As a child of the 90’s, I was obsessed with animated movie “Anastasia.” And especially being a young girl, I dreamed of being like young Ana and becoming a “lost princess” from a royal dynasty.
As a fully grown young woman… I’m still obsessed. It’s just “matured” to obsessing over the Broadway version of the story. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack for the show for the past few years but never got the opportunity to see it live – until it was announced as part of Jacksonville’s 2021-22 Broadway season! As soon as tickets went on sale I bought a ticket and added it to my calendar.
*slight spoiler in paragraph below, I’ll add another note where story spoiler ends*
If you’re unfamiliar with the story, it adapts the legend of Anastasia Nikolaevna, the Grand Duchess of Russia, and daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia. The entire family was murdered during the Russian uprising but young Anastasia was rumored to have escaped the execution of her entire family, except her grandmother who escaped to France. During Ana’s escape, she hit her head and forgot who she was so she went to an orphanage, where she lived until she ran away to “discover” who she was. She becomes entangled in this plot with with two men, Dmitry and Gleb, and travels to Paris, where she meets with her grandmother, discovers that she’s the lost princess Anastasia, and falls in love with Dmitry.
*spoilers over*
The music and lyrics for the show are by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, and it’s an adaptation of the book by Terrence McNally and 1997 animated film. The music in this show is one of my favorites ever – hints of Russian influence with the sweeping orchestras found in many Broadway shows.
The themes of this movie focus on war, losing families and homes, refugees, discovering personal truths and oneself, finding family and love. It’s quite sad, and kind of rough/violent in a few scenes, so keep that in mind with younger audiences (although I’m not sure that they’d fully understand).
I HIGHLY recommend watching Anastasia – it’s a very beautiful and thrilling story, and definitely in my top 5 or 6 favorite Broadway shows ever!
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Thank you for reading! Have I convinced you to watch Anastasia or have you seen it before? Let me know in the comments below and like this post if you want more like it!
Xoxo’s
Emmalee
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Emmalee Mauldin 