The following review was submitted to the Chronicle on July 11, 2026:

Landmark Community Theatre’s new production of “Anastasia the Musical” boasts a delightful and talented cast in a well-directed show that is ultimately less than the sum of its parts.

And while that’s not intended as damning with faint praise, the musical has some pretty evident shortcomings that, happily, can be obscured — and even overcome — by the pleasures of watching and listening to this enthusiastic group of actors.

So let’s get the less appealing stuff out of the way first thing. Historically, the show has no basis in history. The real Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov was murdered with her father Tsar Nicholas II and the rest of her family during Russia’s Bolshevik revolution in 1918. But the myth of her survival makes for a persistent fantasy, and what can be wrong with that? Well, the musical’s book by Terrence McNally revels in low-grade sentimentality; the result is just not very good historical fiction, and particularly the rushed ending.

The music by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, who have a considerable record of Broadway successes, is agreeable but in no way memorable. It seems unlikely anyone will walk away from this show humming an unforgettable tune.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if they walk away smiling about the production’s specifics, starting with the well-conceived and superbly paced work of director Michael Calabrese. The show moves along quickly in spite of a lot of small set changes; credit the hard-working backstage crew for their energy and accuracy.

And there’s so much to enjoy from the cast starting with the lovely and lovely-voiced Lily Percival as Anastasia. She is almost as convincing a vulnerable street sweeper as a regal princess, and her first-act closing song “Journey to the Past” is a showstopper. Her scenes with the Dowager Empress, so brilliantly portrayed with gravitas by Kimberly Parsons-Whitaker, are most engaging.

The other ledes are hardly less well done: Antonio Mantero as Anastasia’s love interest Dimitry, is smart, impetuous, humorous and devoted; his companion Vlad is wonderfully high-spirited in this likable portrayal by Chris Guertin; and Robert Wiener easily turns his fierce role of Gleb into the show’s needed villain.

So, you might ask, where is Rasputin, the real bad guy, in all of this? The show’s creator jettisoned him in much the same way he chose to skip over the unpleasantries committed by the Romanov family, depicted here as innocents. But then we’re getting back to the bad stuff again…

While the music is hardly memorable, the presentation of it here overseen by director Tricia O’Porto is very appealing. She’s put together a nice ensemble, and her ledes do a splendid job vocally. They all deserve praise.

Peggy Terhune’s choreography is a dazzler, so full of energy and detail with a variety of movements that range from ballet to just about a wild free-for-all. The set design, costumes and lighting are all first-rate and contribute so much to the overall good effect of the staging.

So maybe there’s the bottom line: this is a very good and enjoyable staging of a rather flawed musical. You can see it — and be happy you did — over the next weekends at the Opera House in Thomaston through July 26.

— William Starr