after waiting since december I was finally able to go out and see Anastasia (the musical) this past weekend. I believe I love it more then I did before now I got a full grasp on all of the story.
and now I present to you as I should do when I am fascinated with a piece- here's a semi-essay on the themes and politically commentry of the play. (just the big theme today)
Fun fact: I initially watched the movie while doing my course study on the fall of the Romanov dynasty- not to learn or anything just because I need to feel justified sometimes in why I should take my time to watch a film. Extra fun fact: the following year I did my nation study on soviet Russia- the Romanov study being a precurser to this unit.
All that to say I had more curiosity on how the play handled the time period then some people in the theatre that day. Also a lot more background information that I think made it much more enjoyable than if I was just taking the story at face value as I was was bale to clue in on some topics they kinda don't but probably do spell out for you when watching. However lets start on the simple themes.
I believe the big theme of the play overall is that of the past not dictating your future, whether it be your actions, or the identity you assume. this is done well through a good chunck of the music- and the entire plot, but mainly the music.
Anya's big struggle of course is finding out about her past and struggle with that former identity, if it's even possible she is the lost grand duchess Anastasia Romanov(a) (Russia has or had-idk- this little naming quirk of some name suffixes- like ov, adding an A at the end to feminise it for women. the play fails to remember this and it bugged me the entire time)
now of course this is best shown through her original songs like "Once upon a december"- her small recall of memory that is so fuzzy and faint but all so real to her, and "journey to the past" which I find has a great new placement as instead of being the second song is instead the ending of Act 1 as they venture into France- I like this placement more because it sets France as the true benchmark of her believing in her possible identity and knowing this is where she could concretely find family- instead of her being kicked out of the orphanage and going into the big city instead of a stable life in a fishing town.
instead that is now "in my dreams" in terms of thematic similarity - which also kinda replaces the original placement of once upon a december as that gets change to her being hit with a flashback when Dimitri gives her the music box.
Her entire journey is feulled by this desire to get to know who she is, but ultimately she will abandon this identity as Anastasia, she's still Anya through and through- but at least now she knows she has family to return to after disappearing in the ending.
Gleb- the new addition to replace zombie Rasputin as the antagonist- is a funny guy with his past, because it's not his own that is dictating him, it's his father's. now its a little unclearn what hs father was part of, cause I assume it would be at the seizure of the winter palace as a guard of the Romanovs, however Gleb mentions he also shot the family. I assume it's the winter palace event because Gleb actually hat to be there to hear the mass panic and it's the scene they show at the beginning of the play despite Anya later mentioning the cellar in Yekaterinburg. I digress. Gleb feels it as a member of the communist party and a duty to his country to fulfil his orders to kill Anya if she proved to be Anastasia- to be a good son, a worthy legacy to a man who when asked about the event "Told me not to ask, my mother said he died in shame." But because he doesn't know where he would be if his father didn't do what he was told he sees it as "proud" and "vital" to serve the regime.
however of course he can't shoot. he doesn't fulfil the order, he comes home telling a lie. Because he is not his father the same way Anya can never expect to live up to being Anastasia.
(seriously tho, the still/neva flows reprise is an amazing culmination in their arcs as Anya expresses how she still doesn't know who she truely is despite the memory gain and Gleb keeps trying and failing to convince himself to carry out an order through the reiterating of his two songs. Still being about executing a task in service of his country like his father, and the neva flows being a lecture about the "simplicity" of revolution)
Thank goodness the other characters are much more simple.
Dimitri has thankfully one solo that was added, "My petersburg", you could argue something about welcome to st petersburg being a him heavy song but i'll get into that when I get into politics.
Anyway, they reworked nearly everything about this man without making him a different person. unfortunately he is no longer a kitchen boy, just a crook. which heavily influenced a lot of lyric placements for him in specifically "Paris is the Key to your Heart"
because his backstory changed he didn't have the revelation of ANya being Anastasia until much later so they changed a bunch of tenses and his small solo bit of
"Paris is the key to her past, oh princess i've found you at last no more pretend, you'll be gone that's the end"
"Paris is the key to her fate, we don't have much longer to wait, then comewhat may, we will both go our ways"
I like the original a little more but the change was needed and they both evoke the same feeling of finality, with the first being more definite as he knows he is so fucked after this, and the second one speculating the posibility this works out and he knows what the most likely outcome is.
done, alright back to the point.
"My petersburg" was a lovely world building additon and I love mostly how it focuses a lot on how Dimitri would survive and in learning that leanrs the place like the back of his hand and despite it all he will lways be determined to continue- well- living. I also like this slight line of "black and blue, welcome to my Petersburg" really trying to build the sense of struggle as he does associate the streets with pain. But despite all of that it's his place cause "It's funny when a city is all you know." this is also why despite several years of it being Leningrad, it'll always be St Petersburg to him because the contents haven't changed, just the leaders.
Some part of him loves this city ("however when you hate it something in you loves it so") but also knows he can't survive out here much longer, he's older, and he recognises that soon it'll be worse to stay then leave as it's "funny when a boy can grown, funny when a city tells you it's time to go"
Overall i think despite all this being in act 1 I think his biggest teather to his past was being a "Russian rat" who was *relatively* comfortable in what he knew and now he has both outgrown the place, but doesn't need it anymore. there's also a thing to do with his dad but it's honestly quite small and about how his father always showed him the good parts of the city.
Vlad is simple in that he just reminisces about being a fake count. that's it- despite his songs getting laughs in the theatre he is overall kinda superficial to me- poor man who pretended to be rich to steal from the rich. a common man pretending to be a count.
finally the aristocracy as a whole during the number "Land of Yesterday", most prodominately Lily who acts as a representation of them as a whole.
Now I used to have mixed feelings on this song because it's almost as if the play is promoting how good Russia had it before the revolution- and it's honestly the hardest thing to compare because both the aristocratic controlled Russia and soviet controlled USSR for the common man suckedddddd.
Then I got out of my ass and remembered this is legit from the perspective of the aristocracy that had it good, no shit they remember it so fondly. It's a great song, there were a lot of claps in the middle of it.
I think the song does well to just set up how good they had it to even get out but how they yearn for their glory days. They knew it was unsafe for them to stay, only few had hope like Lily's husband. who last we hear was living in one ballroom with ten people.
I think the line that stood out most was "I say we're not dead now (we're not dead now), we're in France instead now."
They are really only thankful for living because it's the one thing they achieved as they now drink away at fancy Russian bars and live in the "grand imperial hayday."
I think I do like that Lily in particular does at least understand how lucky she is as she sings "And drink to countess nobody now, but why should I care long as I dare to live." She knows if she were to go back or have stayed she would not be permitted to be alive. She and everyone she knows by all means should be dead.
But as the rich do they get lucky, they give up their coaches, cavier, and sell their brooches in trade for their lives, where they show to still be very wealthy in this new country.
Overall the remaining Russian aristocrats miss their luxury, have next to no arc, but the idea of the past not defining them is their titles being meaningless, their wealth sold to a degree, and their previous titles meaning their death, which they were somehow able to avoid.
Now I could say something about the Dowager Duchess but obviously her living in the past was the search for a hope Anastasia was alive. and she finds her. thats it.
Okay thats part one of thoughts........Politics next I thinks.
