City Circle bringing ‘Anastasia’ to Coralville stage

CORALVILLE — Anya is not a Disney princess, and she may not even be a princess at all. Or is she?

Find out when City Circle Theatre Company stages the musical “Anastasia,” based on the 1997 film from 20th Century Fox Animation. The show opens Dec. 6 and continues on weekends through Dec. 15, 2024, at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.

The young woman seen sweeping streets in St. Petersburg, Russia, suffers from amnesia, and can’t remember her real name, her family or her childhood.

Then one day, she gets swept up in a con scheme to convince the Dowager Empress that this young woman is her royal Romanov granddaughter, Anastasia, rumored to have survived when her siblings and their parents, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, were executed by the Bolsheviks on July 16, 1918.

If you go

What: City Circle Theatre Company: “Anastasia”

Where: Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 1301 Fifth St., Coralville

When: Dec. 6 to 15, 2024; 7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Tickets: $16 to $30 at the CCPA Box Office, (319) 248-9370 or coralvillearts.org

Extras: Student rush tickets, $10, beginning at 1 p.m. Dec. 7; ASL interpretation Dec. 15, contact Box Office for seats nearest the interpreter

Details: coralvillearts.org/330/Anastasia

Con men Dmitry (Ben Nelson) and Vlad (Aaron Pozdol) see the physical resemblance between Anya and Anastasia, and decide to school her in royal ways, so they can cash in on the reward offered to anyone who can reunite Anastasia with her grandmother in Paris. The Dowager Empress (Eve Minkler) moved there when Anastasia was 5, giving the child a music box that plays their favorite lullaby, “Once Upon a December.”

Anya (Molly Owen) isn’t in it for the money — she just wants to unlock her memories, and that music box may be the key.

Movie memories

Owen, 20, studying music education at the University of Iowa, jumped at the chance to audition for the show.

“I watched the movie a lot as a kid,” she said. “It was one of my favorites.”

She recently learned Anastasia isn’t a Disney princess, which she said came as a shock. Regardless, she was drawn to the princess aspect of the epic tale, and to Anastasia’s.

“She’s very stubborn and kind of silly in that way. I like that,” said Owen, who lives in Iowa City. “She is her own woman. She doesn’t really need anybody or anything to be herself.”

Director Elizabeth Tracey of Iowa City sees those traits in Owen, too.

“You’re a very confident person,” Tracey said. “When you know your own mind, you know your own mind.”

“I’m a leader, not a follower,” Owen replied.

“I think Anya is the same way,” Tracey added. “She has this dream that her memory will come back if she goes to Paris.”

Owen relates more to the scrappy Anya in Act I, than the polished Anya in Act II, who she said is “a little bit more put together, and has a little more composure.”

Unlike Owen, Tracey wasn’t familiar with the movie, since her daughter didn’t watch it. But she did know some of the history behind the legend, and the play selection committee felt the show fit the bill for City Circle’s holiday offering.

“If it’s a December slot show, we try to have something that is very family-friendly,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be holiday-oriented, but one that gives people a reason to stop their very busy lives and stop by and see a show.”

Hearing the music sealed the deal for her. “That’s what I fell in love with,” Tracey said.

She then watched the animated film, and ended up liking the stage version better.

“There’s much more depth to it,” she said. “There’s so much heart.”

Relationships

Tracey especially likes that in addition to Anya and Dmitry sparking an attraction, two middle-aged characters in the show also have “a kind of romantic scene,” Tracey said, “which I think isn’t done that often” onstage.

Without giving it all away, including both identities, Tracey said audiences are going to “crack up, because they can relate to what (the older couple) are going through, physically and otherwise.”

The couple in the script have a history, as do the actors playing those parts.

The female half is “a lady in waiting,” said Pozdol, 43, of Cedar Rapids. “She’s a married woman, which is apparently what attracts Vlad to her, or attracts her to Vlad the most. Beautiful, voluptuous and married: Those are three check marks he’s looking for.

