A Crowd of Thousands in 82 Seats

Danny Slattery as Deputy Commissioner Gleb in Anastasia: The Musical at Lake Country Playhouse. Photo credit: Taran Schatz.

A review of Anastasia: The Musical

by Ellory Woodford, age 12

On October 9, 2025 I attended Anastasia: The Musical at Lake Country Playhouse, directed by Sarah Jo Martens. Anastasia is the story of the lost princess Anastasia Romanov as she tries to uncover if she truly is who she’s told she is. This show reminds us that even when we’re surrounded by hardships, we can see the better in ourselves and the world around us. The production’s use of dance, music, and acting did a wonderful job of conveying the themes of the show and making the story personal and individual.

The actors in this show were incredible at portraying their roles. This show is very emotionally complex but these actors all showed that beautifully through facial expressions and body language. One moment in the show where this was particularly noticeable was "Stay, I Pray You." During this song all of the characters were distressed, upset, or crying. They did this so well that I was almost moved to tears. As they went through the show we saw moments of utmost fear, joy, confusion, sadness, and anger, all of which were portrayed equally beautifully.

This show also had incredible dancing throughout. They performed Russian dancing in the style of the show, and upbeat, almost swing-style dancing in the second half of the show in Paris. They had the entire cast dancing, from the youngest member of the cast to the oldest. In fact, one of the dancers who was especially captivating to watch was one of their younger cast members, Annie Sturtz. She was full of enthusiasm and would always capture your eye in the dances in the best way possible. 

On the topic of musical numbers, I can’t NOT mention the singing. This show has very hard harmonies and vocal solos but this cast managed them with incredible precision. They blended their voices into one gorgeous harmony. One vocal soloist who I thought had an amazing voice was Danny Slattery who played Deputy Commissioner Gleb. During Gleb’s songs "Still" and "The Neva Flows," Slattery demonstrated his vocal talents in the quiet parts, the loud parts, the high parts, and the low parts. Another vocalist who commanded the stage with her voice was Ellie Adam, in the titular role of Anastasia. While she sounded magnificent throughout the show, one song of hers that stood out to me was possibly the most well-known song from the show, "Once Upon a December." During this song, Adams executed all of her notes beautifully and captured the emotion through song perfectly. 

One thing I found particularly interesting and intriguing about this production was the way the venue worked with the story. Lake Country Playhouse is a smaller theatre seating only 82 people and having a smaller stage. This incorporated itself into the story very well, as a lot of productions focus more on the big historical aspect of the show and less so on the core theme of finding your family. It has a very intimate feel, helping us get to really see the show through the eyes of someone who would be in the story. During the song "We’ll Go From There," I found myself swaying along with the actors onstage to the movement of the train. 

I would recommend this show for people 12 and older as some younger children may lose interest in the slower-paced parts of the show (although I did personally particularly enjoy it!) The production team at LCP did a great job of bringing the story to the stage and really highlighted the themes of discovering who you are and "found family."

Though this production has ended, Lake Country Playhouse has more shows coming up in their season, including one more weekend of Anastasia: The Musical (Youth Edition).