Maria Rasputin (right) with her parents
Back in April, I attended a reception at the home of Forte Musical Theatre Guild’s artistic director, Joe Slabe, where we got a sneak-a-peak of Slabe’s 2012-2013 show, Maria Rasputin Presents. His musical tells the story of the assassinated Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, from the perspective of his daughter Maria (Matryona) Rasputin, who wrote a number of books in his defense. The evening included a few songs performed by Slabe and Forte favourites Daniel Mallett (recently seen in Vertigo Theatre’s Sweeney Todd), Selina Wong (recently seen in Forte’s Jeremy de Bergerac), and Allison Lynch (recently seen in Sweeney Todd and ATP’s Ash Rizin). I wouldn’t be surprised if we see one or more of these great singer-actors in the cast.
Following on the heels of Slabe’s Jeremy de Bergerac and his previous Austentatious, this is another show which demonstrates Slabe’s love of classic literature/history. As Slabe explained, however, if all we know about Rasputin is from the classic Tolstoy novel Anna Karenina, or worse, the 1970′s euro-disco hit single Rasputin by Boney M, then we’ll find this show enlightening. From what I saw and heard, it certainly promises to be entertaining.
As far as I know, Maria Rasputin Presents will premiere in Forte’s January slot at the Pumphouse Theatre. There’s no information up on the Forte Musical Theatre Guild website yet, but presumably there will be more details come Fall.
