Anna Karenina
1992 Broadway Playbill
MusicDaniel Levine
LyricsPeter Kellogg
BookPeter Kellogg
BasisLeo Tolstoy novel
Anna Karenina
Productions1992 Broadway

Anna Karenina is a 1992 musical with a book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg and music by Daniel Levine.

Based on the classic 1877 Leo Tolstoy novel of the same name, it focuses on the tragic title character, a fashionable but unhappily married woman, and her ill-fated liaison with Count Vronsky, which ultimately leads to her downfall.

Synopsis

In 1870s Russia, Anna Karenina is a virtuous woman married to a government official 15 years older than she. Anna falls in love with the handsome and charming Count Alexei Vronsky, but she is torn by her loyalty to her husband and small son.

Meanwhile, Vronsky had first courted Ekaterina "Kitty" Alexandrovna Shcherbatsky, who chose him over gentleman farmer Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin. When Vronsky falls in love with Anna instead, Kitty becomes ill, and Levin, heartsick, withdraws to his country estate. Kitty and Levin finally declare their love for each other.

Anna's choice of love over duty leads to tragedy: Her affair with Vronsky is revealed, and she is shunned; eventually, she throws herself in front of an oncoming train.

Original cast and characters

Character Broadway (1992)[1]
Anna Karenina Ann Crumb
Konstantin Levin Gregg Edelman
Alexei Karenin John Cunningham
Kitty Alexandrovna Melissa Errico
Stiva Arkadyevich Jerry Lanning
Alexis Vronsky Scott Wentworth
Seryozha Karenin Erik Houston Saari
Korunsky Gabriel Barre
Annushka Darcy Pulliam

Musical numbers

A recording of the musical released on August 7, 2007, stars Melissa Errico as Anna, Gregg Edelman as Levin, Brian d'Arcy James as Vronsky, Jeff McCarthy as Karenin, Marc Kudisch as Oblonsky and Kerry Butler as Kitty.

Broadway production

After 18 previews, the Broadway production, directed by Theodore Mann and choreographed by Patricia Birch, and associate choreographer, Jonathan Stuart Cerullo, opened on August 26, 1992, at the Circle in the Square Theatre. In keeping with the theater's small size (by Broadway standards), the staging included a sparse set, an almost bare stage, and only seven members in the orchestra, with orchestrations by Peter Matz.[2]

Anna Karenina was received poorly by the critics. Time deemed it "earnest, intermittently moving but never quite thrilling",[2] and The New York Times was harsher, calling the show a "series of misperceptions and errors in judgment."[3] Other critics believed the musical's approach to be trivial, including Variety, which called the musical "comic-strip Tolstoy".[4]

The musical ran for 46 performances. It received Tony Award nominations for Best Actress in a Musical (Ann Crumb), Best Book of a Musical, Best Score of a Musical, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Gregg Edelman),[5] as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination for Lanning.

In 2006, a version of the Dan Levine, Peter Kellogg musical was produced and performed in Japan. The original Japan cast included Maki Ichiro, Yoshio Inoue, Hitomi Harukaze. A two-DVD set with a length of more than three hours of the Japanese language production is available. There is also a CD of the songs sung in Japanese.

References

  1. ↑ Playbill 1992 Bio Cast Listaccessed 08/06/2023
  2. 1 2 Henry, William A. "A Big Epic Writ Small", Time, September 7, 1992. Retrieved September 5, 2007
  3. ↑ Gussow, Mel. Tolstoy, Revised and Musicalized, The New York Times, August 27, 1992. Retrieved September 5, 2007
  4. ↑ Gerard, Jeremy. Anna Karenina, Variety, August 28, 1992. Retrieved September 5, 2007
  5. ↑ Evans, Greg. Tony bids: 'Tommy,' 'Kiss' 11; 'Angels' 9, Variety, May 11, 1993. Retrieved September 5, 2007
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