ANASTASIA Will Open in Sydney This Week at Sydney Lyric Theatre
by Stephi Wild - Apr 7, 2026
The Broadway musical ANASTASIA opens at Sydney Lyric Theatre in April 2026, starring Georgina Hopson, Rhonda Burchmore, and Nancye Hayes, following a acclaimed Melbourne run.
ANASTASIA Comes to Brisbane's Lyric Theatre QPAC in 2026
by Stephi Wild - Feb 12, 2026
Broadway musical ANASTASIA will premiere in Brisbane's Lyric Theatre at QPAC from September 2026. The crowd-favourite musical made its Australian debut in December at Melbourne's Regent Theatre wowing audiences and critics alike.
Tickets Available This Week for ANASTASIA's Adelaide Season at Festival Theatre
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Feb 5, 2026
Tickets for Broadway musical Anastasia's Adelaide season, at Festival Theatre from August 2026, are on sale this week. The crowd-favourite musical made its Australian debut in December at Melbourne's Regent Theatre.
Photos: Rehearsals Kick Off for SIDE SHOW: IN CONCERT in Centerbrook
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jan 12, 2026
The actors have gathered, and the performance space is ringing with music. Brief Cameo Productions’ concert staging of Side Show is scheduled to perform, and you can see rehearsal photos here!
Photos: Get a First Look at ANASTASIA at White Plains Performing Arts Center
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Dec 21, 2023
The White Plains Performing Arts Center is presenting ANASTASIA, playing now through January 7. Get a first look at photos!
Interview: Jason Danieley Stages RAGTIME: THE SYMPHONIC CONCERT For Boston Pops
by R. Scott Reedy - May 9, 2023
Popular Broadway performer Jason Danieley will stage 'Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert with the Boston Pops May 12-13 at Boston's Symphony Hall, and July 8 at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA.
Photos: Inside Look at TheatreWorks' Production of RAGTIME
by Marissa Tomeo - Jun 4, 2022
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 51st season with the hit musical Ragtime. This sweeping and stirring musical masterpiece paints a portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, interweaving the lives of three families—an African American family, a Jewish Immigrant family, and a wealthy white family—finding their places and pursuing the American Dream in a rapidly changing world. Featuring a Tony Award-winning book by Pulitzer Prize finalist Terrence McNally (Master Class, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Rink) and a Tony Award-winning score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Once on This Island, Anastasia, Seussical The Musical), this musical is based on E. L. Doctorow’s best-selling novel of the same name. Ragtime will be presented June 1-26, 2022 (press opening: June 4) at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. For tickets (starting at $30) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (877)-662-8978.
Photos: See Reed Birney, AJ Shively & More at Urban Stages' 38th Annual Benefit
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 24, 2022
Urban Stages 38th Annual Gala took place on Monday, May 23rd, 2022 at the Central Park Boathouse.
Study Up on Irving Berlin and Celebrate Broadway's Return with #NoBusinessLikeShowBusiness
by Team BWW - Nov 10, 2021
Live theatre is officially back and Concord Theatricals is celebrating! 'There's No Business Like Show Business' is a digital celebration that launched just last month, marking the return of live theater and all of the incredible people who help to make it happen. The celebration coincides with the 75th anniversary of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun and its iconic showstopper 'There's No Business Like Show Business,' a song that has more resonance than ever this year.
