Anastasia

A cast of some 60 young people took to the stage to bring the legend of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov to the stage – a massive challenge for the production team and one which they rose to magnificently. On what was basically a simple box set - but on a grand scale – with the addition of a few pieces of furniture and atmospheric lighting – we were transported from an imperial Russian palace ballroom to a Leningrad Street to an abandoned theatre to a crowded train to a Parisian boulevard and to a Parisian Opera House. The story tells how a young woman called Anya (living in Bolshevik run Leningrad), who has only vague recollections of her past but who bears a resemblance to Grand Duchess Anastasia who was believed to be shot along with the rest of her family, is befriended by two conmen Dmitry and Vlad and is schooled to portray the Grand Duchess in order to claim a reward from her grandmother the Dowager Empress. In the title role of Anya/Anastasia Orla Wood was superb with excellent acting and dancing skills and her strong singing voice being shown at it’s best in her solos “In My Dreams” and “Journey to the Past” to close Act One. Alex Donnelly too was superb as Dmitry, Anya/Anastasia’s mentor and love interest and they made a very good pairing. He had great acting abilities and his duets with Anya “My Petersburg” and “In a Crowd of Thousands” were delightful. Making up the trio was the excellent Lewis Masson as Count Vlad Popov – the brains behind the scheme. He also had access to the Dowager Empress through her lady-in-waiting Countess Lily whom he had loved in pre-revolution days and their duet and dance routine “The Countess and the Common Man” when they were reunited was hilarious. Countess Lily was played by Nicole Gibson Morales with a beautiful strong voice as shown in her lead in the “Land of Yesterday” number set in the Russian nightclub in Paris and a delicious sense of humour. The Dowager Empress was played with great dignity by Grace Cowie and her beautiful mezzo voice gave a beautiful rendition of “Close the Door” and blended nicely with Anya’s in their duet “One Upon a December”. Joshua G. T. Horsfall gave a very impressive performance as Gleb the Bolshevik officer tasked with tracking down Anya to crush any Royalist revival but who falls in love with her, with very strong singing in “The Neva Flows” and “Quartet at the Ballet” numbers. The ensemble singing was excellent in the large company numbers. The choreography was superbly carried out by the principals and ensemble alike – ranging from waltzing in the Imperial Ballroom to Charleston and Cossack dancing in the Russian Club to a very impressive extract from Swan Lake at the Opera House. The soaring score by Stephen Flaherty was beautifully handled by the 13 piece orchestra. Well done everyone for delivering such a delightful evening’s entertainment fully deserving of the sustained applause and standing ovation.

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