Anastasia The New Musical
To Open April 24, 2017
At the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway
Book by Tony winner
Music by Tony winner
Lyrics by Tony winner
Terrence McNally
Stephen Flaherty
Lynn Ahrens
Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures
Directed by Tony winner Darko Tresnjak
“A stunningly staged, emotionally rich and expertly crafted new musical.” – Variety
June 28, 2016 – Producers Stage Entertainment USA, Bill Taylor (Sister Act, Rocky) and Tom Kirdahy Productions (It’s Only A Play, The Visit) announce today the new musical, ANASTASIA, will open on Broadway on April 24, 2017 at the Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street). The company will be led by Christy Altomare, Derek Klena, John Bolton and Caroline O’Connor in the roles they originated at Hartford Stage. Additional casting will be announced soon.
“After finishing a record breaking run in Hartford, we look forward to bringing the magic of Anastasia to Broadway audiences next spring,” said producers Bill Taylor & Tom Kirdahy. “In Hartford, we saw people ages 8-100 travel from all over the world to enjoy Anastasia’s enduring story. We are thrilled to have Christy, Derek, John and Caroline leading our company again for the Broadway premiere.”
The musical recently completed a sold-out, record breaking world premiere engagement at Hartford Stage in CT.
The new musical reunites the Tony Award-winning writers of the Broadway classic Ragtime: book writer Terrence McNally, composer Stephen Flaherty, and lyricist Lynn Ahrens. Anastasia features direction by Darko Tresnjak, Tony Award-winner for Best Direction of a Musical for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and choreography by Peggy Hickey.
The creative team also includes Alexander Dodge (Set Design), Linda Cho (Costume Design), Donald Holder (Lighting Design), Peter Hylenski (Sound Design), Aaron Rhyne (Projection Design), Charles LaPointe (Hair/Wig Design), Thomas Murray (Music Supervision & Direction), Doug Besterman (Orchestrations), casting by Telsey + Company/Craig Burns, CSA.
From the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, the new musical, ANASTASIA, is the romantic, adventure-filled story of a brave young woman attempting to discover the mystery of her past. The new musical is inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures.
ANASTASIA features beloved songs from the 1997 film, including Ahrens and Flaherty’s Oscar-nominated “Journey to the Past,” as well as an entirely new score from the Tony Award-winning team.
BIOGRAPHIES:
Christy Altomare (Anya). Originated the role of “Anya” in Anastasia at Hartford Stage. Broadway: Mamma Mia! Off-Broadway: Carrie (Lucille Lortel Theater). National Tour: Spring Awakening (first national tour). Regional: Daddy Long Legs (Gem Theater/Detroit); Camelot (Drury Lane/ Chicago). Television: “The Big C.” Cast Recordings: Carrie: The Musical. Original Music Recordings (singer/songwriter): After You; Waiting for You. Education: BFA Musical Theater from Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.
Derek Klena (Dmitry). Originated the role of “Dmitry” in Anastasia at Hartford Stage. Broadway: The Bridges of Madison County (OBC), Wicked (10th Anniversary Company). Off-Broadway: Dogfight (Second Stage, Clive Barnes Award Nom.), Carrie (MCC). Regional: Diner (Signature Theatre (D.C.), Delaware Theatre Company), Unknown Soldier (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Hairspray (Hollywood Bowl). Television: “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (Netflix), “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “Law and Order: SVU” (NBC), “Carrie Diaries” (CW), “Tomorrow People” (CW), “One Bad Choice (MTV).
John Bolton (Vlad Popov). Originated the role of “Vlad” in Anastasia at Hartford Stage. Broadway: Dames at Sea, A Christmas Story: The Musical (Drama Desk nomination), Curtains, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Contact, Titanic, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Damn Yankees. NYC: Guys & Dolls (Carnegie Hall); NY Pops soloist (Carnegie Hall); NY Philharmonic soloist (Lincoln Center); Off-Broadway’s Pageant, The Last Smoker In America, The Bilbao Effect, Five Course Love, It’s Only Life and several productions with Project Shaw. Regional: leading roles at The Ahmanson, The Old Globe, San Francisco Opera, Arena Stage, Goodspeed, The Muny, Kansas City Rep, Geva, Houston TUTS, Pittsburgh CLO, Ogunquit Playhouse, The Hangar, Westport Playhouse, many more. TV/Film: 4 seasons on “Gossip Girl” plus roles on “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, “Blue Bloods”, “The Good Wife”, “Boardwalk Empire”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, “Ed”, “Submissions Only”, “Show Boat” (PBS), “The Savages”, recurring on “All My Children” and “As the World Turns”.
