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Anastasia is a musical play with music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, and a book by Terrence McNally. Based on the 20th Century Fox Animation film Anastasia, the musical adapts the legend of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, who was rumored to have escaped and survived the execution of the Russian Imperial family. Many years later, an amnesiac young woman named Anya hopes to find some trace of her past by siding with two con men, who wish to take advantage of her resemblance to Anastasia. After completing a pre-Broadway run in Hartford, Connecticut, the show premiered on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre in April 2017, and since then it has spawned multiple productions worldwide. Background Stephen Flaherty (music), Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) and Terrence McNally (book) created a script for the musical Anastasia, a stage adaptation of the 1997 animated film Anastasia, itself a story inspired by the myth that Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia survived the murder of the Romanov family. A reading was held in 2012, featuring Kelli Barret as Anya (Anastasia), Aaron Tveit as Dmitry, Patrick Page as Vladimir, Aaron Lazar as Gleb, Julie Halston as Countess Lily and Angela Lansbury as the Dowager Empress. A workshop was held on June 12, 2015, in New York City, and included Elena Shaddow as Anya, Ramin Karimloo as Gleb Vaganov, Mark Evans as Dmitry, Douglas Sills as Vlad and Mary Beth Peil as the Dowager Empress. Director Tresnjak explained that the musical contains six songs from the film and 16 new numbers. The musical also adds characters not seen in the film. The musical omits elements of magic realism that appeared in the film, such as its villain—a depiction of Grigori Rasputin as a supernatural wizard accompanied by a bat named Bartok—who is replaced with a new antagonist, Bolshevik general Gleb. Plot Prologue In 1906, St. Petersburg, Russia, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna comforts her youngest granddaughter, five-year-old Grand Duchess Anastasia, who is saddened that her grandmother is moving away to Paris, France. Before departing, the Dowager Empress gives Anastasia a music box, which plays their lullaby, as a parting gift ("Prologue: Once Upon a December"). Eleven years later, in 1918, a seventeen-year-old Anastasia is attending a ball with her family when the Bolsheviks invade the palace. As they attempt to escape, Anastasia tries to retrieve her music box, only to be shot at and captured along with the rest of her family ("The Last Dance of the Romanovs"). The Dowager Empress later receives word in Paris that the family had been executed. Act I In 1927, Gleb Vaganov, a general for the Bolsheviks who now control Russia, announces to the gloomy Russians that the now-poor Saint Petersburg has been renamed Leningrad, and he promises a bright and peaceful future. The Russians protest this change, but are then uplifted by a rumor that Anastasia may have survived and escaped the royal family's execution. Two wanted con men, the handsome young Dmitry and an ex-member of the Imperial Court, Vlad Popov, hear the rumors and brainstorm "the biggest con in history": they will groom a naive girl to become Anastasia in order to extract money from the Dowager Empress ("A Rumor in St. Petersburg"). Dmitry and Vlad hold unsuccessful auditions for the scheme at the theater in the abandoned Yusupov Palace. Just as they are about to give up hope of finding a suitable impostor, a street sweeper named Anya walks in to ask Dmitry about paperwork to get tickets for Paris. Dmitry and Vlad become fascinated as Anya explains that she doesn't remember who she is due to her amnesia and has very few memories of her past ("In My Dreams"). Amazed by her memory loss and resemblance to Anastasia, they select Anya as their impostor. At the capital, government workers sort through rumors and reports for any that require further action. Three bitter actresses report Anya, Dmitry, and Vlad's plot to Gleb, but he dismisses them and files a case for Anya ("The Rumors Never End"). Back at the palace, Vlad and Dmitry groom a feisty Anya to become Anastasia through history, dining, and dancing lessons ("Learn to Do It"). Gleb orders Anya's arrest, and she is brought to his office in the Nevsky Prospect. The general interrogates the girl and warns her about the consequences of pretending to be Anastasia. He tries to convince her that Anastasia is really dead. He reveals that his father was one of the soldiers who shot the Romanovs and, as a boy, Gleb heard the gunshots and the family's screams. However, Gleb notices that Anya has the "Romanov eyes" and realizes that Anya could indeed be Anastasia. As he harbors feelings for her, he lets her off with a warning ("The Neva Flows"). Anya reunites with Dmitry and they are teased and attacked by his old con partners, whom they must fight off ("The Neva Flows Reprise"). Impressed by Anya's fighting skills, Dmitry opens up to her for the first time and tells her about his childhood in the streets of St. Petersburg and how he had to take care of himself as an orphan ("My Petersburg"). Dmitry begins to trust her enough to show her a music box that he's failed to open, unaware it is the memento that it had been given to Anastasia by the Dowager Empress. Anya easily winds and opens the box and begins to vaguely remember her past, including an imperial ball many years earlier ("Once Upon a December"). After this episode, Anya is more resolute than ever in her desire to get to Paris, but Dmitry tells her that they don't have enough money to buy the train tickets. Then she gives him her most prized possession, a diamond that was found sewn to her dress when she was discovered years earlier ("A Secret She Kept"). At the train station, Count Ipolitov recognizes Anya as Anastasia and kisses her hand. As they board the train to Paris, Count Ipolitov leads everyone in a prayer of farewell to Russia ("Stay, I Pray You"). During the train ride, Anya, Dmitry, and Vlad reflect on what they hope to accomplish in Paris: Anya hoping to discover that she is actually Anastasia, Dmitry's desire for the money, and Vlad hoping to win back Countess Lily Malevsky-Malevitch ("Sophie" in the 1997 animated film), the Dowager Empress's lady-in-waiting with whom he had an affair ("We'll Go From There"). Count Ipolitov is fatally shot by the police for illegally boarding the train. The police officers then go after Anya, Dmitry, and Vlad since they are wanted criminals in Russia, but they all jump off the train, narrowly avoiding capture. As they travel across Russia by foot, Gleb receives orders to follow Anya and kill her if she is the real Anastasia ("Traveling Sequence"). Gleb agrees to the task, but he realizes that he is in love with Anya and questions his heart ("Still"). Anya, Vlad, and Dmitry finally arrive in France, and as they travel to Paris, Anya summons the courage to continue on with the hope that she will finally discover who she is ("J.... Discover the Kyla Stone popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Kyla Stone books.