“There’s a rekindling aspect of it, because they knew each other when they were young — younger, at least,” he said, adding that he and the actress playing the role have appeared together in another show. “It’s nice to get back into that sort of swing with somebody who you know and trust, and explore the topics of late-in-life romance. Is it too late for happiness?”

Humor is one of Pozdol’s proven acting strengths, and humor helps balance the show’s more difficult situations. The tale springs from a dark chapter in Russia’s history. While that is acknowledged, and guns are shown, the deaths involve very stylized movements that convey the essence of the action, without scaring younger viewers.

“That’s a very powerful moment in the show, and I think it really speaks to the politics of even now, with what’s going on in the world,” Tracey said. “There are a lot of very volatile situations going on, and what happened to Russia and their freedoms.

“They leave one oppressive government, one type of government, thinking that they're going to get freedom (only) to have a disruption and oppression again — neighbor turning on neighbor and spying on each other, and they’re not at peace.” Then or now.

“I think this is a very important American story,” she added. “Our whole country was founded on immigrants. Why did they come here? To find freedom and to find a way to reinvent themselves, to beat this class system, that we’re a country of opportunity. Anya speaks to that. I think her relationship with Dmitry really speaks to the American dream of people falling in love and making choices for themselves and choosing their path — self-determination.”

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Vlad and Dmitry

Not all the relationships are romantic. Dmitry and Vlad have a symbiotic relationship, each bringing something crucial to their money-making scheme.

Vlad has been passing himself off as a count, “to cover for basically just putting himself where he didn’t belong,” Pozdol said. “He was a commoner that through the power of his wit and charm, and not having any shame, ingratiated himself into the Romanovs’ society. And he didn’t lose any of those skills — he just lost a society to belong to.”

While others in the Tsarist circles “pulled up stakes and got out as quick as they could, (Vlad) was left behind,” Pozdol noted. “So he finds himself attached to a younger fellow of the streets, and they sort of partner up. Dimitri is more of the brains. I’m more of the face of the operation, because whenever any kind of wheels need to be greased, I think Vlad is probably there to grease them.”

In a realm full of bad guys when the play’s action takes place, Vlad and Dmitry aren’t bad — they’re just trying to survive under a harsh new regime.

“(Dmitry) has that classic con man with a heart of gold thing that I absolutely love,” said Nelson, 27, of Coralville. “I’m a big nerd, so (as in) ‘Star Wars’ — he’s a very Han Solo type character.”

“I guess that makes me Chewie,” Pozdol quipped. “Chew up the furniture,” Tracey added, making everyone at the table laugh. "Yeah, I’ll agree with that,“ Pozdol acquiesced.

“Vlad has resigned to making the best of a difficult situation, so I feel like that’s apropos. He makes no apologies for who he is and how he lives his life, and he is frequently in awe of the talented youth around him,” Pozdol said. “I think he looks on the bright side of life. He’s funny. He finds the positive in quite horrific surroundings at times.”

It’s not all yin and yang. Dmitry gets to be funny, too.

“It’s the little moments of sarcasm and humor that I get to bring out that I really enjoy with the character,” Nelson said, “and having a scene partner as wonderful as Aaron to play off of is the biggest blessing I could have in the show.”

Take-aways

It’s a musical that spans the generations for audiences, giving everyone something to enjoy, Tracey said.

“I feel like young girls will aspire to be like Anya,” she said.

“It’s a show for all ages,” Owen added. “There’s enough elements for kids ... they kind of understand the character, and there’s enough adult humor. ... There are several topics that a kid might turn to their parents, like, ‘What does this mean?’ But other than that, I feel like it’s for a wide variety of people.”

And in the end, Tracey is confident viewers will “walk out feeling just very happy” and “energized,” and humming the music.

“I think with any good show, it’s going to take you on a roller coaster of emotion,” Pozdol said. “But it’s going to land on hope, and what better place to be?”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com