Once Upon A December

Once Upon A December

From: Anastasia
By: Flaherty
Voice Type(s): Mezzo

Melody
D
Melody
B
Full
B
Full
D

Show Synopsis:
The sorcerer Grigori Rasputin curses the Romanov family, initiating the revolution that will kill the family, and the youngest princess Anastasia escapes but is knocked unconscious in the chaos and her grandmother, the Dowager Empress, leaves Paris without her. Anastasia grows up as Anya in an orphanage with no memory of her life before that night, but she has a necklace that says "Together in Paris," which the Dowager Empress gave her right before the revolution. Dimitri and Vlad, two conmen, are searching for a young woman to pretend to be the lost princess Anastasia so that they can claim the Dowager Empress' reward money, and they coerce Anya into being their actress because of her physical resemblance to the princess. They are pursued by the woken demons at Rasputin's disposal all the way to Paris, but survive against all odds, and Anya and Dimitri begin to fall in love. Dimitri and Vlad, who used to work in the Romanov court, teach Anya everything she needs to know about being Anastasia, and in her preliminary interview with the Dowager Empress' cousin Sophie, she shows that she knows even more than what Dimitri and Vlad taught her. Dimitri, who helped her escape the palace as a child, realizes that Anya is actually the Princess Anastasia and that once she finds her family, she will forget all about him. Anya discovers that Dimitri and Vlad were looking to gain a reward from presenting her as the princess and angrily starts to leave Paris, but Dimitri, with no concern for the money, convinces the Dowager Empress to speak to Anya, and the women realize that they have been waiting for years to reunite. When Anya learns that Dimitri refused the Dowager Empress' reward, she runs after Dimitri to tell him she loves him, but Rasputin and his minions try to kill them. They survive and run away together, since Anya wanted family, not royalty, and feels that she has that with Dimitri.

Character:
Anya, an eighteen-year-old orphan who wants to find her family more than anything; stubborn and skeptical.

Song Context:
Anya follows the puppy she met into an abandoned ballroom, where she begins to have dim memories of her childhood. She begins to dance around as if at the last royal ball she went to with her family.	

Fun Facts:
1) This movie musical is based loosely on the real life events of the Bolshevik Revolution and the widespread belief for many years that Anastasia, the youngest Romanov princess, might have survived in hiding while the rest of her family was shot to death. 
2) The character of Anya had two different voice actors - musical theatre actor and vocalist Liz Callaway gave her a singing voice and acclaimed film actor Meg Ryan spoke her dialogue. 
3) This song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song but lost to Titanic's "My Heart Will Go On."
    

"Dancing bears, painted wings,
Things I almost remember,
And a song someone sings
Once upon a December.

Someone holds me safe and warm,
Horses prance through a silver storm,
Figures dancing gracefully
Across my memory.

Someone holds me safe and warm

Horses prance through a silver storm
Figures dancing gracefully
Across my memory.

Far away, long ago,
Glowing dim as an ember,
Things my heart used to know,
Things it yearns to remember.

Someone holds me safe and strong,
Horses prance through a silver storm,
Figures dancing gracefully,
Across my memory.

Far away, long ago,
Glowing dim as an ember,
Things my heart used to know,
Things it yearns to remember,

And a song someone sings
Once upon a December."