Okay! Finally home from a long weekend and I’m ready to tell all!
This was my first time at Harford Stage and I was extremely impressed by the whole facility and staff. Really made a good impression! So now about the show…THERE WILL BE SPOILERS AHEAD!
The show obviously needs to be tweaked and worked on, but for a first preview, I really enjoyed it!
The story is very similar to the beginning of the movie. It starts in 1907 right before the Dowager Empress leaves for Paris, and then jumps to 1917 where the Romanov’s are hosting a ball before their attack and demise. We then jump to 1927, and are introduced to St. Petersburg after the revolution and Dmitry and Vlad. They concoct the plan to find an actress and teach her to be Anastasia. We are also introduced to Gleb, a soldier whose father was one of the officers that led the attack on the Romanov’s. Anya is introduced as a young girl trying to get exit paper from Dmitry, until he and Vlad convince Anya to go to Paris to present herself to the Dowager Empress, so they can get the reward. Gleb brings her into his office to warn her of what could happen if someone impersonates someone like the Grand Duchess Anastasia. Dmitry and Anya then go off and have a romantic moment before going back to learn some more before they leave. Dmitry then gives the music box to Anya and she starts remembering things from her past. They go to the train station and board the train and are on their way to Paris, until they are stopped and a Count is killed for leaving the country. The police start chasing them too, so they jump off the train and find multiple ways to travel to Paris. Once they arrive in Paris, they go to find Countess Lily, one of the Dowager Empress’ closest confidants, to try to present Anya to her. They make a plan to attend Swan Lake the same night as the Empress, but they are not alone, for Gleb has followed the group to Paris. When Anya goes to meet the Empress, she is sent away, heartbroken and furious at Dmitry and Vlad. They go back to the hotel, where the Dowager Empress has decided to give Anya a chance, and she pulls out the music box and they embrace, finally having found one another. We then move to a press conference, where they are about to reveal Anya, until Gleb traps her at gunpoint in the room, but he can’t find himself to shoot Anya, and goes back to Russia, and explains that Anastasia was only a rumor. Anya then goes to find Dmitry, who turned down the reward, and she goes off with him to live their life as Anya and not the Grand Duchess Anastasia.
The portrayals of the characters are almost completely different from the way they were in the movie. Christy Altomare’s performance is really special. We see her at the beginning as the timid Anya, but throughout the play, she blossoms into the strong, brave Grand Duchess that everyone knew her as. Her voice is absolutely stunning, especially during Journey to the Past. Derek Klena’s Dmitry has way much more charm and was less smarmy and cocky. He sounds great, per usual, but some of the songs were tailored to show off his highs, I’ll get to the music later. Their chemistry was great, but I missed the banter and sass that they had in the movie. John Bolton is an absolute delight and it’s so wonderful to see him having fun with Vlad! He’s made this role his own and had kept the essence of the character we saw in the film, with a touch of his comedy and charm. He practically steals the show with a new number between himself and Lily, who was originally Sophie in the movie, played by the brilliant Caroline O’Connor. She was outstanding and I can see why they chose her to originate this role, it’s practically written for her. I wished that I could say the same thing for the new character, Gleb. Manoel Feleciano is a great performer and he’s doing the best he can, but Gleb hasn’t been fully fleshed out yet. What’s fun about Gleb is that we see him charmed by Anya when he first meets her, but then all of a sudden she’s the grand duchess and she must be stopped. He went from following her to Paris to pulling out a gun and almost assassinating her at the opera. Once he gets her alone, he drags on for a good while until he can’t get the guts to shoot her and leaves. It was weird… Mary Beth Peil is such a delight as the Dowager Empress. She had the right mix of bitter and backhanded sass, which a touch of tragedy that really made you feel for her. The ensemble is extremely strong in the cast and they grace the stage with beautiful dances of many different styles and they give the smaller characters (the Romanov family, the St. Petersburg villagers, the French celebrities) color and they all shine individually at one point in the show.
Darko Tresjak really did a fantastic job with this show! He came out and the beginning and said not to be surprised if we paused at any moment, but the show went on without any trouble. He’s created a very fun and very new show that’s also very detailed and engaging. Ahrens and Flaherty have some work ahead of them. Yes, all the old songs were wonderful and so were some of the new songs, but some of the songs did not fit into the score at all. Anya has a new song called In My Dreams, which presents our heroine quite nicely at the very beginning. Dmitry also has 2 new songs, one good and one that doesn’t fit in this show. Everything to Win is in Act 2 and is basically Dmitry worrying about Anya and revealing his feelings while Anya tries to talk to the Dowager Empress, which was really charming and sweet. My Petersburg on the other hand sounded like a mix between Streets of Dublin from A Man of No Importance and a cut song from Rocky. It was so poppy, which made Derek sound spectacular, but sounded different than any other piece in the show. Caroline O’ Connor has a new song in the show called Land of Yesterday, where Lily and other Russia dignitaries all visit the Neva Club and reminisce over the old days. It was right in her wheelhouse. Jazzy, sexy, and fun. Lily and Vlad also have a duet called The Countess and the Common Man, which not only was a wonderful new addition, but a highlight of the night. I think they stopped at one point because they were laughing as hard as we were. The Dowager Empress sings a new song called Close the Door, which she gives up on looking for Anastasia, and it was heartbreaking and chilling. It reminded of a song from The Spitfire Grill. As for Gleb’s pieces, those need a little more fine tuning, especially the song Anya, which reminded me of Hellfire from Hunchback, but more tame. There’s also a few new songs between the ensemble and Anya, Dmitry, and Vlad, which were also spectacular! The old songs still have that magic that they did in the movie and they’re joined by some terrific, new orchestrations by Doug Besterman, which were a huge highlight to this production! Terrence McNally’s book is also in need of a little work. There were some jokes that didn’t land and some of the writing got very cute, but when it was strong, it was funny, heartbreaking, and heartwarming. Peggy Hickey’s choreography is a wonderful spread of dance, from Russian ballet to the Charleston. They even did select dances from Swan Lake during the scene at the ballet. Another standout of the production
The show is beautifully designed, especially the costumes, lighting and projections. The walls revolve and they display different projections, which were jaw-droppingly stunning, for each setting. There’s also a turntable in the stage used for some numbers, which was used very creatively. Another shout out to the dramaturg for the show!
I think that the Hartford run will be really good for the show and it’s development and I can’t wait to see what happens to it in the future!
