#constantine germanacos

[izloveshorses]

My favorite actor to portray Gleb is Ben Edquist. I got to see him live in the second national tour. He brought so much emotion and intensity to the role. I also loved that he's a baritone.

What are your thoughts on Gleb as an antagonist?

I didn't grow up with the animated movie, so I didn't mind that Rasputin was replaced with an officer. I'm not sure if that's an unpopular opinion or not. Honestly, I thought Gleb was a compelling character. I wish the script gave him more to do in the show, more interactions with other characters, and more depth. But I still find him more compelling and threatening vs Rasputin. And I really liked his songs. What do you think?

my opinions on gleb depend entirely upon the actor portraying him. my personal favorites are constantine germanacos and brandon delgado (i would love to have seen christian mcqueen's portrayal tho, he seemed like he Got It). i don't think the writers quite knew what to do with gleb, based on how messy his part of the script was in hartford, and i think they had just barely skimmed the surface of what he could be by the time they made it to broadway. so the person interpreting the script plays a pivotal part in gleb's character imo.

the actor needs to convey the motive-- gleb has to believe in his job, in his father's legacy, and in the new order, while struggling with orders he's not quite sure are right, all within a very limited amount of scenes. he also has to be really Threatening and Imposing and have an intense stage presence, not very many actors have that. someone as high ranking as him in soviet russia should be terrifying. not just as a Big Scary Man, but as someone with the authority to make you disappear with a single order if you don't pass the vibe check. the scene with the hussies and he slams the desk? that's scary! to me! and during the neva flows when he yanks anya back by the arm and she's like literally about to cry???? incredible. hard to watch, but incredible. all of this builds up to the confrontation at the end-- if the actor isn't establishing this man as threatening and imposing, the drama of 'could i have pulled the trigger if i'd been told?' falls flat. anya and the audience should have every reason to believe he will follow through and shoot.

that being said, he's a compelling villain to me! when portrayed right. when i saw constantine on broadway he really got that perfect balance between someone deeply convicted and believing in the system™ vs someone who has just enough doubt to make that inner turmoil so delicious. constantine and christy had been performing together for about three years by the time i saw them, so they had really good chemistry* and really Sold the danger anya was in around him. listening to gleb's songs on the cast recording always feel really flat and bland to me, but when i was watching him sing still live i almost didn't want it to end. constantine made me feel his internal conflict in a way i hadn't anticipated. same with brandon when i saw the 2nt. like. i literally felt bad for him?? it had to take a miracle for that to happen lol and they did it!

i think a big part of their success for me was they leaned more into the conflict of a man facing orders to kill an innocent woman instead of the easy, uncomplicated motive of him being 'in love' with anya. when it's more about having a little crush or whatever, he just feels really gross and uninteresting to me lol. but when an actor can look at this script and see a man who wants to live up to his father's expectation so bad but can't quite stomach the bloodshed? ugh. so compelling. i think they needed just one more draft of the script to get away from the love triangle they half-heartedly threw in there to reach this conclusion my guys constantine and brandon reached. this character arc made me feel sympathy for him while also feeling deeply afraid of him and what he represents.

i also think he foils both dmitry and anya really nicely. (i'll make another post that goes more into detail about this, but) all three of them are asking questions about how to live with the sins and triumphs of their parents/ancestors, and where to go from here, how to live with the nuance, etc, and they come to different conclusions. and, as someone literally representing a patriarchal ideal of War and Being A Good Son and Enforcing The System, he's the perfect villain in a story about a woman trying to find her matriarch and some decent agency in this world.

and, as a girl who doesn't always feel very comfy around men, i just think it's neat that we went from a silly supernatural corpse to a man with authoritative power who Yells and is Physically Threatening. his character contributes to the very real and grounded narrative they wanted to tell.

so! long story short, i think gleb is an interesting character and contributes to the show, but they probably could've worked on him just a little bit more, and i do Not care about the ~love triangle~ they forced.

*chemistry, not as in romantic chemistry, but as in they knew how to go All In as actors with one another. glebyas pls don't come after me lol

[maaarine]

hasn't it been too long since you last listened to Anastasia

I thought so

there you go

[eclairris]

I think about Da Capo when it comes to the Anastasia musical honestly (it's a banger) but specifically Stay I pray you. Will nobody match my freak here I fear..

[magnusmodig]

let me have a moment let me say good-bye... to bridge and river forest and waterfall orchard, sea, and sky harsh and sweet and bitter to leave it all i'll bless my homeland 'til i die

[thelonelytoris]

New hyperfixation dropped, and it's just this entire album

Specifically these two songs

[shivunin]

Character songs tag game

Game rules: Choose one of your characters and list songs that fit them.

