Spotlight opens epic adventure ‘Anastasia’

You can get swept up in history, romance and adventure in the big musical “Anastasia,” opening Friday, April 12 at Spotlight Theatre, 1800 7^th Ave., Moline.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, and a book by Terrence McNally, the stage musical is based on the 1997 animated film of the same name (with different music). It adapts the legend of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, who was rumored to have escaped and survived the execution of the Russian Imperial family.

Many years later, an amnesiac young woman named Anya hopes to find some trace of her past by siding with two con men, who wish to take advantage of her resemblance to Anastasia by presenting her to the Grand Duchess’ paternal grandmother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Spotlight director Aaron Baker stage managed “A Christmas Carol” there last holiday season, and this is his first directing at Spotlight. He’s been in a number of shows, starting with “Tuck Everlasting” in June 2022.

Baker has taught high school drama at Morningstar Academy in Bettendorf, for six years. He directed five shows there, and now works at the German American Heritage Center, Davenport, in charge of education and its diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion efforts.

“Anastasia” is the first musical he’s directed, while every show he’s acted in have been musicals, going back to high school in the Akron, Ohio area. He’s 39 now.

“It is a massive show, to start as my first musical directing,” Baker said Wednesday of the Spotlight show, noting there are 30 in the cast. “I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say it scared me.”

He taught at a Michigan high school before moving to the QC, and directed some large shows there.

What’s different about the musical compared to the animated film is it’s more steeped in history, Baker said. “It naturally is more serious and the tension is higher,” he said.

He also played the steward in Countryside’s “Into the Woods” last summer, and his first QC show was “A Wrinkle in Time” at Playcrafters.

Anastasia at three ages

There are three girls playing Anastasia at different ages – 6, 17 and 26. Claire Sattler (a 2023 Iowa State University grad) plays the adult Anastasia, who later goes by Anya, and is trying to discover her identity.

Kicking off in 1906, the bulk of the story takes place in the 1920s, and the musical includes flavors of Parisian and Russian folk styles, plus standard Broadway musical theater, Baker said.

“For being a modern musical, it has a lot of classical elements in the way it was written,” he said. “It has a ballet as well, which is more classic. They are literally at the ballet, ‘Swan Lake,’ actually.”

Their choreographer (Ellie Garcia) has danced at a ballet company in Brazil, and she dances in one scene. Dancer Dorothy Turner also is featured in the ballet scene.

Sattler is from West Des Moines and graduated with two degrees, in vocal performance and psychology. She moved to the QC last September to work mainly as a Circa ’21 Bootlegger, until January. She didn’t audition for any of the main shows.

Sattler has been hired as a vocal instructor for Quad Cities Music Therapy, which hasn’t started yet.

Coincidentally, the first musical she was in during high school was “Tuck Everlasting,” and she also was in “The Secret Garden,” and in college “9 to 5.”

“I’m kind of growing a passion for it, the more that I do it,” Sattler said of musicals. She’d never been to Spotlight before auditioning for “Anastasia.”

Beautiful and moving

“I think the show is beautiful itself, the music is very moving, and I’d seen it at the Des Moines Civic Center like five years ago,” she said. “Music has been my main focus and my passion. I really wanted to be part of it in any way I could.”

“Anastasia” is not operatic, Sattler said. Her solo parts are more musical theater, “a little out of my comfort zone,” she said.

Anastasia has amnesia and she’s trying to figure out who she is and find her family.

“She randomly runs into this con man and his assistant and they know the Dowager Empress has lost her family, but there’s sill that question of Anastasia,” Baker said. “Is she still alive? Anya runs into Dmitri and Vlad; she’s looking for whatever her family is and they take advantage of that. They take her to Paris.”

Eventually, she falls in love with Dmitri, who’s played by Caleb Swinney (who was Anthony in Music Guild’s “Sweeney Todd” last November).

Baker loves historic architecture, and he designed the set based on a real palace, and its arched door reflects the massive arched proscenium over the stage (in the former Scottish Rite Cathedral).

“It’s super fun, to be able run around on everything they build,” Sattler said.

She was in the choir at Iowa State and after her junior year, got to perform in beautiful cathedrals in Estonia, Latvia and Sweden.

“Now it’s kind of fun to experiment with a different type of music making,” Sattler said of musicals. “I feel like I’m much more into character. With classical, it’s much more technical, which is also very fun. With this, I am able to explore the character more and let the character lead.”

“I don’t have to think so much about the technicalities of it,” she said. Sattler doesn’t use a Russian accent for the role.

“We had a large turnout and Claire not only looks traditionally like the part, but she has an amazing voice,” Baker said. “She also has such passion, and that is perfect for the role. I would say the moment that sold it for myself and the team was actually when she read with Caleb, who is our Dmitri, and the two of them had instant chemistry.

“We knew that we wanted them both; they were both fantastic separately in auditions and then together, they were just a team immediately,” the director said. “They’ve become a team even more during the process as well.”

“Anastasia” will be performed at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays (April 12-13, 19-20), and 2 p.m. Sundays (April 14 and 21). Tickets are $20 or $25, available HERE.

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