Shaler Area High School prepares for school musical

In July of 1918, Anastasia Romanov, historically known as Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, was assassinated with the rest of her family in a merchants home in Yekaterinburg by members of the White Army.

During the aftermath, Anastasia’s body was not found at the scene, inspiring a country-wide rumor that the Russian duchess had somehow escaped the murders. The rumors of hope that weaved throughout the country led to expressions of art that have reached Broadway, Disney and local theaters, with actors telling the story of “what if.”

The Shaler Area High School theater program will be bringing the musical “Anastasia” to life on March 1.

Led by Malia Podgorski, 18; Josh Clark, 17; Max Milligan, 18; Jordan Fowler, 16; Ryan McGaffick, 17; and Erin Raymond, 17; the high school cast will tell the story of what would have happened if Anastasia Romanov would have survived that fateful night and found her way back to St. Petersburg to claim her throne.

“It’s such a unique story,” Fowler said. “I think it’s so cool because somebody took a real-life historical moment and did a ‘what if this happened’ spin on it, and it’s a princess story. It’s fun. It’s exciting.”

Fowler is playing the Dowager Empress, Anastasia’s grandmother. She said that she watched a few different interpretations of her role to try to get the idea of how to act matronly as a 16-year-old.

“I love to put personal stories behind what I’m saying because it makes it more believable for the audience,” Fowler said.

Milligan is playing Gleb, the villain of the story who is hunting Anastasia during her journey home. He said that he leaned on Broadway performer Ramin Karimloo’s interpretation of the role to learn how to be mean.

“I had to learn how to be scary on stage which is definitely fun,” Milligan said. “I channel a lot of (Karimloo) when I’m on stage while also making (the character) have some of myself.”

Fowler and Milligan both have performing experience outside of Shaler Area with Fowler being a member of the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus, and Milligan being a member of Pittsburgh Musical Theater and performing with the Riverfront Theater Company.

Podgorski is playing Anastasia. She said that she found a kindred spirit in the character.

“(Anastasia) wants what she wants, but at the same time she understands that it takes a lot to get there,” Podgorski said. “At the beginning, she’s very closed off and wants to be able to do everything on her own.”

Podgorski said that she tried to get to know her character and leaned on real-life experiences of how she reacted to new experiences. In the show, Anastasia has amnesia.

“I tried to figure out in every scene how she would be reacting to everything for the first time,” she said.

Podgorski has been singing since she was 5 and found her way back to theater about halfway through high school.

Clark is playing Dmitry, Anastasia’s love interest and one of her companions during the race to St. Petersburg. He said that the role has been a challenge for him because he is used to being the older figure or comedic relief in shows.

“With this role, instead of putting myself in a parent’s position, I sort of put it in the eyes of how I am now and I’m acting like that,” Clark said.

Clark is a member of the Pittsburgh CLO Academy and has been in Shaler Area’s theater program since sixth grade.

“There’s a lot of talent on the stage that’s incredible to watch and be a part of,” he said.

McGaffick is playing Vlad, Dmitry and Anastasia’s third partner in their journey to the throne. Throughout the story, Vlad slowly becomes a father figure to Anastasia and cares about her deeply. McGaffick said that he fell into the role easily as he’s always played more mature characters in his previous performances.

“I knew I wanted to be Vlad during my audition,” he said. “I had the mindset of trying to portray this role of being older. I love it.”

McGaffick has done theater with Shaler since sixth grade.

Director Jenny Birch said that the show has a run time of just over two hours, including intermission. She described it as a story about a lifelong journey of finding family, finding yourself and where we belong in the world.

She is a middle school history teacher and has been directing high school musicals for the past three years, and middle school musicals since 2009.

“I just don’t know if you can find a group of kids like this anywhere else,” Birch said. “Maybe I feel that way because I’ve been teaching them since they were 12 years old. A lot of them are turning 18 and just having watched them grow up, I know personally what special people they are. Theater is always magic, but these kids are magic.”