Anastasia musical in the works

[clockworkgirl21]

http://www.therotoscopers.com/news/2012/6/15/anastasia-musical-heading-to-broadway-angela-lansbury-to-rep.html

It's based on the 1997 cartoon. Angela Lansbury will reprise her role as Dowager Empress Marie. I'm a far bigger fan of the real Anastasia than any fictional version of her (I'm sure it's the same for everyone else here!), but this should be interesting.

[Jen_94]

I heard about this.

Like you, I am a bigger fan of the real Anastasia, BUT in my opinion, I think that if this gets into the right hands, then this could be really good.

[edubs31]

I don't get it. The mystery is history. In 1997 at least you could still argue that there was some doubt, but not anymore.

Is it so hard to create some new fairy tale instead of egoistically keeping alive a story that was (from the Anna Anderson angle) greatly distorted, or (from the real Anastasia angle) a complete myth?

Here I'll lend my assistance! The new play is called "Natasha". It's the story of a girl who escapes murder during WWI at the hands of the Bolsheviks. Her aristocratic family all perished and she's alone, suffering from some sort of amnesia, and it takes a while for even her closest living relatives to accept her true identity. At the same time an evil mystic hired by the Soviets is out to destroy her as to keep their secret of the "disappearance" of the Federov family in tact. There we go!

[aleksandr pavlovich]

I don't get it. The mystery is history. In 1997 at least you could still argue that there was some doubt, but not anymore.

Is it so hard to create some new fairy tale instead of egoistically keeping alive a story that was (from the Anna Anderson angle) greatly distorted, or (from the real Anastasia angle) a complete myth?

                                                                                                                                                                                                       IMO, I agree with the above remarks.  It is simply "old (insipid) wine in new bottles." If it EVER makes it to actual fruition, the run should be mercifully short. It has its predecessors............................ .
  
   Wasn't there an "Anastasia" ballet that "up and quickly died" as well?  Not to mention the intended "Kitchen Boy" movie (IMO) fiasco that has apparently "died a-borning.............."                         AP.

[Jen_94]

I think there is an Anastasia ballet that was/is being done in Canada.

http://www.balletjorgen.ca/index.cfm?PAGEPATH=&ID=10197

I think that a play itself could work on broadway about the mystery of Anna/Nicholas II's reign. Not so much a musical, to be honest. Something like the 1997 movie would work on stage more so of a musical, since its more of a fairy tale. Just my opinion.

[blessOTMA]

Everything becomes a musical these days! There was never more musicals and less hit songs! lol! I thought the cartoon  WAS a musical...so this means  that humans are going to do the cartoon on stage? ...well if it proves to be as great of a Romanov fan generator  as the cartoon was , I can't say I'm against it . That cartoon  created a whole generation of enthusiasts. It actually makes $$ sense. Those who saw the movie as children, now being adults, can pay to see it as a play . One moves the product with its audience . I say all this, but I could stand just 10 mins of the moive..it was cartoonish even for a cartoon...Rasputin as Jason on Elm Street!  lol

[edubs31]

I guess I just find it a little bit disrespectful. Like making Abraham Lincoln into a vampire! You're distorting the legacy, for whatever it's worth, of one woman (Anna Anderson) who during the last years of her life wanted nothing to do with her own myth. On the other hand you're making a circus out of the life of an innocent victim (Anastasia) who cannot speak for herself.

I'd like to think that the producers have some positive intentions and aren't out just to make a buck. And, just as many people came to the Romanov saga through the animated fairy tale from the 90s there are a handful of people who will probably attend this musical and dig deeper...curious about the real life story.

But it just doesn't sit well with me. If this is what it takes to keep the memory of Anastasia and the Romanovs alive then let them vanish from the pages of history...

[Jen_94]

To be honest, I didn't like how Rasputin was portrayed in the movie, before I knew about the real story, I actually thought everything about the film was amazing, but now, I am not sure about Rasputin from the film. The film or the musical (if it eventually gets onto the broadway stage) would be a little 'introduction' for young children about the Romanov family. Like Anne said, $$!! It will be interesting to see, though, how this stage musical works out and how well it would do.

[Alixz]

Was Lincoln made into a "vampire' or a vampire hunter?

[edubs31]

Was Lincoln made into a "vampire' or a vampire hunter?

lol, you're right. I suppose he was "hunter" judging from the actual film title and the brief synopsis I read. Guess I was thinking that he was also a vampire, but a good one, who hunted down others and protected humanity...

[Jen_94]

Was Lincoln made into a "vampire' or a vampire hunter?

lol, you're right. I suppose he was "hunter" judging from the actual film title and the brief synopsis I read. Guess I was thinking that he was also a vampire, but a good one, who hunted down others and protected humanity...

Perhaps so!

[Alixz]

I actually thought about reading the book, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  :-)

I have read enough trash about Lincoln in research and this was way over the top.

[edubs31]

Alixz you are aware of the Speilberg film "Lincoln" planned for release in the fall, yes? Daniel Day Louis in the title role? I'm really excited about this. Id be shocked if it wasn't at least good and could potentially be great!

[blessOTMA]

I have to say when I saw Lincoln vampire hunter ads I was applauded...wasn't Jane Austen 's characters turned into sea monsters...or was it's zombies? . Lucky Lincoln as vampire slayer sank like a stone . The Anastasia  cartoon isn't  near that level of travesty . At least they stay supposedly human.  I guess I get around the disrespect part because I don't see it as having anything to do with the family.

This is what gets grateful for...it's not Imperial  Vampire Zombies of Tsarskoe Selo .... but I shouldn't give people that idea . lol 

[Alixz]

Looking forward to Spielberg's Lincoln.

I read Bill O'Reilly's tome on Lincoln and found that the esteemed Mr. O'Reilly made a huge mistake in saying that Lincoln spent much time in the Oval Office. The Oval office didn't even exist until the West Wing was built and that was during the TR administration. Even before that the first President's office was rectangular. And, I believe, Lincoln used a room on the second floor of the Executive Mansion for his office.

I was too old for Disney cartoons when Anastasia came out and for the first time, I was happy that my son (who was about 11, I think) at the time had no interest in going. He loved the first Toy Story, but was more of an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan in his action roles and even in his comedies like "Jingle All The Way" and "Twins" with Danny Devito.

Disney should have known better, but from the merchandise that was advertised and sold during and after the film's release, you know exactly what Disney was doing. Going for the gold and not for the historical value.