(Michael Paulson’s article appeared in The New York Times, 4/24; via Pam Green.)
The Tony Award-winning director of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder” is teaming up with the writers of “Ragtime” for a new musical which will open at the regional theater where he is the artistic director.
Darko Tresnjak, who won the Tony last year, will direct “Anastasia” from the team that created “Ragtime”: book writer Terrence McNally, lyricist Lynn Ahrens, and composer Stephen Flaherty. The musical, which has been in development since at least 2012, is inspired by the life of the youngest daughter of the last Russian czar and will be performed next spring at Hartford Stage.
Ms. Ahrens and Mr. Flaherty also wrote the words and music for “Anastasia,” an animated musical that was released in 1997. According to Hartford Stage, the new show was inspired by that film (six songs will be in the stage version, including the Oscar-nominated “Journey to the Past”) as well by the 1956 live-action movie of the same name that starred Ingrid Bergman.