Music, dance and theater come down to human beings using mind, body, heart and brain to create. There’s no AI, no digital screen visual tricks, just, in the case of Maine State Music Theatre, amazingly talented cast members.

This summer’s first offering, “Anastasia,” tells the story of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the expulsion and execution of Tsar Nicholas II, the Tsarina and their children. Really, it’s about a grandmother’s adoration of her youngest granddaughter — history took a long time to tell the truth about this — and the longing of someone presented as her granddaughter to find her Babushka.

The myth (or fantasy) that Russians (and many others) came to entertain was that the youngest Romanov, 17-year-old Anastasia, had somehow evaded the executioner’s aim. Myth and fantasy provide ample room for imposters and fabricators (think Facebook). We’ll leave unsaid how truth fares in MSMT’s production. Said and unsaid, throughout, is the deeply cruel infliction of man-made conflict that separates grandmothers (and grandfathers) from their grandchildren. We know that story.

Another “Anastasia” lesson: To those entitling themselves to demean a young person, there is a grandmother somewhere who cherishes that granddaughter exactly the way she is — no matter how she is — because she is perfect in a way only grandmothers know.

Susan Cook
Bath