name). Phillip must endure Alana’s racist blather about his ample endowment. Eventually she whips out a dildo and penetrates him, asking if he likes her being “the man.”

We also have the gay male couple, Gary (Ato Blankson-Wood) and Dustin (James Cusati-Moyer). Dustin is a white indentured servant who is overseen by African American stud Gary. They both sport black Calvin Klein underwear and leather boots and you can draw your own conclusions about what happens next.

In the next hour, we learn that all this racially charged sex way down in pre-Civil War Dixie is an erotic phantasmagoria of fantasies of role playing and we’re really watching three interracial couples in “antebellum sexual performance therapy.” There is a lot of bantering from the couples and pretentious psychobabble from the two therapists, Teá (Chalia LaTour) and Patricia (Irene Sofia Lucio). The point (or lack thereof) of this group study is for the couples to better understand their racial standing, only to pulverize each relationship. Supposedly, they are told, in interracial couples someone is “the prize” and someone is “the master,” everyone is doomed to their own self-destruction, blah, blah, blah.

Despite the play’s shortcomings, there are some good performances here from cast members who play dual roles as both modern couples and their antebellum counterparts. Joaquina Kalukango is one of the most outstanding, displaying many raw emotions, and she is particularly effective in one of the show’s final scenes. As Gary, Ato Blankson-Wood is perfect, especially in a therapy sequence in which he goes off on his partner Dustin.

Perhaps playwright Jeremy O. Harris wanted to write a play that addressed, in a lighthearted way, the important topics of racism and America’s sad history of slavery while also examining modern-day human sexuality. Slave Play originated Off Broadway last year at the New York Theatre Workshop and in a smaller, less commercial production this show works best. However, as directed by Robert O’Hara for the Broadway stage, it is too flawed and ultimately unsatisfying to work as either a solid comedy or eye-opening drama about such sensitive subject matter.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 12, 2019
Reviewed at October 10, 2019 press performance.

‘SLAVE PLAY’: Annie McNamara & Sullivan Jones. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘SLAVE PLAY’: James Cusati-Moyer & Ato Blankson-Wood. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘SLAVE PLAY’: (Left to right) Ato Blankson-Wood, Chalia La Tour, Joaquina Kalukango (kneeling), Irene Sofia Lucio, Sullivan Jones, Annie McNamara, Paul Alexander Nolan, & James Cusati-Moyer. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

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‘ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE’: Paul Alexander Nolan & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE
Book by Greg Garcia & Mike O’Malley
Music & lyrics by Jimmy Buffett
Choreography by Kelly Devine
Directed by Christopher Ashley
Marquis Theatre
246 West 44th Street
(877-250-2929), http://escapetomargaritavillemusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

Jukebox musicals usually contain a paper-thin plot because they are simply an excuse to showcase and cash in on a pop star or group’s songbook. Granted, Jimmy Buffett doesn’t have a huge body of work as grand as that of ABBA or the Four Seasons, but he does have a dedicated following and more hit songs than one might think. That must be why Escape to Margaritaville, featuring Mr. Buffett’s songs, has been produced, and with some real pedigree behind it, namely director Christopher Ashley (best known for last year’s brilliant Come From Away). However, as colorful, festive and good-intentioned as this show is, it’s likely something only Parrotheads (as Buffett’s fans are known) will appreciate.

Think Mr. Buffett is only famous for his classic “Margaritaville”? Think again. His other hits include “Come Monday,” “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise” (also the name of a chain of restaurants Mr. Buffett owns), “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” and more. From the late 1970s onward, the songs were staples on pop and country music radio.

Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley’s book is a pedestrian, by-the-numbers story that offers an excuse to weave Mr. Buffett’s songs into a narrative. The story revolves around singer/songwriter Tully (Paul Alexander Nolan), a man living on a Caribbean island and working as the on-site entertainer at a resort called—what else?—Margaritaville, run by sassy owner Marley (Rema Webb). Others at the resort include Tully’s buddy Brick (Eric Petersen), a chubby bartender who is scatterbrained but has a heart of gold.

Up in chilly Cincinnati, Rachel (Alison Luff), a no-nonsense environmental scientist, is preparing to head down to Margaritaville with her best friend Tammy (Lisa Howard), a bubbly overweight woman engaged to a guy who is both an overbearing slob and hypercritical of her. They are both ready to have a fun bachelorette week in the sun, and of course what happens next is totally predictable. Tammy meets Brick and Rachel meets Tully, and the sparks and clichés fly.

Mr. Garcia and Mr. O’Malley’s book is full of bad TV sitcom humor and jokes that are “groaners” indeed, and for good reason. Mr. Garcia is best known for creating the TV comedies “My Name is Earl,” “Yes, Dear” and “Raising Hope.”

