Review: ANASTASIA Brings Broadway Back to Thalia Mara Hall

Home, love, family...these are the things that the titular character of Anastasia the Musical longs to find on a grand adventure with a couple of con men as her only companions. Along the way, she's also hoping to find out just whether or not she is the daughter of the last, late Russian czar, and if she isn't, then just who is she? The touring production's stop on Monday, November 15th opens the 2021-2022 Broadway in Jackson series. After a monumental 614 days, it brought audiences back to Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, Mississippi.

Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures movie of the same name, the musical, presented by NETworks Presentations, features a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Direction and choreography for the tour are by Sarah Hartmann and Bill Burns, respectively.

The musical tells the story of Anya, portrayed stunningly by Kyla Stone whose performance of "Journey to the Past" is absolutely awe-inspiring, a young streetsweeper with no home, family, or recollection of who she is aside from what memories she has made since waking up in a hospital as a child and being given a hat and a name - nothing except for a longing to get to Paris, where she believes more answers lie. After meeting Dmitry, played charmingly by Sam McLellan, and Vlad, hilariously portrayed by Bryan Seastrom, a couple of con men, she warily agrees to their plan to turn her into the missing grand duchess, Anastasia, in exchange for exit papers from Russia, not realizing they just might have found her identity after all!

A beautiful tale of friendship in unlikely places, family both chosen and blood, and heart, Anastasia is not to be missed. Upcoming stops are Columbia, SC, and Norfolk, VA. Links to ticket sales can be found below, respectively.

https://itkt.choicecrm.net/templates/USCK/#/events

https://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/2480269?venueId=8274&brand=seven