“Anastasia” is a musical mystery surrounding the Russian royal family

History relates that the ruling family of Russia, the Romanovs, were murdered in a basement by Bolshevik troops after the October Revolution. Yet after their deaths, a strange rumor spread: the youngest daughter of Nicholas and Alexandra, the Grand Duchess Anastasia, did not die but was spirited out of Russia. Many works of fiction have sprung up around this situation — novels, plays, movies, TV series, even a feature length cartoon. It is this cartoon that has been turned into the musical Anastasia, now being presented at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA. With a book by the late Terrence McNally and a score by composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynn Ahrens, Anastasia closes out the Bucks County 2024 season on a wintry musical note.

In a prologue set in 1907 St. Petersburg, the Romanovs — Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their children, the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria — are at a Christmas ball. Upstairs, Nicholas’ mother, the Dowager Empress Maria, is saying her farewells to her youngest granddaughter, Anastasia, before leaving for Paris. The scene shifts to 1917, and the Tsar and his family, now including the Tsarevich Alexei, are captured by the Bolshevik Army. Yet rumors persist that the youngest daughter, Anastasia, somehow escaped, disappearing into the chaos of the Russian Revolution.

The scene skips to 1918. Two con men, Dmitry (Mason Reeves) and Vlad (Erik Lochtefeld), hear that the Dowager Empress (Christine Toy Johnson) is offering a reward for proof that Anastasia survived. Seeking a plausible “Anastasia,” they find Anya (Lyda Jade Harlan), a street sweeper look-alike for the princess with no memory of her past. Anya agrees to go to Paris and meet the Dowager Empress with them if they will help her piece together the mystery of her past.

The growing rumors about Anastasia reach the ears of Gleb (Roe Hartrampf), a Red Army officer in charge of the city’s security. Gleb’s father, following orders, was part of the firing squad that murdered the Romanovs. If Anastasia is still alive, Gleb reasons, he will have to kill her to complete his father’s last mission.

Dmirti, Vlad, and Anya make it to Paris after a harrowing journey, only to find that the Dowager Empress, despairing of ever finding Anastasia after receiving so many fake pretenders to the throne, refuses to see any more. Her lady-in-waiting, Countess Lily (Laura Katherine Kaufman), once Vlad’s paramour, gives them hints about the Dowager’s social schedule. But Gleb is in hot pursuit, having learned that Dmitry — with Anya — has fled St. Petersburg for Paris…and steeling himself to complete his father’s task.

The cast is quite skilled at presenting the range of emotions present in each of the main characters. Anya grows in quiet confidence as untaught details of her past come back to her. Yet she fears rejection by the Dowager Empress, which would mean the loss of her only hope to find a family. Vlad and Lily’s resumed romance melts the cynical hard shells needed to survive post-Revolutionary Russia. As for Dmitry and Gleb, while they are both attracted to Anya and in their ways wish her well, they both know if she is who she seems to be — Anastasia — they will lose her forever.

Unfortunately, director Eric Rosen tends to ease up on the tensions of St. Petersburg and mute the joie de vivre of 1930’s Paris. As for choreographer Al Blackstone, two of the biggest production numbers fall slightly flat: the Act 1 “A Rumor in St. Petersburg,” a gossip chain which should be running like wildfire through the city but is trapped in a straight-line design, and the Act 2 opener “Paris Holds the Key to Her Heart,” which should be a bright, jazzy intro to the City of Light but is a frenetic, unimaginative tap routine. 

The Flaherty and Ahrens score, though, contains many memorable songs. The lovely “Once Upon a December” is a quasi-lullaby between the departing Dowager Empress and the younger Anastasia. The elegaic “Stay, I Pray You” is sung to Russia by those boarding the last train out of St. Petersburg to safety in exile. “Learn to Do It” is a bright, condensed musical montage of Anya’s tutelage, while “The Countess and the Common Man” is a sly courtship song between Lily and Vlad. In “Everything to Win,” Dmitry realizes what Anya’s success would ultimately mean for him.

Anastasia is a show that I liked but, unfortunately, did not fall in love with. The score, expanded by Flaherty and Ahrens from their songs for the cartoon musical, was lively, touching, and romantic by turns. Yet the score, McNally’s book, and the talented cast are underserved by the direction and choreography. Anastasia is bright and colorful, touching on the universal search for the truth about one’s past and one’s place in the world. That it falls short of being a great musical does not mean that one will not have fun at this production. For an entertainment perfectly suited as an antidote to wintry weather, I suggest you make the trip to Bucks County Playhouse to seek her Royal Highness, the Grand Duchess Anastasia!

Anastasia is presented by the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA through Jan. 5, 2025. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to bcptheater.org or call 215-862-2121.