How is religion related to Broadway’s Anastasia?
In order to answer this question, one must first take a look at the true story of Russia's history. After all, the Russian revolution portrayed in the stage production has elements of truth backing it up.
At the time of the 1917 Revolution, officials and royalty integrated the Russian Orthodox Church deeply into their everyday lives and overall existence. Once known as one of the most Christian nations, Russia became the atheist Soviet Union after the royal family's death. This sudden transition is because the revolutionaries had to attack religion to even dream of achieving power. There was a belief that God chose royalty. So, if the Soviets could take down religion, they could invalidate the very people ruling Russia. Although religion was never outlawed in the Soviet Union, the Soviets were among history's first to have an ideological objective toward eliminating religion. Toward that end, the Communist regime confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and taught atheism in the schools. After the change of power, many Russians were looting churches; were mocking religion and religious people unmercifully; were even murdering priests, monks, and other believers by the thousands.
In contrast, Aleksandra Feodorovna, Anastasia's mother and the last Empress of Russia, laid Christianity at her core. Religion was a live political factor in Aleksandra's reign – both as the motivation for popular movements in Russia and as the justification for Aleksandra's and Nicholas II's view of their own role. As previously mentioned, it was known that royalty was chosen to rule by God. So, ruling with God in mind affirmed Aleksandra's place in the world. It makes sense, then, that Aleksandra's daughter, Anastasia, would be a Christian.
The only time when Broadway's Anya shows her religious beliefs, however, is when she is feeling lost or without hope. Anya knows her fair share of heartache and has seen turbulent times. Even when she cannot remember the massacre of her family and people, she says, "You don't know what it's like not to know who you are. To have lived in the shadows and traveled this far." Nevertheless, in other moments of despair, Anya seems to talk to herself or perhaps God in times of need. One prominent example is during the song "Stay I Pray You". During this scene, Anya and other loyal Aristocratic Russians are being deported out of the Soviet Union. All of the voices sing to themselves and tell their own stories about abandoning their homeland. Anya's, in particular, is asking, "How to go where I have never gone before?" To whom is she questioning? I believe she is speaking to God at this moment, before also saying, "I'll bless my homeland 'till I die." In fact, when she repeats "I'll bless my homeland 'till I die," she is all alone on stage. All other people have left the frame and spotlight. So who could she be talking to if not God?
Perhaps the only other character who experienced the same level of extreme loss as Anastasia is her grandmother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. During the Dowager Empress's lowest point of emotion, she sings "Close The Door." However, she does not seem to be singing toward a deity, but rather to Anastasia who is not in the room. This direction of voice is explained when Anya comes into contact with her grandmother. The Dowager Empress is highly skeptical that Anya is her long lost granddaughter. Even though the Empress was highly religious before her family's massacre, afterward it is possible for her to have lost all hope and belief in a deity. In fact, during "Close the Door," the Empress sings, "I believed so long, have dared to hope, that the door might open, and that you might enter." However, at the end of the piece, she says, "I close the door," and in the scene, the Empress physically shuts her bedroom door and locks out the outside world and God.
Overall, religion is not presented in an overt or obvious fashion in Broadway's Anastasia. However, if a person analyzes the historical context and the characters, religion can be seen woven into the production's very fabric.
