Hartford Stage To Produce New Musical 'Anastasia' 

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A new musical inspired by the legend of a surviving member of the Royal Romanov family will make its world premiere at Hartford Stage in the spring of 2016, making it the theater\'s first original musical since "A Gentleman\'s Guide to Love and Murder."

Hartford Stage Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak will stage the new musical "Anastasia."  Tresnjak won a Tony Award last June for his direction of "Gentleman\'s Guide". That show, which was developed and premiered by Hartford Stage in 2012, went on to win four Tonys, including best musical of the season.

"This is an epic musical with a cast of 21 and I\'m thrilled," says Tresnjak. "People in the musical theater [industry] now know that they can have a work lovingly nurtured here, just as we did for \'Gentleman\'s Guide.\' "

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"Anastasia" will have music by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, who also wrote the score for the 1997 animated film of the same name. That film and the 1956 motion picture starring Ingrid Bergman, both by Twentieth Century Fox, are the "inspiration" for the new musical centering on Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, who may have survived the execution of her family, according to legend.

The show will include some songs from the 1997 animated film — including the Oscar-nominated "Journey to the Past" — as well as new tunes —but it will not be kid-centric, according to David Henderson, director of marketing at the theater.

Writing the book to the show is Terrence McNally, who worked with Flaherty and Ahrens on the Tony Award-winning musical "Ragtime."

McNally also wrote the book to the musicals "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "The Full Monty" "The Rink," "Catch Me If You Can" and his latest, "The Visit," which opened Thursday on Broadway, starring Chita Rivera.

Flaherty and Ahrens\' other musical credits include "Seussical," "Once On This Island" and "Rocky."

A workshop of the musical was held last summer in New York and another private one is planned for the first two weeks of June. Stage Entertainment USA is involved as commercial partners in that workshop as well as the Hartford production.

It\'s a busy season for Tresnjak, who will direct three of the theater\'s six shows, including Keith Reddin\'s stage adaptation of "Rear Window" during the fall and "Romeo and Juliet" in late winter.

The six-play season will open in September with the world premiere of Christopher Shinn\'s "An Opening in Time," followed by "Read Window," "The Body of an American" by Dan O\'Brien (a co-production with off-Broadway\'s Primary Stages), "Romeo and Juliet," "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters\' First 100 Years" (a co-production with New Haven\'s Long Wharf Theatre) and "Anastasia," which runs May 12 to June 12, 2016.

Tresnjak is now staging a revival of the Cole Porter musical, "Kiss Me Kate," which will end the 2015-16 season and run May 14 to June 14.

"I hope we can have a revival or a new musical as part of every season," says Tresnjak.

Subscriptions for the 2015-16 season and group sale tickets are now on sale. Single tickets will go on sale in July. For more information, visit hartfordstage.org or call 860-527-5151

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