The Romanovs are dead. 

It’s now a known fact. However in the early 1900s, rumors flew about that one child had survived, Anastasia. 

There are three sides to every story: Person A’s side, Person B’s side, and the truth.

 However, when it comes to the story of Russia’s last grand-duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov the three sides are a movie, a musical, and history.  

The Movie and The Musical

It’s hard to discuss one without the other since the plots of both are nearly identical

The animated movie was released in 1997 by FOX 20th Century, while the Broadway musical Anastasia opened in 2017. 

Dallastown wrapped up their version of the musical Anastasia on April 3rd.  

“It was wonderful. The students did an outstanding job as they always do,” Social Studies teacher Ms. Thoman said. 

Except there is a major difference between the movie and the musical, and some tiny details that changed. 

The villains are completely different.

“I didn’t bother with the movie because I knew it was different,” Musical Director Mrs. Anderson said.  

In the movie, the villain is the former advisor to the Romanov family, Rasputin. He uses a curse that will chase down the Romanovs and kill them. 

The musical’s villain is much more believable and closer to what would have happened if Anastasia did live.  

“Our villain was a Russian general, named Gleb. He was the one that was chasing after Anastasia,” Anderson explained.

However, when it came to Gleb finishing off his father’s work by executing Anastasia, he couldn’t pull the trigger. 

The basic plots of the shows go like this. Anastasia, nicknamed Anya, lived, grew up, and made a journey with several challenges to Paris to be reunited with her grandma.

On this journey, she falls in love with one of the guys she was traveling with, Dimitry. 

Once they arrive in Paris, the monetary reward is revealed and Anya believes Dimitry only wanted the money this whole time. Of course, she is furious. 

When the Dowager Empress finally accepts Anya as the true Anastasia, Dimitry declines the award. 

One of the tiny details that shift between the movie and the musical is the scent that revealed Anya as the true Anastasia. 

In the movie, the scent is peppermint, while in the musical the scent is orange blossom. 

Anya is left with the choice to chase after her true love or living life with her grandma. 

Her grandma tells her to go after Dimitry and she catches him right before he gets on the train. And they lived happily ever after. 

Dallastown tried its best to follow the plot of the musical while keeping it semi-accurate. 

“Nicholas Ryan delivered a speech to the class, he is president of the history club here, and he presented his information about the history of the show,” Anderson explained. 

To create an accurate depiction of the setting of Russia and Paris Dallastown used projections for their backdrops. 

“We used projection which had scenes of Russia and Paris to make it more believable because we do know there was a huge influx of Russian citizens to Paris at that time,” Anderson said. 

Although highly entertaining, the musical and movie have little historically accurate information. 

The Historical Truth 

In history there is no happily ever after.

“Hollywood wants to make money, they want an audience. Most of history is not all glamour and full of fairy tales, so Hollywood likes to add its twist of what could have happened to make the audience enjoy the movie more,” Thoman claimed. 

In terms of entertainment the musical and movie score high, but on the historical accuracy spectrum they score about in the middle as it is entirely based on a rumor.

“There are parts of the story that are true and there are parts that aren’t true,” Anderson claimed 

The Romanov characters are true however all the other characters in the musical were completely fabricated. The background of the musical is also true.

“Saint Petersburg changing to Leningrad that part was accurate. Russia did undergo a takeover by Lenin during 1917 and the tsars were done away with so that part is also accurate,” Anderson explained. 

There was a woman who sparked the rumors further by claiming that she was Anastasia. 

“Some said she was, some said she wasn’t. The woman lived her entire life, believing she was Anastasia,” Thoman explained.

The woman’s name was Anna Anderson. Although she knew information that was not public, she was proved to not be Anastasia. 

“When she eventually died, DNA was used to determine if she was the true Anastasia, and the results were that she was not,” Thoman said. 

The most important fact is that Anastasia did not survive, and was executed when she was 17 instead of younger like in the movie and musical. 

There is scientific evidence that proves the rumors that Anastasia lived were false. 

“Though there was a long period in history where people believed she did, they have found her remains along with the other Romanovs,” Thoman said

A shallow grave was found with nine of the Romanovs’ bodies in the 1970s. However two children were missing, a boy and a girl.

Later in 2007 another grave close to the first with the two other Romanovs.  

It took many years but the forensic scientists behind the investigation finally concluded that Anastasia’s remains were found in the first grave and the children in the second grave were Alexei and Maria Romanov.

“With the result of Anna’s DNA test and then finding the remains some years later after her death, the rumor was put to rest,” Thoman expressed. 

After years of rumors, mystery, and scientific research one thing was made clear. 

The Romanovs are dead.