All That Chat - re: DOCTOR ZHIVAGO and the Interpolation of Doom

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re: DOCTOR ZHIVAGO and the Interpolation of Doom

Posted by:	AlanScott 08:09 pm EDT 05/10/15
In reply to:	re: DOCTOR ZHIVAGO and the Interpolation of Doom - NeoAdamite 04:38 pm EDT 05/10/15

No, not considered a success. Great reviews for Melina, but mostly negative reviews for the show. An ad in the Times the first Sunday after the opening was headed (not too surprisingly) "MELINA" and featured barely a single quote about anything but the star (although Walter Kerr's quoted mention of "Melina locked in the muscular embrace of a handsome dock worker without a shirt" may have brought some gay men to the box office). Audiences probably liked it a bit more than critics did as even with a big advance, a 10-month run suggests some audience appeal after the advance sale ran out. But it closed at a loss (probably a big one), and there was no tour, although Cyd Charisse did a stock tour. It may have been given a shot in the arm when Clive Barnes, not yet the Times theatre critic when it opened, reviewed it in November 1967 and said that the show had improved a bit since the opening thanks to a few changes, though he also said more changes still would be helpful. He basically said that it was better than the reviews might have made people think ("at least a notch or so above average," still not something you'd want to quote in an ad) and that "audiences seemed to love it."

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