I am also going to do one for each (but I am only picking one Lavellan cus... well. There's five.) c: Thanks for the tag, @greypetrel, I forgot about Fever Ray entirely and I am now listening to this whole album again!

Arianwen Tabris:

"There's no turning back now/I can't be saved/And in the next life they'll remember me."

This is the song I imagine playing while Wen goes on her post-wedding rampage :)

"It's a beautiful night for a bloodbath/well, darlin' dance with me/Feel the beat in your chest, let your feet do the rest/And make this dance complete."

This just has such good knife fight vibes to me, and I feel like it kind of captures her relationship with Zev.

"You wake up a stranger to yourself/and then you learn to live with her/sit in her clothing til you fill out her figure"

Maria Hawke:

"When you strain your eyes to find the light, I won't be far behind/Cus it's better in the dark when you're a friend of mine."

"I'm having a great time/being the punchline of my own joke/I think I'm gonna be fine/This comedy of mine, I laugh so hard I choke"

"Harsh and sweet and bitter to leave it all/ I'll bless my homeland till I die."

I can't hear this song without picturing her climbing onto the ship to Kirkwall, ragged and wounded and recovering from the loss of a sibling. And she can't see Ferelden soil as they sail away, because the docks are so full of refugees fleeing the Blight that you can't even see the ground they stand on.

Salshira Lavellan:

No specific lyrics--just the whole song tbh. "I am just living my life, doesn't really matter what I'm doing. I'm me." Salshira vibes.

"Fortune's never been mine/it's fine/I'll take red over gold/Love's never come right on time/Signs still scream at me not to fold"

(this is also what I think her voice sounds like c:)

"It's like waking up in surgery/can't see right past the lights and I'm/so scared to take a knife to my chest/let you see the heart that's inside"

Edit: I forgot to tag anyone lol!! If you want a tag, comment your favorite weather and I will tag you c:

[livingecho-arch]

❝ harsh & sweet & bitter to leave it all ⸻ i'll bless my homeland till I die . ❞

[navysealt4t]

this song genuinely fucks me up so badly. so badly. they have to leave russia but they still love it so much. it’s no longer safe. it’s their childhood the only place they’ve ever known. do u hear me.

if someone would only listen to one anastasia song, i would give them this song. it’s so sad it’s bittersweet it’s tragic. i love it.

[izloveshorses]

some things i forgot to mention!!!

anya wears a pink dress/skirt outfit in phtk, not quite as soft as what she wears in the hartford production but it had a very lovely shape to it

the train set piece was so cool!! instead of it being lifted and lowered from the ceiling like on broadway, or having the cast and lighting sort of mime the shape of the train like in the 2nt (which was a genius way to adapt to a smaller budget, i must say), they had the train split in half, enter from both sides of the stage, and converge in the middle, while some ensemble men move it around. this was so smart to me since the train was notorious for having technical difficulties both on broadway and the 1nt. so this was a happy middle solution i think

this gleb was very good too, i'm almost as obsessed with his portrayal as i am with this anya. he reminded me of constantine germanacos and brandon delgado (imo, the two best glebs we ever had) in the way he didn't really play the romance bit all that much, leaning more into the inner turmoil of being commanded to kill an innocent woman. (goes to show that the success of communicating this story hinges upon the casting of anya, dmitry and gleb, but that's a different post)

swan lake only had odette, which i believe is simply bc it's difficult to wrangle up enough decent ballet dancers who are also capable of acting and singing lol. but it was interesting how they got to showcase a wider variety of odette's story/dancing

rumor's blocking in this production leaned more towards the con™ and the rumor™ of it all, for lack of a better word. the ensemble was playing a game of telephone and whispering things to each other. and the dynamic between dmitry and vlad is definitely a bit more slimy lol. very interested in money and nothing else. so it was fun to watch this dmitry suffer when he meets someone he had no intention of ever falling in love with later :)

i saw a little local production of anastasia last night, and now that we are in the era of non-replica productions.... man, i am so excited. that was so good. i need to have an insane conversation with this director bc there were so many Choices that i have Not stopped thinking about all day

[magnusmodig]

let me have a moment let me say goodbye i'll bless my homeland 'til i die.

[seeinganewlight]

top 5 edits: @onceupon-a-decembr asked ⤳ top 5 anastasia songs ・ [4/5] stay i pray you

how do i desert you? 

[ryebreadlord]

Go Here^^^

have you guys ever listened to anastasia (original broadway cast recording)