Photo courtesy of Slow Burn Theatre Company

The titular character (center, Mikayla Cohen,) receives lessons in gracefulness from conmen Dmitry (left, Jarod Bakum) and Vlad (right, Aaron De Jesus).

By AARON KRAUSE

Who are you?

While you probably know your name, maybe you have not studied your family’s past or learned why your parents named you as they did. Chances are, the musical Anastasia will inspire you to take your own “journey to the past” to uncover such answers.

Happily, folks visiting or living in South Florida have a few more chances to experience a fantastic live production of Anastasia. More specifically, Slow Burn Theatre Company’s professional mounting, which lasts about two-and-a-half hours, including an intermission, runs through Jan. 5. The venue is the Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Amaturo Theater in Ft. Lauderdale.

We have come to expect great things from the award-winning Slow Burn. And the company continues to deliver Broadway-quality productions that you can experience without leaving sunny South Florida or paying ridiculously high prices in New York.

From dazzling triple threat performers to first-rate behind the scenes artists, the current production impresses all around.

Under Slow Burn Artistic Director Patrick Fitzwater’s crisp direction, the performers and designers seamlessly whisk us to 20^th century Russia and France. Those are the countries where the familiar story takes place.  Historical events inspired the story. However, Anastasia never comes across as dry history lesson. Instead, it tells a compelling tale of a young woman trying to discover who she is. And while it does not hurt to read about the show’s historical background, you do not have to be a Russian history scholar to appreciate it.

The musical, based on the 1997 award-nominated animated film with the same title, takes place in Russia after the revolution and in 1920s Paris. A young woman named Anya is suffering from amnesia. Con artists have convinced her that she is the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II. The conmen, Dmitri and Vlad, plan to pass Anya off as the granddaughter to the Dowager Empress to win money. More specifically, the elderly royal woman is offering a monetary reward for Anastasia’s safe return. Rumors had surfaced that her beloved granddaughter survived the Romanov family’s massacre in 1918.

In fact, DNA testing on the Romanov family’s remains and on those from a woman claiming to be Anastasia confirmed that she was killed with her family. However, in the musical, librettist Terrence McNally, composer Stephen Flaherty, and lyricist Lynn Ahrens imagine that Duchess Anastasia survived the Russian Revolution (1917-1923). The show’s creators also make believe that Anastasia reunited with her dowager grandmother and claimed the family fortune.

Anastasia’s plot is complex. Therefore, it helps to pay close attention. Also, it takes a while before Anya begins her “Journey to the Past.” This is the title of the show’s spirited first act closer.

A solid Broadway touring production of Anastasia that played in South Florida a few years ago boasted picturesque projections. Indeed, they were so vivid that you felt, for example, as though you were taking a ride up Paris’s Eiffel Tower.

Slow Burn’s production features pleasing visuals that enhance the impressive scenic design (Kasey Koploff is the projection designer.) However, the projections are not as vivid as in the touring version. And that is just fine. To their credit, Fitzwater and Co. mostly focus on the characters and storytelling instead of hammering us with visual delights and risking overstimulation.

Ahrens and Flaherty form one of the most compelling and vital musical theater writing teams. The duo shares a unique ability to create words and music that deftly fit the style of each piece they work on. Terrence McNally, one of the world’s greatest playwrights, teamed up with Ahrens and Flaherty for three shows: Ragtime, A Man of No Importance, and Anastasia. McNally is the librettist (book writer). For Anastasia, he created a consistently moving book.

The stage musical version includes songs from the film as well as additional numbers created for the live show. In Slow Burn’s production, the performers soulfully sing the songs with accompaniment from a vibrant live orchestra. The musical director is Ryan Crout.

Without a doubt, the soothing lullaby-like song Once Upon a December will remain in your head long after the curtain descends. It is a hauntingly beautiful number that Anya sings as she starts to remember her past as Anastasia. Before her grandmother left for France, she gave her young granddaughter a music box that played the song so that the girl could remember their time together. As you listen to the Dowager Empress (Laura Turnbull), Little Anastasia (Blaire DiMisa), and Anya/Anastasia (Mikayla Cohen) tenderly sing the song, you picture them floating on a cloud without a care in the world.

The other songs are not as memorable as Once Upon a December. Still, many are effective in capturing a scene’s mood and/or allowing the characters to express themselves on a deeper level. For example, “Journey to the Past” carries an exciting, upbeat melody. And when Cohen sings it, we truly believe that her character is enthusiastically embarking on a thrilling journey.

The fun song Learn to Do It may remind you of Pygmalion/My Fair Lady. In the rousing number, Dmitry and Vlad prepare Anya to present herself to the Dowager Empress as the real Anastasia. In essence, they prepare her to act gracefully in front of the Dowager, just as Professor Henry Higgins readies Eliza Dolittle to be a proper lady. As you listen to Dmitry (Jarod Bakum), Vlad (Aaron De Jesus) and Anya sing Learn to Do It, the performers convince you that the characters are having a good time.

