Photo credit: Evan Zimmerman, MurphyMade
'Anastasia'
The Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (1901-’18) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II—the last emperor of Russia—and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra. Anastasia had three sisters, Olga, Tatiana and Maria, and one brother, Alexei Nikolaevich, the heir apparent. But young Alexei would never become tsar; he and his entire family (the Romanovs) were murdered by Bolshevik rebels in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918.
As one of several children of the last leader of imperial Russia, young Anastasia should, ever since that dreadful day in July more than a century ago, have become not much more than a footnote in history. Yet, likely born of wishful thinking, persistent rumors of her possible escape from the murderers began circulating soon after her death, fueled by the fact that the location of her burial remained unknown for many decades after the communists took control.
Lest there be any lingering doubt whatsoever, her survival has been conclusively disproved. Scientific analysis, including DNA testing, confirmed the remains of the imperial family, showing that all of the children were killed in 1918. Several women once falsely claimed to have been Anastasia; the best-known impostor being Anna Anderson. Her body was cremated upon her death in 1984, but DNA testing in 1994 on available pieces of Anderson’s tissue and hair showed no relation to the Romanovs.
Given such facts, it might seem a redoubtable task to take such a tragic story and give it that Hollywood and Disney-ready “happily ever after” denouement. But these are the true-life events from which celebrated playwright Terrence McNally, composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynn Ahrens gleaned material for their hit musical Anastasia.
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McNally is the recipient of the Dramatists Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award, Tony Awards for his plays Master Class and Love! Valour! Compassion!, his librettos for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime and an Emmy Award for Andre’s Mother. Flaherty composed the music for the Broadway shows Ragtime, Once On This Island, Seussical, Rocky, My Favorite Year and many others. Ahrens won the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Grammy nominations for Ragtime and nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes for the animated feature film Anastasia (upon which the stage musical is quite heavily based).
‘A Mysterious and Determined Young Woman’
Anastasia completed its two-year Broadway run three months ago, where it played to sold-out audiences, and it has continued doing so thereafter as it has embarked upon its North American tour. Directed by Darko Tresnjak, Anastasia’s next stop on that tour is Uihlein Hall of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Milwaukee.
“My favorite William Shakespeare plays are his late romances: Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest,” explains Tresnjak. “They tell of families torn asunder, of long and perilous voyages and of improbable yet heartbreaking reunions. They seem to encompass all of life’s joys and sorrows, and at or near the center of each one is a mysterious and determined young woman. The same is true of Anastasia.
“I have come to think of it as a theatrical romance and of the title character (whose name literally means ‘resurrection’) as our Marina or Imogen,” Tresnjak continues. “I suspect that everyone—especially immigrant children like myself who come to learn about separation and loss from an early age—has a need to believe in stories like Anastasia. Since the recent DNA findings about the Romanov family, we just know for certain what we pretty much knew all along: Anna Anderson was not Anastasia. But to me, that does not really matter. A fabrication gave birth to a myth, a modern romance.”
“Seeing Ragtime for the first time was a life changing event in my career,” adds the production’s choreographer, Peggy Hickey. “The fusion of music, text and visuals combined to make me passionately interested in storytelling through movement. In all honesty, it is a dream come true to work with Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. I am still pinching myself.”
“Anastasia spans countries, decades and movement styles using so many of the colors on my palette. I have enjoyed creating dances that range from ethnic troikas and mazurkas to jazz age Charlestons and imperial Russian ballet,” Hickey says. “My 15-year association with Tresnjak has granted us a shared vocabulary and history that allows us to work ever more closely with a mutual passion and sense of purposeful storytelling.”
Ultimately, it’s that timelessly relatable, purposeful storytelling that causes a legend to be born—and to endure. At its very base, Anastasia is about a young woman searching for her family, for who she is and for her place in what she has learned, all too soon, can be a very dangerous world, yet one filled with hope and love, too.
July 23-28 at Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St. For tickets, call 414-273-7206 or visit marcuscenter.org.
