There are two standout stars in “Anastasia,” which opened in its Southern California premiere at Vista’s Moonlight Amphitheatre on Wednesday.
One is fast-rising San Diego theater performer Lena Ceja, who beautifully plays the amnesiac Russian woman Anya in the production. The other is Moonlight’s massive LED video wall. Installed 18 months ago, the 700-panel video screen allows this wide-ranging musical to instantly create lavish palaces, a rolling cross-country train journey, fireworks, a vast map of Russia, the lights and landmarks of Paris, and more.
Both Ceja and the LED wall help make “Anastasia” one of Moonlight’s best-sung and most visually spectacular productions in recent years.
A scene from Moonlight Stage Productions’ “Anastasia” at the Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista. (Karli Cadel)
Based on the legend that one of Russia’s Romanov royal family members survived mass execution in 1918, “Anastasia” began as a 1997 animated musical film for all ages. In 2016, it was adapted into a much darker, more grown-up musical with a book by Terrence McNally and original direction by Darko Tresnjak, a former resident artistic director and Shakespeare festival director at San Diego’s The Old Globe.
The result is an odd mix of broad comic characters and freewheeling adventure scenes from the film combined with ominous songs and theatrical moments, like startling cracks of gunfire and lightning, drawn guns and references to the mass murder. (In other words, young children familiar with the film may be disturbed or confused by some musical scenes.)
The musical’s score, co-written by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, is just as ear-pleasing as their previous collaboration, “Ragtime,” with lots of inspiring songs that end with a big, high-note finish. And fortunately, director Larry Raben has fielded an excellent singing cast led by Ceja, who’s not only a top-notch singer and vocal interpreter, but also a subtle and endearing actress.
Other standouts in the vocal cast are Sittichai Chaiyahat as Dmitry, the young man who grooms Anya to pose as surviving princess Anastasia, and Richard Bermudez as Gleb, a villainous Bolshevik revolutionary charged with tracking down and killing the imposter. Bets Malone and Michael Paternostro bring much-welcomed comedy to the show as Countess Lily and her ne’er-do-well lover Vlad. And the regal Valerie Perri has an innate dignity as Russia’s exiled Dowager Empress.
Choreographer Bill Burns has staged many exceptional dance scenes, particularly a tribute to the famed Russian ballet master Marius Petipa, and a comic 1920s-style dance number for Lily and Vlad. The production features rented costumes and projections, with additional scenery by Andrew Hammer, lighting by Ryan Marsh and Jennifer Edwards, sound by Chris Luessmann and musical direction and conducting by Randi Rudolph.
Although it may not be the best show for small children, Moonlight Stage Productions’ “Anastasia” is sure to be a big crowd-pleaser this summer.
‘Anastasia’
When: 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Through July 26
Where: Moonlight Amphitheatre, Brengle Terrace Park, 1200 Vale Terrace Drive, Vista
Tickets: $41-$62
Info: 760-724-2110
Online: moonlightstage.com