From Gregory Maguire’s Wicked to Roald Dahl’s Matilda, books have been getting fantastic musical makeovers. The theatrical versions of these classic stories have often become more popular than the books themselves. New York’s Broadway has played host to these wonderful feats, but this fall, the stages of Russia are going to see a musical extravaganza that many were not expecting. Anna Karenina is about to be a musical!
Leo Tolstoy’s 19th-century classic is one of the most highly regarded Russian novels to this day, not just in Russian but around the globe. It is for that reason that the musical version of the book is so highly anticipated. The play is scheduled to debut this coming October at the Moscow Operetta Theater with music written specifically for it. While the lengthy book cannot be completely summed up in a two-hour stage play, producers swear that the script abides by the original text and will remain true to it. Actors will be clad in costumes appropriate to the period in which the book is set. One difference will the inline skates which actors will wear in place for ice skates during the scenes that take place in winter.
The novel has been adapted for the silver screen multiple times as well as for the stage. It has even been rewritten as an opera. None of this is surprising. Anna Karenina is a novel with and for everyone. It features passionate romance, intriguing mystery elements and just about everything in between. The emotions conveyed by Tolstoy’s writing were nothing short of powerful. This musical adaptation promises to do its best to deliver everything that makes the book so beloved.
If you’ll be in Russia this fall, be sure to stop by Moscow to see this new musical. Will it come to the United States afterward? We certainly hope so.
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