Anastasia originates from the legend surrounding Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia — the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II — who was once believed to have survived the execution of her family during the Russian Revolution.

The tale, filled with drama and mystery, has captured the hearts of audiences for generations.

The Real History

The Romanov family — Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, and their five children — was executed by Bolshevik forces in Yekaterinburg in July 1918. For decades, however, the uncertainty around Anastasia's fate spawned imposters, conspiracy theories, and an enduring "what if she survived?" narrative.

DNA evidence in the early 2000s eventually confirmed that all five Romanov children died in 1918 — but by then, the legend had already taken on a cultural life entirely separate from the historical record.

The 1997 Animated Film

In 1997, Anastasia was adapted into an animated film by 20th Century Fox (then-rival to Disney). Featuring music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, the film told a romanticized version of the survival legend — and became a beloved entry in the late-90s animated-musical canon.

The songs from that film — "Journey to the Past," "Once Upon a December," "In the Dark of the Night" — became staples of vocal-performance and theater repertoires for an entire generation of young performers.

The Broadway Musical

The story made the leap to the Broadway stage as a full musical adaptation in 2017. Flaherty and Ahrens returned to compose new material alongside reworked versions of the original songs, and the show went through significant adaptations to translate from animated film to live theater.

The Broadway production deepened the story's emotional stakes, expanded the historical context, and gave the music room to breathe in ways an 87-minute animated film couldn't.

Today, Anastasia is licensed to community and regional theaters worldwide — and finds itself on the Ross Ragland Theater's stage in Klamath Falls.

What the Show Is About

At its core, Anastasia is a story of:

  • Lost identity — Anya, an amnesiac young woman with no memory of her past
  • Adventure — the journey from Russia to Paris in pursuit of who she really is
  • The quest for belonging — finding family, love, and purpose in a world that has tried to forget her

It's a fairy-tale story with real-world historical weight underneath it — and that combination is part of why it has endured.

Why It Resonates

The themes of Anastasia — rediscovering who you are when the world has forced you to forget — land differently for every audience. For some, it's the loss of family. For some, the immigrant experience. For some, the moment in life when you realize you've drifted from who you wanted to be.

For Klamath Falls audiences, the story is also about what community theater has always done best: take a story bigger than any of us, and let our neighbors tell it together.

Anastasia opens at the Ross Ragland Theater July 18–20. Tickets at ragland.org.