Mistaken identity: Forget the past and enjoy the ride
It’s not a tale as old as time but one borne from a real-life massacre, so cast aside historical rigour and just enjoy Anastasia for what it is.
In 1918, the Grand Duchess Anastasia and her family were executed by Bolshevik revolutionaries, ending Russia’s Romanov dynasty and triggering decades of mystery over Tsar Nicholas II’s daughter’s possible survival.
Somehow this tragedy morphed into an animated, Disney-like fantasy film in 1997 and almost 20 years later transitioned into a Broadway musical, with the Australian production of Anastasia now touring nationally.
While there’s much to admire about this show – shimmering costumes, clever use of projected backdrops of Leningrad and Paris, soaring vocals and a tight orchestra – it is let down by a script that lacks nuance and sophistication and might possibly have been written by AI. Sentiment over substance, perhaps. A storyline by numbers.
Still, putting history and heart aside, this is still an enjoyable musical.
Former Toowoomba local and Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University-trained artist Georgina Hopson is charming as Anastasia (Anya), delivering stunning vocals. She manages to achieve a genuineness to her role as the lost princess who miraculously survives her family’s massacre to become a street sweeper in St Petersburg (later Leningrad). Conveniently, Anya has amnesia.
It’s now 1927 and Anya comes across Dmitry (the charismatic Robert Tripolino) and Vlad (an affable Rodney Dobson), two conmen, albeit loveable, who train her to be the lost duchess and take her to Paris to meet Anastasia’s grandmother, the exiled Dowager Empress (a disappointingly lack-lustre Nancye Hayes) in the hope that they will be handsomely rewarded for “finding” Anastasia.
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As they are pursued by Bolshevik general Gleb Vaganov (Joshua Robson) – in fine voice but not quite the Javert of Les Miserables – these tricksters start to believe Anya is the real duchess as memories reappear that only the real Anastasia would know.
Adding comic value is Australian triple-threat star Rhonda Burchmore as Countess Lily, lady in waiting to the Dowager Empress. Her larger-than-lifer persona provides much-wanted pizzazz to the show in both the ragtime scenes and in the rekindling of a former romance with Vlad.
Produced by John Frost for Crossroads Live and Opera Australia, the musical’s book is by Terrence McNally and the show is directed by Darko Tresnjak, with music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens.
The show has two musical numbers of note, the Oscar-nominated Journey to the Past and the beautifully mournful and recurring Once Upon a December. Gone are the days when musicals are packed with songs that remain imbedded forever in your memory.
Set designer Alexander Dodge’s towering scaffolding pairs perfectly with video designer Aaron Rhyne’s innovative, full width and height LCD screens. These visuals add greatly to the show’s momentum with constantly changing scenes of Leningrad and then Paris. Ghostly apparitions of the fallen Romanovs and the directional changing motion of the train carriage that delivers our hapless threesome to Paris, is effective and fun.
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An annoyance is the decision to have characters speak with American accents. Wouldn’t Russian accents have been more appropriate? And more interesting to listen to.
Musical director Anthony Barnhill conducts a 10-musician orchestra with precision. It’s a treat to have live music accompany a theatre production these days.
Linda Cho’s costume designs are a bit hit and miss. While Anya’s peasant attire in Leningrad has a suitably worn and earthy palette, in Paris the look is more a kind of veneer of luxury, with Anya’s final princess gown, well, somewhat garish.
Choreographer Peggy Hickey is behind dance sequences like the energetic Charleston opening the show’s second act, Paris Holds the Key (To Your Heart).
It’s at a performance of Swan Lake, where Anastasia hopes to meet with her grandmother, that the story climaxes. But does it? Suddenly, the plot is resolved and our cast of characters are off on new paths, not turning back. I doubt many audience members will do so either.
Anastasia plays the Lyric Theatre, QPAC, until October 18.
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