when I was 10 years old and first settled in the Washington, D.C., area. Q: What makes this story work so well as a stage musical?Ī: My family came to the U.S.

And that story, of course, is not romantic. We don’t say what happened to the Romanovs, because everyone knows that story. The whole show is ultimately a theatrical romance – a fairy tale really. Kyla Stone (Anya) and Sam McLellan (Dmitry) are shown in a scene from the North American Tour of the Broadway musical 'Anastasia.'Ī: It has a beautiful story filtered through the loss experienced by a young girl. Then my agent, who believed I was right for the project, suggested I meet with the three authors – Terrence McNally, who was writing the book, and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who were doing the music and lyrics, and my interest grew from there. I knew all about the Romanovs, but I wasn’t sure I was the right person to transfer their story to the stage. What first interested you in directing this musical?Ī: To be honest, at first I wasn’t sure I was interested. Q: “Anastasia” had its pre-Broadway run at Hartford Stage in May 2016, when you were artistic director there, but you were involved with the show for several years before that. citizen, Tresnjak is a graduate of Swarthmore College and earned a master of fine arts degree from Columbia University.Īn in-demand director of opera, plays and musicals, Tresnjak was hiking the Sawtooth Mountain Range in Idaho with his husband, costume designer Joshua Pearson, and his in-laws last week when he took time out for a telephone call to discuss “Anastasia” and more.

Brandon Delgado (Gleb) and Kyla Stone (Anya) are shown in the in North American Tour of the Broadway musical 'Anastasia.'īorn in Zemun, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), Tresnjak, 56, immigrated to the United States with his mother at age 10.

Citizens bank opera house bag policy