Broadway's Doctor Zhivago announces complete casting

Producers of the new musical adaptation of Doctor Zhivago have now announced complete casting for the upcoming production, which will open at the Broadway Theatre on 21 April 2015, following previews from 27 March 2015.

Rounding out the cast will be Jonah Halperin, Sophia Gennusa, Ava-Riley Miles and Ashley Brooke. Therefore, the full cast includes Tam Mutu (Yurii Zhivago), Kelli Barrett (Lara Guishar), Tom Hewitt (Viktor Komarovsky), Paul Nolan (Pasha Antipov), Lora Lee Gayer (Tonia Gromeko), with Jacqueline Antaramian, Wendi Bergamini, Heather Botts, Ashley Brooke, Melody Butiu, Josh Canfield, Briana Carlson-Goodman, Julian Cihi, Bradley Dean, Michael Brian Dunn, Drew Foster, Sophia Gennusa, Kira Guloien, Robert Hager, Jonah Halperin, Ericka Hunter, Jamie Jackson, Denis Lambert, David McDonald, Joseph Medeiros, Ava-Riley Miles, Pilar Millhollen, Gary Milner, Spencer Moses, Julius Sermonia, Jacob L. Smith and Jesse Wildman.

Doctor Zhivago is a new musical adaptation of the 1957 novel by Boris Pasternak, directed by Des McAnuff and features a book by Michael Weller, music by Lucy Simon and lyrics by Michael Korie and Amy Powers. It is initially be booking through to 6 March 2016.

"The romance is set during the final days of Czarist Russia and follows Zhivago (Mutu), a political idealist, physician and poet. His 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 (Barrett). Zhivago is not alone in his yearnings for Lara, competing for her affections with the young revolutionary Pasha Antipov (Nolan) and the aristocrat Viktor Komarovsky (Hewitt). The story is perhaps best known from its acclaimed 1965 film version, which famously starred Omar Sharif and Julie Christie."

The musical first premiered as 'Zhivago' at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in 2006. A heavily revised version under the title 'Doctor Zhivago - A New Musical' opened at the Lyric Theatre in Sydney, Australia in 2011 under under the direction of Tony Award winner Des McAnuff. The cast included Anthony Warlow as Yuri Zhivago, Lucy Maunder as Lara, Taneel Van Zyl as Tonia and Martin Crewes as Pasha.

The creative team behind Doctor Zhivago features choreography by Kelly Devine, scenic design by Michael Scott-Mitchell, costumes by Tony nominee Paul Tazewell, lighting by Tony winner Howell Binkley, sound design by Tony winner Steve Canyon Kennedy, projections by Sean Nieuwenhuis, orchestrations by Danny Troob, music arrangements by Eric Stern and musical supervision by Ron Melrose.

Doctor Zhivago is produced on Broadway by Anita Waxman, Tom Dokton, Latitude Link, Ted Hartley/RKO Stage and Chunsoo Shin, with Joe Corcoran, J. Todd Harris, The Pelican Group, John Frost, and Junkyard Dog Productions.

- by Tom Millward