Caroline O’Connor (Countess Lily Malevsky-Malevitch). Originated the role of “Lily” in Anastasia at Hartford Stage Recent: Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes (Sydney Opera House/Helpmann Award); Rose in Gypsy (Arts Centre,
Melbourne); Phyllis in Follies (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre/Jeff Award); Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (Chatelet Theatre, Paris); Sarah Jane Moore in Assassins (Milwaukee Rep); Life of the Party (Menier Chocolate Factory, London). Broadway: Velma Kelly in Chicago, Miss Shields in A Christmas Story the Musical. West End: Mabel Normand in Mack and Mabel (Piccadilly Theatre/Olivier nomination); Bombshells (Arts Theatre/Olivier nomination); Hildy Esterhazy in On The Town (English National Opera & Chatelet Theatre, Paris); Romance/Romance, Street Scene (English National Opera); Matador, The Rink, Cabaret, Me and My Girl. Regional: Ellie-May Chipley in Showboat (Royal Shakespeare Company & Opera North); Lola in Damn Yankees, Lizzie in Baby, The Witch in Into the Woods, Cassie in A Chorus Line (UK National Tour). In Australia: Velma Kelly in Chicago, Anita in West Side Story, Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, Edith Piaf in PIAF, Bombshells and Judy Garland in the world premiere of End of The Rainbow. Film: Nini Legs in the Air in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, Ethel Merman in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely, and Georgia in Surviving Georgia. Solo CD’s: What I did for Love, Stage to Screen, A Tribute to Piaf and A Tribute To Garland. www.carolineoconnor.com.
Terrence McNally (Book). Recipient of the Dramatists Guild of America Lifetime Achievement award, Tony awards for his plays (Master Class and Love! Valour! Compassion!) and his musical librettos (Kiss Of The Spider Woman and Ragtime) and an Emmy Award for Andre’s Mother. An anthology of his plays, Terrence McNally: A Memoir In Plays, was recently published by Grove Press. He has provided the text for two American operas, Deadman Walking and Great Scott, both with Jake Heggie. There was a celebration of his work at the Kennedy Center in 2010 including the world premiere of Golden Age. Anastasia is his third collaboration with Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and his first with Darko Tresnjak. He is grateful to Hartford Stage for their enthusiastic and professional support of theatre artists and their new work. Next up: a new play, Fire And Air.
Lynn Ahrens (Lyricist) & Stephen Flaherty (Music). Longtime collaborators Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty are recipients of the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement, and were inducted into the Theater Hall of
Fame in 2015. For Broadway’s Ragtime, they won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and received two Grammy nominations. They were also nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes for the score of Twentieth Century Fox’s animated feature Anastasia. They’re thrilled to be bringing Anastasia to the stage with collaborator Terrence McNally. Selected theater credits include Once On This Island; Seussical; Rocky; Little Dancer; Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life; Lucky Stiff; the Broadway revival of Ragtime; and Lincoln Center Theater’s Dessa Rose, A Man of No Importance, My Favorite Year and The Glorious Ones. Individually, Ms. Ahrens is an Emmy Award winner, a mainstay writer for Schoolhouse Rock, and wrote book and lyrics for Madison Square Garden’s A Christmas Carol. Mr. Flaherty wrote the score for the new dance musical In Your Arms at the Old Globe, and incidental musical for Neil Simon’s Broadway play Proposals. They are council members of the Dramatists Guild of America, and cofounded the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program for emerging writers. www.ahrensandglaherty.com
Darko Tresnjak (Director) is a Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning director of plays, operas, and musicals. He has also received five directing awards from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle, three from the Connecticut Critics Circle, and the Alan Schneider Director Award. His favorite productions include The Ghosts of Versailles with Patti LuPone at Los Angeles Opera; The Merchant of Venice with F. Murray Abraham at Theatre for a New Audience and Royal Shakespeare Company; The Women with Kate Baldwin at The Old Globe; The Skin of Our Teeth with Marian Seldes at Williamstown Theatre Festival; and A Gentleman's Guide To Love and Murder with Jefferson Mays at the Walter Kerr Theatre. This summer, he will direct Macbeth with Placido Domingo at Los Angeles Opera. He is the Artistic Director of Hartford Stage.
Peggy Hickey (Choreographer). Hartford Stage: Anastastasia world premiere production, Kiss Me, Kate; A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. Broadway and NYC: The Tony Award-winning Best New Musical A Gentleman’s
Guide to Love & Murder (Outer Critics Circle and Astaire nominations for Best Choreography); Hansel and Gretel, La Rondine, The Most Happy Fella, My Fair Lady, Lucky To Be Me: the music of Leonard Bernstein (Lincoln Center). Chatalet, Paris: The King and I. Off-Broadway: Antony and Cleopatra (Theater for a New Audience). Regional: Carnival, Amour, A Little Night Music, Brigadoon, King of Hearts, On The Twentieth Century (Goodspeed); Oklahoma! (Paper Mill); Oliver, Fiddler, Brigadoon, Carousel (California Music Theater); The Music Man (The Bushnell). Opera: Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, New York City Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Savonlinna Opera Festival. Film: Woodshock starring Kirsten Dunst, The Brady Bunch Movie. Television: “Samantha Who?,” “90210,” “Hot In Cleveland,” “General Hospital.” Professional Positions: On faculty at UCLA Theater, Film and Television, Ray Bolger Program. Awards: Connecticut Critics Circle Awards for Brigadoon and On The Twentieth Century: Best Choreography; MTV Award for Beck’s New Pollution: Best Choreography.
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