BWW Review: ANASTASIA National Tour Impresses All Ages at Gammage Auditorium
by Tim Shawver - Nov 2, 2019
The first clue that ANASTASIA was going to be different than what I expected was a note on the title page reading, “Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures.” Plural? A savvy journalist, I quickly asked Siri to bring up the imdb page for “Anastasia”. Turns out Fox made ANASTASIA twice, the 1997 animated movie and a 1957 film that scored Ingrid Bergman's second Oscar and marked Helen Hayes' transition to the big screen. And it turns out the musical version has more in common with LES MISERABLES and Ragtime than BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Gone is the hell-wizard Rasputin, his talking fruit bat sidekick, and the singing demon caterpillars. At intermission, I asked my third grade niece, Adalyn, how she was liking it. “It's awesome…it's real people, like no Beast or anything. No animals.” We decide that Disney staged musicals are great but more it's more impressive when you can achieve the magic without a story that departs from reality. ANASTASIA is historical fiction hypothetical. It poses a “what if…?” that a daughter of the last czar of Russia (The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna) escaped when the czar's family was executed in 1918. Rumors persisted for decades that Anastasia did, in fact, escape. In 2007, DNA testing confirmed the remains of all four Grand Duchesses were in the Imperial grave. In this version, Terrence McNalley's book follows Anastasia's rediscovery of her identity after surviving the attack on her family and sustaining some plot enabling amnesia. Renamed “Anya” she grows up and makes a life in post-Revolution Russia. Anastasia's grandmother, the Dowager Empress (in a staggeringly moving performance by Joy Franz) has fled to France and offered a cash reward for anyone escorting the rumored alive Anastasia to Paris. The wily duo Vlad (Edward Staudenmayer) and Dmitry (Jake Levy) pull a My Fair Lady style makeover on Anya to collect the Dowager's prize. They are pursued by Gleb (Jason Michael Evans). A Soviet officer drawn to Anya romantically but tasked with finding and eliminating the last Romanov. Anya's memory becomes somewhat coaxed back, but the Dowager has stopped seeing Anastasia claimants after too much heart-break from countless frauds. It sounds dark, but with high-tech digital scenery and inspired performances across the cast it is delightful. Stephen Flaherty (Music) and Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics), responsible for bringing us Ragtime, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, LUCKY STIFF, as well as the Oscar nominated songs carried over from the animated film. ANASTASIA is a perfect context for this pair. “Stay, I Pray You” (my favorite song of the evening) is evocative of Ragtime's “New Music”. The two songs literally race my heart in a strangely specific way. My real test of a National Tour at Gammage is how fast I get the music playing in my car on the way home. At ANASTASIA I was already finding, “Stay, I Pray You” walking through the parking lot. The rest of the score is similarly haunting. Lila Coogan, as Anya/Anastasia, powers through the score with nuance, clarity, and passion. Tari Kelly, as Countess Lily, and Stadenmayer (Vlad) were Adalyn's favorite performances and I have to agree. This incredibly gifted pair take the “triple threat” designation (singer, dancer, actor) and go quadruple with the addition of flawless comic timing. The choreography by Peggy Hickey is masterful. It somehow combines inventive and traditional throughout and the ten-minute slice of “Swan Lake” infused into “Quartet at the Ballet” is the highlight of the second act. It's a fun-size version that gets an under-represented art form onto the plate. This kind of trope often means the plot putting the plot on hold. But here, it is the connective tissue between Anya, Dmitry, the Dowager, and Gleb as they each bring us up to speed heading into the show's climax. Ultimately, the show's success comes from applying a higher artistic standard to the “previously-animated-film-now-theatrically-staged” genre. It cashes in on the name draw of the 1997 film then gives the viewer something much more enriched than what they think they are coming to see.
Photo Coverage: THE FULL MONTY Opens at The Argyle Theatre
by Genevieve Rafter Keddy - Sep 16, 2019
Long Island's newest year-round professional theatrical venue, The Argyle Theatre presents the hit Broadway musical The Full Monty with music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Terrence McNally, based on the 1997 film of the same name. Performances began September 12, 2019 for a limited engagement through Sunday afternoon, October 20, 2019 at The Argyle Theatre (34 West Main Street, Babylon, Long Island). Opening Night is Saturday evening, September 14, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. The Full Monty is sponsored by The Post Office Café (Babylon). Presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).
Photo Flash: First Look at THE FULL MONTY at the Argyle Theatre
by Stephi Wild - Sep 14, 2019
Long Island's newest year-round professional theatrical venue, The Argyle Theatre presents the hit Broadway musical The Full Monty with music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Terrence McNally, based on the 1997 film of the same name. Performances began September 12, 2019 for a limited engagement through Sunday afternoon, October 20, 2019 at The Argyle Theatre (34 West Main Street, Babylon, Long Island). Opening Night is Saturday evening, September 14, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. The Full Monty is sponsored by The Post Office Café (Babylon). Presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).
Photo Flash: Chatting With Director Andre De Shields In The SOPHISTICATED LADIES Rehearsal Room
by Stephi Wild - Mar 6, 2019
Crossroads Theatre Company and New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) are presenting a co-production of Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies at NJPAC, 1 Center Street in Newark, Thursday, March 21 - Sunday, March 24, 2019. Click here to purchase tickets.
She Believed She Could: Lynn Ahrens Succeeds One Step At A Time
by Amanda Prahl - Aug 8, 2018
There's a fairly good chance that Lynn Ahrens wrote one of your favorite songs. Over the past few decades, she's written songs for beloved titles such as Schoolhouse Rock, Anastasia, Once on This Island, Seussical, and Ragtime. Alongside longtime collaborator Stephen Flaherty, she's been part of pretty much every theatre lover's life.
Photo Flash: Kendra Kassebaum Leads 5th Ave Theatre's MAMMA MIA!
by Julie Musbach - Feb 8, 2018
The 5th Avenue Theatre presents a new production of Mamma Mia!, the hit musical that features the songs of the beloved pop group ABBA. The 5th is the first theater company in the Pacific Northwest to be granted the rights to create a brand new original version of the famed production that has wowed audiences for nearly 20 years. Check out photos of the cast in action below!
