'Anastasia' Will Dance Into Broadway Fans Hearts This Spring
Nora Dominick ’17/ Emertainment Monthly Co-Executive Stage Editor
Get ready Anastasia fans! The fan-favorite animated movie, recently turned into a new musical at Hartford Stage, will dance to Broadway this spring.
Following a record breaking, sold-out run at Hartford Stage in Connecticut, Anastasia will continue to astound audiences on Broadway. The new musical will open on April 24, 2017 at the Broadhurst Theatre, which was home to Tuck Everlasting this past Broadway season and will house the limited run of The Front Page this fall.
Along with news of a venue, Anastasia also announced that original cast members Christy Altomare, Derek Klena, John Bolton and Caroline O’Connor will continue in their respective roles on Broadway. Additional casting for Anastasia will be announced soon.
According to BroadwayWorld, producers Bill Taylor and Tom Kirdahy are ecstatic to bring the show to Broadway audiences. They said, “After finishing a record breaking run in Hartford, we look forward to bringing the magic of Anastasia to Broadway audiences next spring.” The continued by saying, “In Hartford, we saw people ages 8-100 travel from all over the world to enjoy Anastasia’s enduring story. We are thrilled to have Christy, Derek, John and Caroline leading our company again for the Broadway premiere.”
Anastasia will also reunite the Tony Award winning writers of the Broadway hit Ragtime: book writer Terrence McNally, composer Stephen Flaherty, and lyricist Lynn Ahrens. The new musical also features direction by Darko Tresnjak, who took home the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for his work on A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and choreography by Peggy Hickey.
The creative team also includes Alexander Dodge (Set Design), Linda Cho (Costume Design), Donald Holder (Lighting Design), Peter Hylenski (Sound Design), Aaron Rhyne (Projection Design), Charles LaPointe (Hair/Wig Design), Thomas Murray (Music Supervision & Direction) and Doug Besterman (Orchestrations).
The new musical is the romantic, adventure-filled story of a brave young woman, Anya (Altomare) attempting to discover the mystery of her past. Set in the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, Anastasia has something for everyone. The new musical features beloved songs from the 1997 animated film, including Ahrens and Flaherty’s Oscar nominated song “Journey to the Past,” as well as an entirely new score from the Tony Award winning team.