Making its way across the globe, the beloved musical Anastasia has arrived in Sydney as part of its Australian tour, following a celebrated premiere season in Melbourne and a recent run in Perth.
With its sweeping score and heartfelt story of identity, memory and belonging, the production continues to captivate audiences worldwide, landing on Australian shores with renewed energy.
Featuring a book by the late Terrence McNally and a lush, emotionally resonant score by the Tony Award-winning duo Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Anastasia reimagines the beloved animated film for the stage with a more grounded, mature lens. Stripping away its more fantastical elements, the musical leans into history and humanity, charting one young woman’s journey to uncover who she truly is.
The Scoop had the pleasure of chatting with Lynn Ahrens during her visit to Australia ahead of the Sydney premiere. Lynn reflects on the evolution of Anastasia, her decades-long creative partnership with Stephen Flaherty, and the universal power of storytelling through song. Read the full interview below.
I just have to say, before we start, I am a performer and Alone in the Universe from Seussical was one of the first songs I ever sang as a kid.
Oh that’s so sweet. Which part were you playing?
I was Jojo.
Oh, I love it. Those are the kind of stories that make my day. That those characters are still out there in the world.
Absolutely! Your writing is known for having such clarity and emotional precision. So I was wondering where you usually begin when shaping a song. Is it character, situation, or language? What’s your starting point?
It’s a little of all of that, really. It’s knowing who the character is, knowing what circumstances they’re in at that moment, and why they want to sing. They always say that songs bubble up when a character is too emotional to speak anymore. And so we try to find those moments in the dialogue and say, Oh, this character is just going to burst into tears. But no, we’re going to make them sing.
And it starts from there, and kind of channelling the character. In the case of Alone in the Universe, it’s two very lonely people who are reaching out to one another across a dark void. And you look for those moments of connection and emotion between the characters.
With Anastasia, it was an animated film first, and now it’s been adapted for the stage. What felt most important to preserve in the adaptation process, and what needed to change for the stage?
Oh, that’s a really good question. Well, first of all, we were working with Terrence McNally. We were the first people on the project, and we invited him on because we’d worked with him on two other shows and loved him. We felt he would be right because of his love of history and theatre.
He really wanted to create something more mature and more realistic than a cartoon being put straight onto the stage. So that was the jumping-off point for the changes in the show.
We created the character of Gleb, who didn’t exist. We eliminated the animated characters of Rasputin and the bat Bartok. And I think that’s how the stage musical evolved. Really looking for those mature characters, mature themes, but things that were still delightful. And filled with physicality and life, but not too cartoony, we really did not want to do that.
You’ve had such a long and celebrated collaboration with Stephen Flaherty. What is it about your creative partnership that continues to produce magic?
Oh, gosh. I mean, we still like each other. We still have a lot of laughs. We still have very similar sensibilities about what might make a good musical, where a song goes. We’re very similar in a lot of ways. And then, we also have our disagreements and our annoyances, but on we go. So I think there’s a synergy there that is undeniable. We’ve been working together for more than 40 years. There must be something we’re doing right. We’re still having fun.
What does it mean to see Anastasia continue to travel internationally and connect with audiences in places like Australia?
Anastasia has taken on this extraordinary international life, and we are lucky enough that we get to go to opening nights all around the world. We have been to Madrid, to Tokyo, to the Netherlands. And here we are in Sydney.
The thing of it all is that we get to see this story sometimes in languages that we don’t speak, but yet the emotion comes through loud and clear; it’s completely universal. That’s why it’s having this international blossoming. And it’s because it’s about all of us wanting to find our roots, wanting to find out who we are. It’s such a universal story.
So I think that’s probably the reason for it, but I’m revelling in it. We’re having such a wonderful time in Australia. And the cast here, and the production, is exquisite.
If there were any emerging lyricists trying to find their way and their voice in 2026, what advice would you give them?
I would tell them to just dig deep and write every single day. Try to tell an incredibly good story, a solid story through music. And I might say, get a job that enables you to have writing time. Whatever that job might be. Let it be one where you have a certain freedom to write. It’s such a hard business, and so very few people actually get to do it professionally. I think that’s the advice I would give.
It’s funny, tomorrow we’re going to see My Brilliant Career, and Matty and Dean were two mentees of mine. I’ve known them for a long time. Isn’t that wild? It’s going to be a wonderful full circle moment.
Anastasia the musical is on now in Sydney and runs to 18 July at the Sydney Lyric Theatre. It then heads to Adelaide and Brisbane. See full dates below.
Tickets: https://anastasiathemusical.com.au/tickets/sydney/
Website: https://anastasiathemusical.com.au/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/anastasiathemusicalau/
Photo credits: David Hooley Photography
2026 Australian Tour Dates:
Sydney 7 April – 18 July, Lyric Theatre
Adelaide 2 – 23 August, Festival Theatre
Brisbane 16 September – 4 October, Lyric Theatre QPAC
