About the work
Anastasia is a musical with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and a book by Terrence McNally, based on the 1997 animated film (and the 1956 film). Following its 2016 Hartford premiere, the Broadway premiere came in 2017. Romantic and lavishly staged, the show combines a legend-shrouded story about the last tsar's daughter with catchy melodies and a longing for home and identity.
Plot
In revolution-torn Russia and the Paris of the 1920s, a legend surrounds the fate of the Romanov tsar family: could one of their daughters, the Grand Duchess Anastasia, have survived the massacre? The charming con man Dmitry and his partner Vlad search for a young woman they can pass off as the lost Anastasia in order to claim the reward offered by the grandmother in Paris. They find the destitute street sweeper Anya, who suffers from memory loss – and whose fragments of memory seem suspiciously genuine. As Dmitry and Anya grow closer and a Soviet officer pursues them, the line between deception and truth blurs.
Cultural significance
Anastasia brought the beloved animated film to the stage and deepened it with historical background and new songs by the renowned team of Flaherty and Ahrens. With hits such as the hopeful "Journey to the Past" and the dreamy "Once Upon a December", it became an audience favourite and an internationally successful family production. The show combines opulent staging with a timeless story about memory, belonging and the courage to seek a new future.