Bishop Stang puts on "Anastasia" for annual musicial
Vlad (Nolan Woodard,) Anya (Emerson Palumbo) and Dimirtry (Jack Nylin) sing before getting on the train. Photos by Kat Sheridan
Anya (Emerson Palumbo) has a flashback of her family before they died. 
Anya (Emerson Palumbo) and Dimirtry (Jack Nylin) look at a music box. 
Anya (Emerson Palumbo) and Dimirtry (Jack Nylin) relive their history surviving on the streets of Russia. 
Anya (Emerson Palumbo) and Dimirtry (Jack Nylin) learn to dance together, although initial efforts were unsuccessful. 
Dimirtry (Jack Nylin,) Vlad (Nolan Woodard) and Anya (Emerson Palumbo) look at a book on the royal family. 
Vlad (Nolan Woodard) explains dance to Anya (Emerson Palumbo) and Dimirtry (Jack Nylin). 
Gleb Vaganov (Gavin Bettencourt) sings. 
Anya (Emerson Palumbo) sings about the music box. 
The cast sings about their displeasure of the Communist times they llive in. 
Dimirtry (Jack Nylin) sings about wanting to escape. 
A young Anastasia goes to dance with her father. 
A young Anastasia talks with her grandmother (Chloe Costa.)
Vlad (Nolan Woodard,) Anya (Emerson Palumbo) and Dimirtry (Jack Nylin) sing before getting on the train. Photos by Kat Sheridan
Anya (Emerson Palumbo) has a flashback of her family before they died.
Anya (Emerson Palumbo) and Dimirtry (Jack Nylin) look at a music box.
Anya (Emerson Palumbo) and Dimirtry (Jack Nylin) relive their history surviving on the streets of Russia.
Anya (Emerson Palumbo) and Dimirtry (Jack Nylin) learn to dance together, although initial efforts were unsuccessful.
Dimirtry (Jack Nylin,) Vlad (Nolan Woodard) and Anya (Emerson Palumbo) look at a book on the royal family.
Vlad (Nolan Woodard) explains dance to Anya (Emerson Palumbo) and Dimirtry (Jack Nylin).
Gleb Vaganov (Gavin Bettencourt) sings.
Anya (Emerson Palumbo) sings about the music box.
The cast sings about their displeasure of the Communist times they llive in.
Dimirtry (Jack Nylin) sings about wanting to escape.
A young Anastasia goes to dance with her father.
A young Anastasia talks with her grandmother (Chloe Costa.)
Conmen, royals, streetsweepers and communists roam the streets of an alternate 1926 together, singing about their pasts and their hopes for their futures.
Visit Bishop Stang to take a step back in time to Soviet Russia, and join “Anya” on a journey learning to be the rumored-dead Princess Anastasia to escape to Paris.
“I just really thought that the message of family and love and homecoming is all things that really align with the Catholic message,” said Julia Lavoie, the show director.
The play came out when Lavoie was a freshman in high school, and she would listen to the cast recording continuously. She described it as a “pivotal show” for her, and she wanted to bring the message, history and a bit of fairy tale elements to life.
Lavoie, who graduated from Dean College last year, wanted to recreate the professional atmosphere of a college production.
“It’s been really fun to come back to my old school and kind of teach them professional ways of doing a show,” she said.
Students Abigail Murphy and Sierra Patello help Lavoie with the dance choreography while other students run the backstage operations, creating the scenery and working the lights and audio. Lavoie has also gone over the history of the show, learning ballet moves and techniques to help with characterization.
The play follows a pair of con-men, Dimitry (played by Jack Nylin of Dartmouth) and Vlad Popov (played by Nolan Woodard), who are planning a way to get out of St. Petersburg, Russia. They decide the best way is to have a young girl pretend to be the rumored dead Princess Anastasia to get money from her surviving family.
In the show, Anya, who grew up traveling across Russia by foot, agrees to be Anastasia so she can get to Paris and pursue an invite she got from an unknown family member.
“I love doing [the musical] because I get to meet a lot of friends,” said Emerson Palumbo of Westport, who plays Anya. “I love the shows and I love living a fantasy that isn’t your own, like you step into an outside reality.”
The students started practicing in costume about three weeks before the performance, to make sure they are as comfortable as possible when opening day comes.
“The feeling when you get on stage, and you’re able to portray this new character,” said Nylin. “You get to have fun with it, you get to choose how they’re saying lines, how they’re acting in certain situations and you really get to step into that role.”
Bishop Stang will be having their shows at 7 p.m. on April 30, May 1 and May 2. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students or kids under 12. Tickets are available at https://bishopstang.factsmgtadmin.com/form/t6fcHfnJu?authToken=__token__&utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=IwY2xjawReAzFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFwSWlRUkM5ZlZTNHpzdVk5c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHkp8LaqtV54Rw00l8N-ih2CCF3iIr9WceCLTOhR7QaJhqzREeb1jhDXPLeaJ_aem_1GD6MKFD2C8lV2c2dRqEcg/
“It’s not just like, ‘Sing this song on stage’,” said Lavoie. “It’s so many moving parts. It’s been really great watching them learn and grow through this entire process.”
