From The Director...
I've had my eye on Anastasia the musical for many years, ever since I heard the beautiful score and saw the original on Broadway in 2017. The trajectory for this show to our stage was intercepted by the pandemic, which brought many new challenges and changes that we were forced to adapt to. This included a new set of students who had missed formative developmental experiences and were starting at ground zero in their theatrical journeys, a limited budget depleted by the years without a show, and the challenge of building up our support base again. For the last few years we have produced shows that graduated in complexity and magnitude, scaffolding the learning experience of being on stage for our students, and allowing them to step, a year at a time, into our creative world. Anastasia is the culmination of that work-- challenging, textured, requiring a skillset that requires not only superior vocal skill, but in depth understanding of characters, history, legends, and the nature of human relationships.
While the musical is loosely based on the 1997 animated film of the same name, the stage version veers away from the caricatures and seeks to develop characters that are more historically relevant, emerging from the Russian twilight into the new century, grappling with questions of identity, memory, and perception. Following the seizing of Russia by the Bolshevik Party (later renamed the Communist Party) in 1917 after the revolutions, and the assassination of Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1918, the rumors of one daughter surviving the brutal attack surfaced and began to circulate and grow. Repeated as lore for decades, many women claimed to be Anastasia, seeking the remaining Romanov fortune for themselves. The most famous of these impersonators, Anna Anderson, remained true to her claim until her death in 1984. In 1979, the remains of the Romanov family was found, and in 1991, scientists partially confirmed the identities of three daughters and their parents. It wasn't until 2007 though, using DNA that all members of the family, including the last daughter and son, were confirmed dead and rumors of a surviving Anastasia were finally put to bed.
Director, Darko Tresnjak has said that we do not tell the story of Anastasia because it is historically accurate-- it isn't. Rasputin is competely ignored in the musical version, Gleb is not a real soldier, and the timeline is consolidated in a way that is not historically accurate. To him what matters most is that "a fabrication gave birth to a myth, a modern romance" and that this myth was readily adopted and revered by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. He said,"I suspect that everyone, but especially immigrant children like myself, who learn about separation and loss from an early age, has a need to believe in stories like ANASTASIA." Like Shakespeare's famous romances (Pericles, The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline, The Tempest), these stories "tell of families torn asunder, of long and perilous voyages, and of improbable yet heartbreaking reunions. They seem to encompass all of life’s joys and sorrows. And at or near the center of each one is a mysterious and determined young woman." Allowing our students to dabble in dramaturgy, learn the history, and then allow themselves to consider what kinds of people would engage in believing the fantasy rather than the reality, what kinds of people would fight for the new order, even if it meant building that order on a horrible act, and what happens to people who are forced to leave one identity behind and adopt another has opened up conversation and dialogues that otherwise might never have happened.
For our purposes, the show has been both educational and a labor of love. This show is HUGE, with challenges our students have never tackled before. Getting to bring this gorgeous spectacle to the stage, and to sing these beautiful songs has truly been a pleasure, and watching our kids grow and expand their repertoires as they flex their dramatic skills has been truly miraculous to behold. We hope you enjoy our foray into the rumors and mystery of Anastasia, and that you leave our theatre as enchanted with this show as we are.
Enjoy,
Christina McGovern
