FORTVILLE — Like all rehearsals, this one began with a group meeting. Mt. Vernon theater director Lindsay Davis stood on the stage, dispensing information, fielding questions and laying out the plan for the afternoon rehearsal that would go well into the evening. She discussed the addition of costumes and hair and make-up to the rehearsal, solved the issue of a too-heavy-for-one-person-to-lift couch, and outlined the order for sound checks.
The Mt. Vernon Theater Department is in rehearsal for “Anastasia,” on stage April 15 through 18 at Mt. Vernon High School, 8112 N. County Road 200 W.
Based on the 1977 animated movie (which is based on the legend that young Anastasia Romanov survived the assassination of her entire family during the 1917 Russian Revolution and turned up in New York City in 1928), “Anastasia” provides a purely fictional account of one of history’s biggest unanswered questions: what happened to Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov? Set against the turmoil of the Russian Revolution, Anya (played by Natalie Marchal), an amnesiac orphan, is on a quest to rediscover her past, which she believes lies in Paris. Joined by conman Dmitry (Daimon Anderson) and ex-aristocrat Vlad Popov (Ben Dostalek), who want to use Anya to bamboozle the only remaining Romanov, Dowager Empress Marie (Cadence Roy) into believing that Anya is the lost Anastasia, she escapes to Paris with Bolshevik officials in close pursuit.
Olivia Greer, a freshman and newbie to the department, shared her experience.
“I’m normally in plays, and this show is a musical,” Greer said. “I’m on stage a lot and I’m having so much fun. I wear five or six costumes. I play a boy and a girl. The dancing is fun.”
Her fountain of words capture the adventurous feel for most of Mt. Vernon’s young cast. In rehearsal since the second week of January, the cast of approximate 35 student-actors, rehearse three to four nights a week for 10 weeks followed by two weeks of nightly technical rehearsals designed to coordinate entrances and exits, lighting and sound cues.
And backdrops. A hallmark of Mt. Vernon productions is the skill of behind-the-scenes tech crew. Headed up by technical director Joy Mills, the backdrops are projections that emanate from high up on the catwalk: falling snow, the inside of an elegant ballroom, iconic scenes of Paris that meld into one another behind the chorus number “Paris Holds the Key.”
While the true story is sad, the musical version is full of hope, and — with Davis at the helm as director, choreographer and costumer, and Leigh Anderson as vocal director — packed with flashy dancing, powerful voices and poignant moments.
Like this one between the Dowager Empress and Anya, who cries out, “I’m alive! I’ve come all this way to Paris to tell you I’m alive!”
And Mt. Vernon High School’s theatre department — and its production of “Anastasia” — is as alive as it gets.
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Mt. Vernon High School theater department presents “Anastasia the Musical,” April 15, 16 and 17 at 7 p.m. and April 17 and 18 at 2 p.m. at Mt. Vernon High School, 8112 N. County Road 200 W. in Fortville. Tickets are $10.50 each and are expected to sell out. Visit mvhs.booktix.com/index.php to purchase.
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