Hopefully you are having a ball as well as this crowd-pleasing tale unfolds onstage. While the live musical adaptation is faithful to the 1997 animated film, there are many differences. For instance, the musical features a more complex villain. You may recall that in the film, Russian mystic and faith healer Rasputin is the raised-from-the-dead bad guy. He is out to kill the Romanovs, along with his bat, Bartok. In the film, Rasputin comes across as a vicious and cunning monster. Christopher Lloyd portrayed Rasputin, who adds terror, comic relief, and melodrama to the movie.

However, nobody quite like the undead Rasputin appears in the stage musical. Instead, a more historically accurate villain, Gleb, is after Anya. Gleb is a Bolshevik officer whose father executed the Romanovs. The character represents the Communist regime in post-imperial Russia. He is committed to finishing the job by killing Anastasia. But Gleb is conflicted because he feels attracted to Anya. So, while he tries to hunt her down (calling to mind, perhaps, Inspector Javert’s pursuit of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables) Gleb also has feelings for her, causing him to delay pulling the trigger.

Gleb is not a bad person. Instead, like Javert, he firmly believes he is doing the right thing. In this case, that means faithfully following Communist ideals and finishing the job his father started.

As Gleb, an intense yet natural Sean William Davis gives a nuanced performance. The performer’s mannerisms and rich baritone help paint a sincere portrait of a firmly committed yet conflicted individual. Davis’s strong voice is as clear and expressive in higher notes as lower ones.

In the film, Dmitry, as a boy, worked at the palace as the Bolsheviks were carrying the Romanovs away. He helps young Anastasia flee the revolutionaries by sending her through a secret passage. Of course, as an adult, he becomes one of the conmen trying to trick Anya/Anastasia.

In the stage adaptation, we learn more about Dmitry. Gone is the secret passage escape. Rather, we learn how Dmitry was orphaned young and grew up on St. Petersburg’s streets. In the musical, Dmitry’s past also includes a shared moment with young Anastasia. It occurred at a parade in a crowd of legions of people. Suddenly, in the stage musical, Anya can clearly recall that moment and others after someone merely tells her about them. It is a stretch to believe that an amnesic person would be able to suddenly recollect such moments. Frankly, this makes the live show feel somewhat contrived.

But there is nothing artificial or forced in Bakum’s winning performance as Dmitry. The performer portrays his character with an intense confidence that is appropriate for this resolute character. But Bakum’s Dmitry is never vicious. Instead, deep down he has a good heart, and we feel his sincerity after he falls in love with Anya. Bakum also makes us keenly sense Dmitry’s inner conflict. It is a struggle between Dmitry’s desire to help Anya and his opportunistic motives.

While Bakum’s portrayal is often intense (yet natural) De Jesus plays fellow conman Vlad in a more laid- back fashion. His Vlad is an affable and happy man who is, indeed a “big softie” at heart. That is how a character description of him reads. In fact, De Jesus’s Vlad is so nice you wonder whether he could con another person.

As the Dowager Empress, Turnbull vividly contrasts the opening scene, during which she deftly conveys the demeanor of a loving grandmother, from later scenes. Toward the latter part of the show, the Dowager Empress has changed into a bitter and cynical elderly woman who has grown tired of so many money-hungry young women claiming to be the real Anastasia.

Turnbull recently played another harsh, bitter woman. Specifically, she portrayed Grandma Kurnitz during Palm Beach Dramaworks’ stellar production of Neil Simon’s dramedy Lost in Yonkers. Just as we came to understand and forgive Grandma Kurnitz for being so bitter, we can sympathize with the Dowager Empress. After all, she lost almost her entire family and has had to put up with so many imposters.

Gail Bennett is also solid as the Dowager Empress’s “lady in waiting,” Countess Lilly. Bennett imbues her character with a fun-loving, seductive demeanor, but also believably conveys the countess’s loyalty toward the Dowager Empress.

Less than a year ago, Cohen delivered an emotionally intense and believable performance as a young nun in Slow Burn’s production of Sister Act. Now, in Anastasia, Cohen plays the titular character with as much emotional intensity and naturalism as in Sister Act.  Once again, there is fire in Cohen’s expressive eyes and voice as she nails the title character’s determination to find out who she really is. You believe that nothing can stop her. Cohen also convinces us about the titular character’s love for Dmitry and her fright after she awakens from a nightmare.

In addition to acting and singing effectively, the triple threat performers deftly execute Cat Pagano’s varied choreography. It is graceful, seductive, and vigorous during appropriate times for each style.

Behind the scenes, scenic designer Nikolas Serrano’s depictions of the locales in the show are appropriately stately.

Rick Pena’s solid work as costume designer included producing gorgeous, sparkling outfits. They are period appropriate and apparently allow the performers to easily move while wearing them. In addition, Eric Norbury’s lighting effectively enhances mood and sound designer Dan Donato’s work allows us to hear and understand the performers.

Overall, Slow Burn Theatre Company sparkles once again in yet another gorgeous production.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Slow Burn Theatre Company’s production of Anastasia.

WHEN: Through Jan. 5

WHERE: Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Amaturo Theater, 201 S.W. 5th Ave. in Fort Lauderdale.

TICKETS: $72 and up. Go to www.browardcenter.org.