A young woman’s search for her identity comes full circle in Anastasia, the musical based on a 1997 animated film starring Meg Ryan as the voice of Anastasia. The musical leads us to believe that the famed Grand Duchess may not have been murdered along with other members of the imperial family by the Bolsheviks. Instead, could a plucky, amnesiac teenager named Anya become an heir to the imperial fortune?
The show’s national tour came to Milwaukee in July, complete with its gorgeous costumes, lush orchestrations, dazzling choreography, and the most high-tech digital scenery in recent memory (thanks to projections designer Aaron Rhyne). One of the most memorable moments in the show involves swirling Russian couples placed in front of a haunting, dreamy background. The effect is used in the show more than once, as it should be. It lifts the imagination to believe the impossible – that Anastasia actually escaped the fate of her family.
Aiding Anya in her efforts to find herself are a pair of con men, one a street urchin named Dmitry, the other an ex-aristocrat named Vlad (Matt Rosell and Edward Staudenmayer, respectively). At first, they are interested only in the money they will receive for “finding” the true Anastasia. So, they take Anya (Lila Coogan) and attempt to educate her on Anastasia’s past, in the hopes they can fool the Dowager Empress (Joy Franz) to accept this girl as her long-lost granddaughter. Anya is a quick study, and she also shares some memories about things which only Anastasia would know. This pleases her tutors, but also makes them wonder whether they might have the real thing on their hands. After all, who else would find a giant diamond unsuspectingly sown into the hem of her cloak? Both con men are given ample time to show off their talents, and this is especially true of Staudenmayer. In the second act, his lover’s quarrel with Countess Lily (the amazingly athletic and spot-on Tari Kelly) is among the show’s comic highlights, and it earns an appropriately enthusiastic response from the audience.
The first act, however, is jarring by comparison. It constantly changes its locale from Russia in 1918 to the 1920s. The second act is far more consistent, and thus, more enjoyable to watch. It weaves a seamless narrative with a rock-solid score that will satisfy its target audience – young women and girls – as well as lovers of old-style musicals.
Choreographer Peggy Hickey tackles both time periods with authenticity and grace. Again, the second act choreography is the most impressive, especially with its ballet sequence from “Swan Lake.” It is at the ballet that the Dowager Empress begins to think that Anya might be her beloved granddaughter. However, the musical constantly plays with the notion of “is she, or isn’t she?” A strong case is made for her authenticity in the musical number, “In a Crowd of Thousands,” in which the eight-year-old princess seems to recall a young boy (Dmitry) who stood out and made his presence known. This foretells the inevitable romance between the two and takes us to an ambiguous but satisfying conclusion, in which the pair run off together into the Paris twilight.
This sumptuous fairytale of a musical reminds us that dreams sometimes do come true, if only we suspend disbelief long enough to share them with the characters.
