Interview: Composer Lucy Simon Preps for an Epic Broadway Return with DOCTOR ZHIVAGO!

The new Broadway musical DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, will arrive on Broadway on Friday, March 27, 2015, with opening night set for Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway). This sweeping musical romance, which revolves around five intertwined lovers set against a panoramic portrait of a nation in upheaval, is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys), with a book by Academy Award nominee Michael Weller (Ragtime), music by Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Lucy Simon (The Secret Garden), lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie(Grey Gardens) and Emmy Award nominee Amy Powers (Ella Enchanted), and choreography by Tony Award nominee Kelly Devine (Rocky).

Tam Mutu, who is making his Broadway debut as the passionate Doctor and poet Yurii Zhivago, Kelli Barrett (Wicked), Tony Award nominee Tom Hewitt (Rocky Horror Show), and Paul Nolan (Jesus Chris Superstar) will be joined by Lora Lee Gayer as Tonia Gromeko, Zhivago's devoted wife, in the new Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago. Based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, Doctor Zhivago will feature Jacqueline Antaramian and Jamie Jackson, with Heather Botts, Wendi Bergamini, Melody Butiu, Josh Canfield, Julian Cihi, Briana Carlson-Goodman, Bradley Dean,Michael Brian Dunn, Drew Foster, Kira Guloien, Robert Hager, Ericka Hunter, Denis Lambert, David McDonald, Joseph Medeiros,Pilar Millhollen, Gary Milner, Spencer Moses,Julius Sermonia, Jacob L. Smith and Jesse Wildman in a cast of 32.

As the company prepares for rehearsals to begin, Simon chatted with BroadwayWorld about her sweeping score, choosing the new cast, and so much more! Check out the full interview below!

How did this project come to be for you? Were you a fan of the novel and film?

Well I was first introduced to it through the film. I fell in love with it. Years later, after I did THE SECRET GARDEN, I wanted to do something that I loved just as much. I think that being a theatre composer is a HUGE commitment. You have to be in love with it. So I wanted to do something Russian because I love Russian music. So I started thinking about that... Russian novels are so huge, so there was no War and Peace, no Anna Karenina. Then I started thinking about Doctor Zhivago. I looked at the movie again and thought, "There's no way I can do this!" Then I read the book several times and I really zoned into the passion of the five main characters.

How did you go about putting this story to music?

The last chapter of the novel is 25 lyric poems that Zhivago writes throughout the telling of the novel. Really it's a different way of telling the story in a different form- poetry. So that's when my inner-musician's spirit woke up and said, "I can do that! I can tell the story through important song moments." I didn't want to reduce this 500 page, enormous novel, but find a way to get to the heart of it. I think that musically, that was my challenge.

All of the characters are huge; the events are huge; the emotions are huge. All of these things are passionate musical moments. One of the themes of the novel is interconnecting destinies. I love writing themes that hook into each other. They are counterpoints to each other. That was my journey in discovering how to tell this story musically.

Wow, what an interesting approach!

I'm just one part of it though. Having Des [McAnuff] come into the process, who is such a fantastic mind, and sees things in it from a different light...it is very interesting to put it together and see how it gels. It's not an easy path, but I think we have come to something that we all feel very excited about. We've found a form for this story that is so incredibly beloved in film and as a novel. And it has such an amazing history! That the manuscript found its way out of Russia and made its way into the world. Pasternak had to turn down the Nobel Peace Prize because Russia wouldn't allow him to keep it. It's an amazing history!

I think we were able to translate a combination of the turbulence of the time and the powerful emotions of the five main characters. It's the story of three men in love with one woman and two women in love with one man. That's the sense of the story that captures our imagination and our romantic passion.

You're working with an entirely new cast of actors this time around. That must be very exciting...

Absolutely! I think the actors bring so much to what you have created. How they interpret it and feel about it is a part of the process. We are about to start rehearsals in a week, and to bring them into the process and let them feel what we have done is very exciting. When we were in Australia, Anthony Warlow played Zhivago- he is just a major hero of mine. I met him when he was doing THE SECRET GARDEN in 1995. I went to Australia to see the performance and I was blown away by him. It was then that I thought, "If ever I do DOCTOR ZHIVAGO..." He brought such dignity and power to the role, but Tam Mutu is younger and vigorous! He brings a different quality to the role that I'm really interested in seeing.

He was the first one cast, so when Des was doing the auditions for Lara he had it narrowed down to five people. Tam is in London, but we brought him in to work with the potential Laras and it was so interesting to see them connect with him. Kelli Barret is just extraordinary. Their chemistry was perfect. I think that is the key to making this musical work- the chemistry between the two of them.

Have you made a lot of changes to the material since Australia?

Yes and no. The basic blueprint is there, but the way we have enriched it and honed in on certain moments have changed. We changed some of the music. One of the big things that we learned there was that the audience wanted to hear that music that they were so familiar with from the film. We found the perfect way to include it. We were originally resisting it, because we wanted to bring something different, but it seemed like it was a well-known folk song... like "Moscow Nights." So we were able to bring it back and have the company sing it as a song from the better days in Moscow. It really works beautifully! It hasn't yet been staged, but it's one of the things we are looking forward to seeing as we start rehearsals next week.

We also changed Yuri and Lara's solos to reflect the way they preoccupy each other's minds. They don't actually spend that much time together, but they are constantly living in each other's minds. So we wanted to express that musically.

What are you most excited about coming back to Broadway and bringing this to a New York audience?

It was my goal to bring this story to the heart of a live audience. We've experienced it as one of the great movies that people fall in love with and as one of the great books of the 20th century. Now it's going to a different form. We have tried very hard to bring the heart of this piece to the stage- the doctor poet. Yuri Zhivago is a doctor who heals the body with his poetry and keeps alive the spirit of Russia. We hope we can do that without making it feel like an academic study. We want to get the importance of his journey to the stage and have the audience live through this passion play! I hope our hopes and dreams for it come true!

I just had the pleasure of going to a rehearsal for THE SECRET GARDEN at the Tisch School of the Arts. They are doing a production of of it next month and had asked me to come and talk to the students and see what they were doing. I listened to a read-through of the first act and it was so glorious! Everyone takes that to heart! I guess that's what I want for DOCTOR ZHIVAGO too. I want people to take it to heart in the way that they have THE SECRET GARDEN. It's a very different story but it has the same effect of getting to the spirit of the piece. I saw that in these students!

Simon 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."? Ms. Simon returns to home ground as she develops her next musical based on an iconic and beloved American story.

Tickets for Doctor Zhivago are now on sale through Telecharge.com (212-239-6200) and are available for performances from Friday, March 27, 2015, through Thursday, March 31, 2016. Tickets range from $42.50 - $145.00 (include $2 Facilities Fee). For groups of 10 or more visit Telecharge.com/groups or to order by phone, call 800-432-7780.

For more information visit: www.doctorzhivagobroadway.com