Alison Broverman: 'Anastasia' the musical draws its musical core from the cartoon, but with a realism twist

There is plenty of dramatic inspiration to be found in the legacy of the Romanovs, and in the stories of the many imposters who tried to lay claim to the Romanov fortune over the years. The latest to try to mine these rich fault lines is Anastasia, running at the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto until Jan. 12.

If choosing to adapt from an animated source carries with it a risk, one way to mitigate it is with a stellar creative team. Anastasia achieves this through playwright Terrance McNally alongside Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty , the same team behind the excellent 1996 musical Ragtime. Comparisons to that production, an epic examination of American life at the turn of the last century , are probably a little unfair.

The show opens with a prologue: The little princess Anastasia is saying goodbye to her beloved grandmother, the Dowager Empress , who is moving to Paris. A dreamy dance ensues, with the Romanovs all in white, oblivious in their ballroom as the Russian revolutionaries approach. The original 1997 cartoon, which was directed by Gary Goldman and Don Bluth leaned heavily into the fairy tale aspect of the story in order to off-set any criticism about the story’s historical accuracy — or lack thereof. For example, Rasputin, is portrayed as a literal demon who has cursed the Romanov family and has a singing bat sidekick.

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