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, will also direct for Broadway. An official Broadway opening has been set for April 21.
The 1,761-seat Broadway Theatre is currently home to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, which will end its run Jan. 3.
The stage production of Dr. 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).
Kelly Devine (Rocky, Rock of Ages) will choreograph.
Casting for the musical has not been announced. Anthony Warlow, who made his Broadway debut in the recent revival of Annie, starred in the Australian premiere. "Dr. Zhivago has a profound and exquisite intimacy," McAnuff said in a statement. "The story is about five people – three men in love with one woman and two women in love with one man. While they are so close to us that we can reach out and touch them, they also live out their lives over a vast stretch of Russian history from the streets of Moscow to the icy slopes of the Ural Mountains. The heart of our story is the discovery that love through art can survive even the most unimaginably violent and turbulent times. Working on this has given us all on the team the kind of emotional inspiration that we hope to pass on to New York audiences. The story of Dr. Zhivago is just as pertinent today as it was fifty years ago. It continues to advance on the edge of time."
Dr. Zhivago will have 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.
Anita Waxman, Tom Dokton, Latitude Link, Ted Hartley/RKO Stage and Chunsoo Shin, with Joe Corcoran, J. Todd Harris, The Pelican Group and John Frost produce the Broadway run. 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.."
Tickets for Dr. Zhivago go on sale Nov. 10. Visit doctorzhivagobroadway.com.
