ANYA (1965 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording, Original recording remastered, Limited Edition]

Robert Wright (Composer), George Forrest (Composer), Constance Towers (Performer), Michael Kermoyan (Performer), Lillian Gish (Performer), Irra Petina (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording, Original recording remastered, Limited Edition
• Label: Kritzerland
• ASIN: B0023XI2YS
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,564 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Kritzerland is proud to present the first ever CD release of the Original Cast Recording of Anya, with a score by Robert Wright and George Forrest (based on themes by Sergei Rachmaninoff). Anya, the musical version of Anastasia, opened on Broadway at the end of 1965 at the Ziegfeld Theater and lasted a mere fifteen performances. Nobody would have predicted that a new musical by the team that wrote Kismet (here doing to Rachmaninoff what in Kismet they did to Borodin), written by George Abbott and Guy Bolton, and direction by George Abbott would end up being such a troubled production and such a huge flop. Happily, United Artists Records went ahead and recorded the cast album and just as happily we're thrilled to finally bring it to CD. Whatever the show's problems (it's been revised several times since), the album is filled with glorious music, excellent performances, and is indeed a most musical musical. The Rachmaninoff "themes" are masterfully used by Wright and Forrest (no one was better at that sort of thing than they were), and Don Walker's orchestrations and Harold Hastings' musical direction make the most out of all of those gorgeous melodies. The wonderful cast includes Constance Towers, Michael Kermoyan, Lillian Gish, and Irra Petina, as well as the still alive and kicking George S. Irving. New liner notes are by Walter Willison (Tony-nominee for Two By Two), who was very close to Wright and Forrest. 1. Choral Prelude: Anya/Song From Somewhere 2. Vodka Vodka 3. So Proud 4. Homeward 5. Snowflakes and Sweethearts 6. Six Palaces 7. Hand In Hand 8. On That Day 9. This Is My Kind Of Love 10. Reprise: On That Day 11. That Prelude 12. A Quiet Land 13. Here Tonight, Tomorrow Where? 14. Leben Sie Wohl 15. If This Is Goodbye 16. Little Hands 17. All Hail The Empress/Choral Finale: Anya

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Musical, November 17, 2009

By 

Gerald Blackburn (Hayward, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ANYA (1965 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

I recently found this CD for a reasonable price. It stands up to the best of the Robert Wright/George Forest scores, as one would expect.

This Album on CD did not get my five stars for one reason. As a limited edition CD, I expected more from the liner notes. The liner notes deal mainly with the history of Wright/Forest colaborations, and a list of every film, stage and TV version of the Anastasia story ever produced,including Anya by every regional theater group.

Having never seen the Broadway production or any other production of Anya, and even though I know the story well, I would have like to have had a Synopsis of the plot so I know where the musical numbers fit into the story. A libretto would have been nice too.

Never the less, I am glad to have this CD in my Broadway collection

4.0 out of 5 stars musical "Anastasia" shines like the rarest of jewels, April 21, 2009

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: ANYA (1965 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

Long unavailable and greatly prized by show music fanatics, ANYA (THE MUSICAL MUSICAL) has now made it's highly anticipated CD premiere as a limited edition disc from Kritzerland.

Based on the classic play "Anastasia" by Marcelle Maurette (which was adapted into English by Guy Bolton as a Broadway vehicle for Viveca Lindfors and later by Arthur Laurents in the Oscar-winning 1956 movie starring Ingrid Bergman), ANYA was written in 1965 for the musical theatre stage by popular songwriting team Robert Wright and George 'Chet' Forrest.

The plot (based on the life of Anastasia claimant Anna Anderson) follows a young orphan girl named Anya who is recruited by a group of Russian exiles into posing as the presumed-murdered Grand Duchess Anastasia, so that they might profit from the Tsar's hidden fortune. Along the way, romance and untold drama changes the path of Anya's life forever...

As they had done in earlier shows (SONG OF NORWAY, KISMET), Wright and Forrest appropriated the works of a classical composer into their melodies for ANYA, in this case Russian-born Sergei Rachmaninoff. Ironically, Rachmaninoff was a close friend of Anastasia claimant Anna Anderson during her New York visit in the early 1920s.

Cast in the title role was the stunning film actress Constance Towers (making her Broadway musical debut), with Michael Kermoyan, Karen Shepard, Irra Petina and esteemed movie legend Lillian Gish as the Dowager Empress.

With it's haunting and sweeping operetta score, ANYA was a creative masterpiece but a critical flop, dismissed as too "old-fashioned" and shuttered after only 16 performances at the Ziegfeld Theatre. In later years Wright and Forrest tried several different revised versions of the show (ANASTASIA, THE ANASTASIA AFFAIRE) but it never worked. I can see light opera companies successfully performing the original work as it's heard on the cast album, so perhaps Broadway was the wrong audience for this show after all--more's the pity.

Kritzerland has released the 1965 cast album of ANYA as a limited release of only 1,000 pressings, available directly through Bruce Kimmel's Kritzerland website. Grab it now or live to regret it...

5.0 out of 5 stars Glorious !!! At last !!!, April 8, 2009

By 

Frank Guerrasio "stynemaniac" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ANYA (1965 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

For years show fans have been waiting for this one, and here it is ! The music is gorgeous, the lyrics are thoughtful, romantic, funny, poetic, etc. The performers are all wonderful. I will never forget seeing this romantic, lavish operetta at the old Ziegfeld. I was deeply hurt in my youth by the ignorant newspaper reviews, but I wore out the LP, and performed some of the songs in cabaret. The lovely Miss Towers must be gratified by the release of this terrific career highlight. Thank you, Kritzerland ! Broadway fans, GRAB THIS ONE !!!