Anastasia?
Anastasia?
Bwaybaby109
Broadway Star Joined: 6/28/03
#0Anastasia?
Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:45pmI don't know why I am on this ordeal with animated movies being brought on stage, but what about Anastasia? I think it has great music and could probably do well.
"Have a child for warmth and a baker for bread and a prince for... whatever!"
#1re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:48pmwe've had many discussions on this topic. And I would love it if it was turned into a musical. I'm a huge fan of the movie and it would lend itself well to becoming a musical, because of the fact that it was rather theaterical movie and the songs were written by Ahrens and Flaherty. That's my two sense.
"Did you know that if you take the first two vowels in Olive and rearrange them it spells I-Love?"-Spelling Bee
"It's night like this that hotel bars were specifically made." Light In The Piazza
#3re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:59pmI love the score. My favorite songs are: "Journey to the Past" and "Once Upon a September". The latter is really haunting.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#4re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/4/05 at 2:22pmBefore the Ingrid Bergman movie, it was a non-musical play on Broadway. So it does have a history of being a staged work.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
gravity87
Featured Actor Joined: 8/4/04
#5re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/4/05 at 2:26pmId love to see this done. THe music is great. They just need a few more songs. and Kelsey Grammer has to come and play Vlad. I love this movie. oh and Angela could play the queen, and Burnadet could be sophie. it would be great. I think that they should sing life is a road at the end. Wow im getting all ADD and excited about this.
#6re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:08pmit has a great score..i think it would be a good broadway show.
riv
Leading Actor Joined: 3/6/05
#7re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 8:21pm
The play/film Anastasia was produced as a musical on Broadway back in 1965 entitled Anya. It was written by George Forrest and Robert Wright, the team that did Song of Norway and Kismet. The music for Anya was based on themes from Rachmaninoff. It lasted only 16 performances and the cast album has never been officially released as a CD, which is most unfortunate. It's quite lovely.
The cast included Constance Towers, Michael Kermoyan, George S. Irving, Irra Petina(!), and Lillian Gish(!!). It was directed by George Abbott.
I wish I could have seen it.
Hey, Encores, if you want a REALLY lost musical--here it is.
#8re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:12pm
I'd really like to see this done as well. I love the music.
This year my ballet class is doing "here." That's my favorite as well as "Journey to the past."
A dancer might dream to see her name in lights and mean it,
but all she really dreams is to make someone
else feel the way she did when she first saw a dancer.
And that is so beautiful-Anonymous
#9re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:17pm
The main, and in some ways fatal, flaw to this movie was the terribly underdeveloped character of Rasputin, and the all-around weak sub-polt surrounding him. It bogs down the whole movie, seems out-of-place and REALLY slows down the ending.
Ahrens and Flahery's score is great, and it has some incredible songs in it, and is just very theatrical in nature. I could see it possibly working on stage with some expansion, but ONLY if they completely overhaul the entire character and sub-plot of Rasputin. Or, perhaps more ideally, just get rid of it all together.
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
Updated On: 3/6/05 at 09:17 PM
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
Bwaybaby109
Broadway Star Joined: 6/28/03
#10re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:27pmI totally agree with that. I think they shouldn't get rid of Rasputin, (bc In the Dark of the Night is a kick ass song!) but totally rework his character a little and what do you think about Bartok? Should they keep him? I think the show could get on fine without him somehow but he does bring a little comic relief. Idk.
"Have a child for warmth and a baker for bread and a prince for... whatever!"
#11re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:32pm*sigh* i love "at the beginning". it's the little part of me that loves cheezy poppy numbers. i also like "journey"
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
#12re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:34pmbought the soundtrack recently........would love it as a stage production
It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story...
AGATHA CHRISTIE, Life magazine, May 14, 1956
#13re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:37pmI'd love to see Anastasia as a stage production. It's one of my favorite animated films and the music is wonderful. Unlike some of the animated movie-to-musical ideas I've heard this one sounds like it could really work out if they were to ever do it. (And I agree that they should keep Rasputin in...I like his character and its true, In the Dark of the Night is a kickass song!)
I wanted to get something that an "ex"-junkie like him would really appreciate and cherish....it's a brick of heroin shaped like a heart.
-Scrubs
Bwaybaby109
Broadway Star Joined: 6/28/03
#14re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:40pmI wonder if there is a way to mail someone about this, like the composers. I actually plan on emailing Schwartz about bringing Hunchback to bway. I think it would be kind of cool if we could all get involved somehow.
"Have a child for warmth and a baker for bread and a prince for... whatever!"
#15re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:42pmYeah it really would be cool. So if they insist on bringing animated movies to broadway etc then we can at least leave some suggestions for some good ones that we'd all love to see on Broadway.
I wanted to get something that an "ex"-junkie like him would really appreciate and cherish....it's a brick of heroin shaped like a heart.
-Scrubs
#16re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:44pmMy own issue with turning the animated ANASTASIA into a musical is that the movie was extremely historically-inaccurate. It works fine for a cartoon, but it's a much bigger problem if you're trying to do a live-action version.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
#17re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:46pmWell thats always something they could change for a stage production. I have a feeling the movie was so incorrect because it was targeted for children who probably couldn't handle some of the content had it been correct but if they were to bring it to the stage as a more adult show then I'm sure they'd change that.
I wanted to get something that an "ex"-junkie like him would really appreciate and cherish....it's a brick of heroin shaped like a heart.
-Scrubs
Bwaybaby109
Broadway Star Joined: 6/28/03
#18re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:47pmhow was it innacurate? The royal family really died and it the rest of the story was just "What happened if...?" And yes, Anastasia was older when the revolution happened. it wasn't like Pocahontas or something.
"Have a child for warmth and a baker for bread and a prince for... whatever!"
#19re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:48pm
But then I keep thinking that if this is made into a stage musical, then Ahrens and Flaherty would have to devote more time to it to expand the score and tweak numbers, etc.
And I would much rather have them work on new projects than go back to old ones.
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
Updated On: 3/6/05 at 09:48 PM
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
#20re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 9:53pmGod Pocahontas was the most innacurate thing I've ever seen.....And yes as much as I'd like to see some original projects on Broadway, again if they insist upon turing movies into musicals then at least they should be good ones.
I wanted to get something that an "ex"-junkie like him would really appreciate and cherish....it's a brick of heroin shaped like a heart.
-Scrubs
#21re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 10:01pm
how was it innacurate?
I haven't seen the movie in many years now, but I believe that it depicted the evil magician guy as putting a spell on the masses to storm the castle, when really it was a people's socialist revolt that was a long time brewin'.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
Bwaybaby109
Broadway Star Joined: 6/28/03
#22re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 10:06pmthat's true but it actually showed the people revolting, again it's a What If? that's not totally taken out of context.
"Have a child for warmth and a baker for bread and a prince for... whatever!"
#23re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 10:27pm
Anya: Sutton Foster
Dimitri: Matt Cavenaugh
Queen: Angela Lansbury
Vlad: Kelsey Grammar
They could keep the great score but rework the book so its based more on fact for the stage...
#24re: Anastasia?
Posted: 3/6/05 at 10:44pm
Love that cast list BillyLawlor. 
I wanted to get something that an "ex"-junkie like him would really appreciate and cherish....it's a brick of heroin shaped like a heart.
-Scrubs
