By: Rachel Hawkins NDG Staff Writer
Curtains rising and falling, cast members dancing in their long ball dresses, and the sound of audience clapping is everything a performer would want, and this especially holds true for Kourtney Keitt. She is appearing in the musical Anastasia, at Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas until March 3.
Keitt, playing as Tatiana Romanov, one of Anastasia’s sisters, Dunya a peasant girl in St. Petersburg, and other parts within the ensemble are proud to make her debut in the national tour of Anastasia.
Anastasia, a Broadway musical based upon the animated 1997 Don Bluth film, is a loose adaptation and inspiration of the story of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, in which her family escapes execution. In the year of 1916, the musical follows an orphan named Anya. Although she has lost most of her memories, she begins to share thoughts of the life she knew before.
Anya teams up with Dimitri and Vladimir, a duo in search of an Anastasia look-a-like. Their goal is to collect a huge award, travel to Paris and find the ones she once called family.
Keitt, in the role of one of Anastasia’s sisters, discussed her experiences on stage by phone recently with the North Dallas Gazette.
“I remember when Anastasia came out for Broadway originally, I wasn’t quite at the level I thought I needed to be,” Keitt said. “When the tour happened I got an invitation to go to the audition. I kept going and it took me at least two months of callback. I took all of the feedback I could take, and in the (audition) room the director said: “oh you could’ve held the notes a little longer,’ and that gave me an idea to change the song I was singing.”
Keitt continued to fine-tune her audition and eventually landed a role.
She is originally from Chester Springs, Pennsylvania and now lives in New York City. Keitt began as a Knicks City Dancer and then performed with Royal Caribbean Productions for several years.
“Up until now I did regional theater to build my way up,” Keitt said. “Funnily enough I ended up doing Hairspray again, but this time it was real singing. It was definitely an experience for me, and then I ended up doing the tour, and it was shocking, exciting and a big deal for me.”
Her love for Broadway first began when she performed in Joe Iconis’ Broadway Bounty Hunter. Later she appeared in other productions including An American in Paris, Evita, Oklahoma, and Hairspray.
“For Tatiana Romanov, I am one of Anastasia’s sisters in the beginning,” Keitt said. “It’s really great because I get to bond with the other girls, and wear these beautiful princess gowns. It’s really great that I get to be up there as a person of color. It’s exciting when you see that opportunity to not stick completely to the original casting.”
Keitt especially loves the diversity in the cast. Anastasia is an ensemble heavy musical, with the entire ensemble being onstage 80 percent most of the time.
“We have people from all different backgrounds,” Keitt said. “It’s not just this cast, but I think it speaks to the company that we have different shows of Anastasia being done all over the world. There is not just one look for this show. From this cast especially, we all get to learn from each other’s backgrounds, cultures, and customs. Everyone is so open and accepting, there is no specific look for this, and they (the directors) made that really clear from the beginning.”