Christopher Ashley certainly tries to direct this mess of musical, with the help of colorful costumes by Paul Tazewell, and energetic yet pointless choreography by Kelly Devine. Most of the actors’ performances are sincere and serviceable, but a few stand out. Rema Webb, for instance, is a total delight as the brassy, bossy Margaritaville owner Marley and often steals the show. Lisa Howard and Eric Petersen are lovable in all the right places. However, as the leading man, Tully, Paul Alexander Nolan has a pleasant voice but very little stage presence and zero chemistry with Ms. Luff as Rachel.

One of the show’s only saving graces is the razzle-dazzle finale. Not because it’s anything remarkable, but cast members toss out Margaritaville beach balls to the audience in case anyone wants a souvenir. Escape to Margaritaville could possibly do decent business on the road as a touring show since Mr. Buffet’s fan base is huge in the Midwest and South, but the musical’s time here on Broadway will likely be “wasting away” rather quickly.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 23, 2018
Reviewed at March 22, 2018 press performance.

“ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE’: Alison Luff & Paul Alexander Nolan. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE’: (left to right) Lisa Howard, Alison Luff, Paul Alexander Nolan & Eric Petersen. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE’: Andre Ward. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE’: Lisa Howard. Photo: Matthew Murphy

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‘BRIGHT STAR’: (left to right) Michael Pearce, Bennett Sullivan, Rob Berman & Martha McDonnell. Photo: Nick Stokes

BRIGHT STAR
Book, music & story by Steve Martin
Music, lyrics & story by Edie Brickell
Directed by Walter Bobbie
Cort Theatre
138 West 48th Street
(212-239-6200), www.BrightStarMusical.com

By Scott Harrah

With its bluegrass score and Southern gothic plot, Bright Star—the new musical by Steve Martin and pop artist Edie Brickell, based on their 2013, Grammy-winning album “Love Has Come For You”– is hardly traditional Broadway fare, but it is truly an original work in every sense. This down-home tale has a lot going for it, from energetic choreography by Josh Rhodes to a great cast directed by Walter Bobbie and a breakout performance from golden-voiced Carmen Cusack in the lead role of Alice Murphy. Despite its flaws, Bright Star has enough spunk to hold our attention with a compelling yet convoluted, sentimental story and a sincere, infectious, country-fried songbook.

If one overlooks the two things that bog down Bright Star—Ms. Brickell’s rhyming, often repetitious lyrics and the somewhat predictable plot—it’s easy to suspend disbelief and go with the saga, set in both 1920s and 1940s North Carolina. The musical opens with Ms. Cusack belting out the rousing “If You Knew My Story,” which prefaces all that is about to transpire.

In 1945, young Billy Cane (A.J. Shively) returns from the war and pursues his dream of becoming a writer. He travels to Asheville and tries to get published in the prestigious Asheville Southern Journal, but he first has to impress the discerning, editor, Alice Murphy (Ms. Cusack).

The story alternates from the mid-1940s to 1923, when, in bucolic Zebulon, North Carolina, teenaged Alice Murphy falls for Jimmy Ray Dobbs (Paul Alexander Nolan). The trouble is their fathers don’t approve of the relationship. Jimmy Ray’s dad is Mayor Josiah Dobbs (Michael Mulheren), who has lofty plans for his son, while Alice’s Daddy Murphy (Steven Lee Anderson) is a religious zealot and will not bless their union.

Without giving too much away, there’s a baby involved and a mysterious “accident.” It doesn’t take long for the tale of two decades to meet as the twist we’ve been expecting is finally revealed.

Everything unfolds via Eugene Lee’s multi-purpose set, featuring a revolving wooden cabin. We often see the musicians onstage, playing banjo, violin, piano, fiddle, etc., adding to the hillbilly spirit of the show.

Ms. Cusack emerges as the true Bright Star here because, with her lush, emotional vocals and multi-layered performance, she brings badly needed depth and veracity to the paper-thin material, portraying both young and older Alice with seamless conviction. She’s certainly going to be recognized in a few weeks come awards-nomination time in a competitive season of outstanding female musical actresses.

The songs, from “Way Back in the Day” to “Asheville,” “I Can’t Wait” and “Sun’s Gonna Shine” (the latter is the only one from the 2013 “Love Has Come for You” album) propel the story and will thrill fans of bluegrass. Although an original musical is a rarity on Broadway these days, this one, with all its rhyming songs and formulaic revelations, is solid enough for a good, healthy run.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 27, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on March 26, 2016

‘BRIGHT STAR’: Carmen Cusack & Paul Alexander Nolan. Photo: Nick Stokes

‘BRIGHT STAR’: Hannah Elless & A.J. Shively. Photo: Nick Stokes

‘BRIGHT STAR’: Carmen Cusack. Photo: Nick Stokes

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LARA & DOCTOR ZHIVAGO: Kelli Barrett & Tam Matu. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO
Book by Michael Weller
Music by Lucy Simon
Lyrics by Michael Korie & Amy Powers
Based on the novel by Joseph Pasternak
Directed by Des McAnuff
Choreographed by Kelly Devine
Broadway Theatre
1681 Broadway at 53rd Street
(212-239-6200), www.DoctorZhivagoBroadway.com

By David NouNou

1957 introduced us to the epic Russian novel Doctor Zhivago. Simply put, it’s the Russian version of our Gone With the Wind. Then in 1965, David Lean gave us the epic grandiose motion picture version; both of them by today’s standards border on the tedious. Now in 2015, we have the granddaddy of them all, the musical version is the epic version of boredom and tedium. Here the definition of those two words is Doctor Zhivago.