Photo Flash: In Rehearsal With Director/Choreographer Andre De Shields And The Cast Of Crossroads Theatre Company's AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'
by Stephi Wild - Jan 29, 2018
NJPAC and Crossroads Theatre Company are co-presenting an encore production of Ain't Misbehavin', in NJPAC's Victoria Theatre from Thursday, February 1 to Sunday, February 4.
Photo Flash: First Look at THE FOUR IMMIGRANTS at TheatreWorks
by A.A. Cristi - Jul 11, 2017
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley kicks off its 48th season with the World Premiere of The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga. Drawn from one of the first ever graphic novels, set to an infectious Ragtime and vaudeville score by local composer/lyricist Min Kahng, the comic musical follows four Japanese immigrants in a world of possibility and prejudice: turn-of-the-twentieth-century San Francisco. From a tumultuous earthquake to an exhilarating World's Fair, the quartet pursues the American Dream, despite limited options in the land of opportunity. Directed by TheatreWorks Associate Artistic Director Leslie Martinson, and developed at TheatreWorks' 2016 New Works Festival, the World Premiere ofThe Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga will be presented July 12-August 6, 2017 (press opening: July 15) at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visitTheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.
Photo Coverage: Barnes and Noble Gives a Royal Welcome to the ANASTASIA Company!
by Jessica Fallon Gordon - Jun 30, 2017
The Original Broadway Cast Recording of the new musical Anastasia is now available, and the cast just celebrated its release at Barnes & Noble! ANASTASIA features a lush, original score from Tony Award winners Stephen Flaherty (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics). The score also includes several of the most beloved songs from the 1997 animated film, adapted for the stage. The 75-minute album will include the Academy Award nominated favorite 'Journey to the Past' alongside new numbers from the show such as Christy Altomare's haunting 'In My Dreams,' Ramin Karimloo's passionate 'Still' and Derek Klena's heart-racing 'My Petersburg.'
Photo Flash: First Look at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's World Premiere of THE FOUR IMMIGRANTS
by BWW News Desk - Jun 21, 2017
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley kicks off its 48th season with the World Premiere of The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga.
Photo Coverage: On the Opening Night Red Carpet for ANASTASIA
by Walter McBride - Apr 25, 2017
The stage adaption of the animated classic, ANASTASIA opened on Broadway just last night at the Broadhurst Theatre. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the big night and we're taking you to the red carpet below!
Photo Coverage: From St. Petersburg to Paris to New York City- ANASTASIA Arrives on Broadway!
by Walter McBride - Apr 25, 2017
What started as a 1997 animated movie with music by composers Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens is now a full-blown Broadway musical that's been twenty years in the making. Last night, Anastasia opened at the Broadhurst Theatre, and after the curtain came down, the company celebrated at the Marriott Marquis. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the special night and we're taking you inside the after party below!
Photo Coverage: ANASTASIA Gets a Royal Welcome on Broadway- Inside the Opening Night Bows!
by Walter McBride - Apr 25, 2017
The hotly anticipated stage adaption of the animated classic, ANASTASIA opened on Broadway just last night at the Broadhurst Theatre. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the big night and we're taking you inside the curtain call below!
Photo Flash: First Look - Christy Altomare, Derek Klena and More Bring the Romanovs to Broadway in ANASTASIA!
by BWW News Desk - Apr 20, 2017
The new musical, ANASTASIA, will open on Broadway on April 24, 2017 at the Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street), produced by Stage Entertainment, Bill Taylor (Sister Act, Rocky), Tom Kirdahy (It's Only A Play, The Visit) and Hunter Arnold (Kinky Boots, Spring Awakening). The company is led by Christy Altomare, Derek Klena, John Bolton, Ramin Karimloo, Caroline O'Connor and Mary Beth Peil. BroadwayWorld has a first look at their 'journey to the past' onstage below!
Photo Flash: Journey to St. Petersburg with a First Look at ANASTASIA on Broadway!
by Nicole Rosky - Apr 10, 2017
ANASTASIA began previews on March 23 and will open on Broadway on April 24 at the Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street). The company is led by Christy Altomare, Derek Klena, John Bolton, Ramin Karimloo, Caroline O'Connor, and Mary Beth Peil.
Set Designer Derek McLane Garners Two Emmy Nominations for THE WIZ LIVE & THE OSCARS
by Caryn Robbins - Jul 15, 2016
Yesterday, Tony and Emmy Award-winning production designer Derek McLane was the recipient of two Outstanding Production Design Emmy Award nominations for NBC's THE WIZ LIVE! and the 2015 ACADEMY AWARDS.
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