Anastasia the New musical @ Broadhurst theatre

A2 Wireless Audio Engineer

Directed Darko Tresnjak

Sound Designed by Peter Hylenski, associate designer Justin Stasiw

Engineered by Phillip Lojo, Simon Mathews, and Jana Hoglund

Opened in the spring of 2017 Anastasia was not loved by the critics. The fans did not give a damn. The show was an unexpected success running for just under 2 years. Rarely did we have a night without standing room only.

Anastasia is by far one of my favorite shows to have worked on. The cast was lovely, the crew even better, and the musicians were super fun. By the time the show had closed in March of 2019 I was running 2 separate running tracks for several people. The Broadhurst was a second home. I miss dearly.

My show duties involved the usual mic placement, maintenance, and wireless coordination. A relatively small cast with only 22 people, the 4 principles were double mic’d for safety, and a couple of wireless speakers. It was a period piece so hiding microphones was the only real challenge.

The real oddity that this show had gone unseen by the audience. The mad scientists Justin, Simon, and Peter came up with a hybrid console system that was highly unusual. Taking elements of 3 separate audio consoles and combining them into one coherent system. It was a difficult undertaking involving some specialty programming but well worth the effort. The clarity and control that sound system provided was spectacular. I was fortunate enough to be part of the build process for both the Connecticut and Broady productions. This gave me a good understanding of how these pieces were put together making maintenance much easier.

When Anastasia had closed it had spawned several offshoot productions including Madrid, Stuttgart, The Hague, Mexico City, Japan, and a highly successful North American Tour. So much for the critics.

Rest in Peace Charlie. We miss you already.