Set against a background of war and revolution, where an eternal love is formed might sound like an ambitious and a tempting idea to some writers and composers. After all, an epic Victor Hugo novel was turned into an epic musical. What the creators here failed to realize is the book and score in that musical propelled the storyline forward and kept the action constantly moving. The book here is sophomoric and the score is about as exciting as listening to wallpaper paste dry. It turns into almost three hours of unrelenting drab tedium. Inserting the now famous song “Somewhere My Love” or “Lara’s Theme” from the movie sung by nurses on the battlefield in the middle of Act I makes the scene so absurd and ludicrous that one yearns just to hear the entire magnificent melodic Maurice Jarre score from the movie and dispense with the entire abysmally dreary repetitious songs sung here.

We have the orphaned Yuri Zhivago going to live with the Gromekos. Yuri (Tam Mutu) grows up and marries Tonia Gromeko (Lora Lee Gayer), his childhood friend, and on the eve of his wedding a revolution is going on outside. He leaves the wedding to tend the wounded and while on this mission of mercy, he meets the love of his life, Lara (Kelli Barrett). She is on her way to find Viktor Komarovsky (Tom Hewitt), who during her youth took advantage of her maidenhood and taught her the pleasures of lovemaking and she carries this guilt throughout her life. On this particular night, she is out to kill him and he is attending Yuri’s wedding party. She bursts into the party tries to shoot him but misses, no charges are pressed, and Yuri is totally enthralled by Lara and seems to have forgotten he is getting married that night. Lara ultimately marries the revolutionary, Pasha Antipov (Paul Nolan Alexander). On their wedding night, Pasha tells her he’s a virgin and she tells him about her life of sin with Viktor. In a furious fit, Pasha goes to war, climbs up the ranks and becomes the feared and dreaded Strelnikov (he’s even more sinister than Inspector Javert; you know, from the other epic musical).

Yuri, now a celebrated poet and doctor, is off mending the wounded at the war. Viktor is also there fighting for the overthrow of the government; he is very adaptable. He switches allegiances at the drop of a hat. Madness is all around, uprisings, starvation, famine communism, cannons being fired, people getting killed all over Russia, and you know that Russia is a humongous place but Yuri and Lara keep bumping into each other in all parts of Russia and their love is eternal as mentioned in the song “On the Edge of Time.” I’ve told you enough. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the pleasures that await you.

All this could be accepted, not forgiven, had the leads had any charm, charisma, personality anything appealing. Was there a shortage of leading men in America that they had to get Tam Mutu from England? Three men in love and obsessed with Lara, in this case Kelli Barrett; what did she possess that just never came across the footlights? Paul Alexander Nolan, who was quiet good as Jesus in the recent revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, starts out pleasant enough as Sasha but as Strelnikov is shrill and ludicrous barking out orders and shooting people. Oh, the revolution does take a toll on people. I must admit that Tom Hewitt had a grasp of his character, Viktor, and played him well.

I know all directors can have a misfire, but when it happens to one someone the likes of Des McAnuff, it is mind boggling how this musical was so out of control. After all, he was the visionary who was responsible for such musicals as Tommy, Jersey Boys, Big River and a splendid revival of How to Succeed...I know it’s a challenge to tackle the impossible, but even Mr. McAnuff must have sensed the odds against this pointless travesty.

Even the design aspects of this show are at odds with themselves: the sets represent nothing but stacked-up chairs and sometimes they are on fire; the costumes are too lavish for the impoverished Tonia and the Gromekos after the fall of the Czar when they didn’t even have enough food to set on the table. Just look at the picture of her in that gorgeous beige suit and hat; what woman wouldn’t kill for that outfit? And that is the show’s representation of a poor woman. The sound effects were too loud, I guess to try to keep us awake. So it goes, one misfire after another: story, book, score, players, direction, all forms of designs. Enough said, I think you get the picture.

ONE DREARY EVENING: Sophia Gennusa & Kelli Barrett in ‘Doctor Zhivago.’ Photo: Matthew Murphy

THE GOOD DOCTOR: Tam Matu as Doctor Zhivago. Photo: Matthew Murphy

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION SET TO MUSIC: (left to right) Paul Alexander Nolan, Kelli Barrett, Tam Matu & Lora Lee Gayer. Photo: Matthew Murphy

IMPOVERISHED, BUT ABLE TO AFFORD THAT CHIC SUIT & HAT: Lora Lee Gayer. Photo: Matthew Murphy

VIKTOR: Played well by Tom Hewitt. Photo: Matthew Murphy

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 25, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 24, 2015

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