Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Not to boast, but I saw the original US production of Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 in a big circus tent in Manhattan and can confirm it was sick. Why it didn’t make it out here I don’t know, but its long-awaited UK premiere has given incoming Donmar boss Tim Sheader one hell of an opportunity for his directorial debut here.
It’s an adaptation of a relatively brief chunk of Tolstoy’s War & Peace. And despite considerable artistic license, the musical’s story is defined by the eccentric limitations that only using around 70 pages of the novel imposes.
You think it’s going to be a love story about Tolstoy’s iconic characters Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov? Nuh-uh. Those who have completed the gargantuan tome will know that naive beauty Natasha and world-weary nerd Pierre do get together in the end. But only years after the events depicted here. Indeed, the duo only share a single scene in the musical, which is gorgeously freighted with potential, but nonetheless closes The Great Comet without much being resolved.
Instead Malloy uses a remarkable number of devices both lyrical and musical to depict a chaotic time in the lives of two people who think they understand their places in the world, but absolutely don’t. The engine of the plot is Natasha’s move to Moscow and her seduction away from absent fiancee Andrey by the caddish Anatole. Pierre, meanwhile, bumbles about feeling sorry for himself over his shitty marriage to Anatole’s cruel sister...