Remembering ANYA, the Other Anastasia Musical

 

Tonight ANASTASIA opens at the Broadhurst Theatre, but it isn't the first Broadway musical to tell this story. ANYA holds that distinction, opening November 29th 1965 at the Ziegfeld Theatre. It was the last show to play that legendary venue, but was a colossal flop running only 16 performances.

ANYA was a George Forrest and Robert Wright collaboration, similar to their other hits like KISMET and SONG OF NORWAY they adapted classical themes (this time by Russian Sergei Rachmaninoff) and wrote lyrics for them. I'm not sure why it was saddles with the awful subtitle "The Musical Musical!"

The show was based on the same 1956 movie (itself adapted from the 1954 play) that the current Broadway musical is based on. It starred film actress Constance Towers as Anya in her first major stage role, and silent legend Lillian Gish as the Dowager Empress. Stage veterans George S. Irving and Irra Petina played supporting roles, with Michael Kermoyan in the Yul Brynner role. Legendary choreographer Hanya Holm 

Despite the show's short run a cast album was released by United Artists. Bruce Kimmel re-released the album on his label Kritzerland, where it is still available. It's certainly not a favorite of mine but I am happy it was fortunate to still get a recording for posterity.

 

Rehearsal & Publicity Shots:















 

Production Photos:


























 

Did anyone see it back then? If so, are you planning to see the new musical as well? Was it really bad enough to warrant such a short run, or was it just a mediocre casualty in the midst of legendary hits?

---

Thanks for posting the photos, Mr. N. I always enjoy your "Remembering" posts.

I bought the cast recording of Anya a year or two after it opened when I found it in a dollar bin at some store I don't remember. I like it very much. It sounds like a lush, romantic, but darkly overblown operetta. I particularly like Anya's ballad "A Quiet Place," which takes its bittersweet melody from a theme in the 3rd or 4th movement of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Symphony, and "Little Hands," sung by the Dowager Empress to Anya (fascinating to see them holding hands in one of the photos; I assume it's from the scene where the song is done). Constance Towers never sounded better than she does on this album and Lillian Gish is a treat. Irra Petina, the opera star who was the original Old Woman in Candide, is a hoot and Michael Kermoyan and George S. Irving their usual excellent selves.

It's all lush and at times wonderful yet it never fully gels for me. Even though I love operetta, it sounds more than a bit heavy-handed in many places. I'm not sure Rachmaninoff's music was really as suitable for adaptation as Borodin's and Grieg's. Petina's and Irving's parts sound shoe-horned in for probably unneeded comic relief. Still, I would have loved to have seen it onstage.

Wright and Forrest later rewrote the show as an intimate chamber piece for small orchestra and just a handful of principals. They revised it several times in that format under different titles: I, Anastasia; The Anastasia Game; The Anastasia Affair; etc. It was recorded under that last title with Judy Kaye and is still occasionally performed.

The full Anya album is on youtube but I don't have the link.

Updated On: 4/26/17 at 04:17 AM

Diane was wonderful in TORCH SONG.  When I moved to New York, we became a bit friendly when I reminded her about meeting her in Indianapolis after her performance as Polly Peachum in THREEPENNY.  She was a delightful lady.

---

Anya was a big misfire despite some great source material and such great talent in front of and behind of the footlights. Still glad to have the album. Glad that's on youtube despite the deplorable sound.

Since this thread has been revived: I never saw the show, but I got the revised version's 1991 cast album at an op shop years ago. Prior to the more recent 2017 musical, that was my Anastasia-story-on-stage jam. Good times.

It's interesting to hear a different musical adaptation of (largely) the same source material. Both versions have Anya/Anna half-remember a song early in the show, and then recall it more fully during that pivotal scene with the Dowager Empress, a device which I assume didn't originate (or not in musical form, at least) with the original straight play.

Out of curiosity, does anyone happen to know if a version of this show is still available for licensing? I think it used to be available with MTI, but there doesn't seem to be much information there any more. There's this partial synopsis but not much else: https://www.mtishows.com/full-synopsis/1181.