Theater Thursday - Anastasia

We were given free tickets to Anastasia for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Anastasia

Where; Broadhurst Theatre
             235 W. 44th St.
             New York, New York

Who: Recommended for 10 and up

Me - I loved  Anatasia. It is a great show. It is one of my three favorite shows on Broadway currently. It is about Anastasia, a Russian princess. Her family was all killed, but there were rumors that Anastasia survived. She lost her memory so she didn't know she was a princess. She was going by the name, Anya because that is the name they gave her at the hospital.The show is the story of her trying to find out who she is. There is more to it than that, but if you want to know more about the plot, see the show.  The story was interesting. It is based slightly off of history. There really was an Anastasia, and there were rumors that she survived the death of her family. However, no one every actually proved it. The songs in the show were really pretty. I love a lot of the songs but some of my favorites are, In My Dreams, We'll Go From There, and Once Upon A December.  Some of the songs were from the movie of the same name, but a lot of them were brand-new for the show. The acting was really good too. My favorite character was Anya. She was pretty, and she had really nice hair. The singing voices were nice. I liked the dancing too. I really like the set. It looked really pretty, and the costumes were pretty too. I especially like the red dress, Anastasia was wearing at the end of the show. It was definitely one of the best shows I've seen this year or any year. Over all, it was an excellent show, and I would extremely recommend getting tickets if you can.

Mom - The possibility of the royal Russian princess, Anastasia having survived the massacre of her family has endlessly fascinated people. The current stage musical, Anastasia is based on the 1997 film of the same name. The plot is similar to that of the film in that it is about an orphan with amnesia who  has been given the name Anya and may or may not be the royal princess.  However, over all, the show bears little resemblance to the movie other than that except for a few major plot points, some of the characters and a handful of songs. Over all, the changes are for the better. The more cartoonish elements which work for an animated movie but not necessarily for  a stage show have been removed including that the cartoonish villain of Rasputin has been removed and changed for a more realistic villain, Gleb, the agent trying to track down Anastasia. Unlike the cartoon villain, Gleb is not completely  bad but shows a softer side to his character which makes him much more of a real person than the villain in the movie. The romantic part of the story has been enhanced in the stage version which works well in the stage show since the main character's  age has been bumped up almost ten years. Accordingly, if you like romance, you will really like the changes that have been made.The best songs from the film have been kept including Once Upon A December and Journey to the Past although there placement in the story has been changed and some  of the verses may have been changed or even dropped altogether as well. A bunch of new songs have been added. Although not all of the new songs are memorable, some of them are. These including several pretty ballads the best of which is called In a Crowd of Thousands along with some fun upbeat songs. The actors are all very good in their roles, and over all, the show is a delight. There are some parts of the show, however that may be a little scary for young children particularly at the beginning of the show when the palace is invaded by the Bolsheviks, and there is an explosion. Older children especially girls who love princess stories and/or romances should enjoy the show though. All in all, there is a lot to like about this show and whether you or a fan of the movie or not if you like a good story with a strong romantic element to it, you should enjoy this show.

And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for Funtivity Friday.
Photo credits: All Anastasia production photos by Matthew Murphy