I recently saw Anastasia on Broadway, and I really loved it. I tend to like any musical that I sit down to see, but I am still very picky about everything from plot to choreography. I had a very hard time finding something that I did not love about Anastasia, it was that good.
First of all, it was a million times better than the movie. I knew some of the changes they made for the Broadway version, but actually watching those changes play out was so cool. Instead of Rasputin being the villain, they created the character Gleb. Gleb is the son of a soldier who assisted in assassinating the Romanov’s. Throughout the musical, Gleb disputes with himself as to whether or not it is his duty to carry out the task of his father and kill Anya (aka Anastasia). The creators gave him two really great songs, “The Neva Flows” and “Still,” that display his inner conflict. He is a complex character that portrays the uncertainty people had in communist Russia.
The additional songs the creators wrote made this musical go from a fun children’s movie to a hit Broadway musical. Anya gets a new song called “In My Dreams,” that outlines her struggles of growing up in an orphanage not know who she actually is. Dimitri sings “My Petersburg,” where he explains to Anya what St. Petersburg means to him and how he was raised by the city. There are a few comic relief songs sung by Lily like “Land of Yesterday,” and “The Countess and the Common Man.” The most moving song is called “Stay, I Pray You,” where the people of Russia realize once they leave their home country, they will never be able to return. The new songs compliment the original songs and plot so effortlessly and beautifully well.
I could analyze this musical deeper and deeper, but it would end up taking people ten hours to read. The actors are amazing and I could talk about their vocal styles for days. The sets were so perfect and enhanced the experience perfectly. The way the death of the Romanov’s and the heartache of the Russian people were portrayed could not have been done any better. It stayed true to both the historical events and the fairytale fallacies. I cannot imagine anyone ever doing a better job with Anastasia, and I am so happy I was able to see it.