Inspired by the beloved films, the romantic and adventure-filled new musical Anastasia comes to Broadway.
From the Tony Award-winning creators of the Broadway classic Ragtime, this dazzling show transports us from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past. Pursued by a ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing conman and a lovable ex-aristocrat. Together, they embark on an epic adventure to help her find home, love, and family.
Anastasia features a book by celebrated playwright Terrence McNally and a lush, new score by Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics). Tony Award-winning director Darko Tresnjak directs.
Now 'Anastasia,' inspired by the 1956 Ingrid Bergman film but mostly the 1997 animation, does have plenty of snow - lovely fat snowflakes that flit like fireflies behind the semicircle of graceful windows (designed by Alexander Dodge) that twirl and reveal scenes from St. Petersburg to Paris. This one also has a score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, who wrote the music for the cartoon that catapulted the song, 'Journey to the Past,' to pop stardom. For the Broadway version, they have teamed up with playwright Terrence McNally, their collaborator for the far superior 'Ragtime.' More power ballads have been added to the pretty but dispiritingly predictable story of Anastasia, the princess who, as rumor once had it, may have escaped the revolution's firing squad as a child in 1918.
Those mid-20th-century musicals that must've sounded like a good idea at the time, but tend to be remembered today only by hard-core aficionados of the genre. They were frothy but earnest shows, set in distant times and foreign lands, with titles like 'Mata Hari' and 'Pleasures and Palaces.' Such shows had a hard time squeezing their epic-size selves into the corsets of book-musical conventions, and they usually died young. I don't foresee a similar fate for 'Anastasia,' which originated at Hartford Stage in Connecticut and is directed by Darko Tresnjak (a Tony winner for his ingenious staging of 'A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder'), with choreography both stately and antic by Peggy Hickey. The cartoon version from 1997 is very fondly remembered by people who saw it as tweens, especially girls. Its Ahrens-Flaherty score included the breakout hit 'Journey to the Past,' which is repurposed here and sung ardently by Ms. Altomare. So 'Anastasia' may well tap into the dewy-eyed demographic that made 'Wicked' such an indestructible favorite of female adolescents. Those without such nostalgic insulation are likely to find this 'Anastasia' a chore.
2016 | Regional (US) |
Hartford Stage World Premiere Production Regional (US) |
2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2018 | US Tour |
US Tour US Tour |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Christy Altomare |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical | Terrence McNally |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical | Linda Cho |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Mary Beth Peil |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Stephen Flaherty |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Musical | Anastasia |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Doug Besterman |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Projection Design | Aaron Rhyne |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical | Peter Hylenski |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Caroline O'Connor |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway of Off-Broadway Musical | Anastasia |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Christy Altomare |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Terrence McNally |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical) | Linda Cho |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Darko Tresnjak |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | John Bolton |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Caroline O'Connor |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Mary Beth Peil |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) | Donald Holder |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Musical | Anastasia |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Stephen Flaherty |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Doug Besterman |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Projection Design (Play or Musical) | Aaron Rhyne |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Set Design (Play or Musical) | Alexander Dodge |
2017 | Theatre World Awards | Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance | Christy Altomare |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Musical | Linda Cho |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Mary Beth Peil |
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