Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 began as something quite special, the brainchild of composer, lyricist and playwright Dave Malloy and originally staged in experimental venues off-Broadway (including, apparently, an immersive—and literal—smorgasbord). When it transferred to Broadway in 2016, the production was hailed as the next Hamilton, a bold and modern take on a historical (and unexpected) subject for a musical—in this case, a 70-page snippet from Tolstoy's War and Peace. The production, starring Josh Groban in his Broadway debut, transformed a midtown Manhattan proscenium theater, where audiences arrived through the stage door and joined in the Act I dance rave, among other immersive elements. The show received rave reviews and 12 Tony nominations (winning two), and seemed to be on the trajectory of, well, a comet.
After hitting various snafus, a casting one among them, the show closed unceremoniously in September 2017. Due in part to the production's unique use of space and reliance on marquee casting, The Great Comet never launched a national tour and thus, anyone outside of New York eager to see this original musical has been out of luck for more than five years.
Writers Theater and director/choreographer Kate Spelman have now staged this wildly unique show, and on the whole, the creative team and hugely talented cast should be congratulated for mounting this original musical. But unfortunately, a show meant to evoke the opulence of early 19th-century Russia feels almost claustrophobic in this contained setting of Writers Theater's mainstage.
Something has been lost in translation, and not from Tolstoy's original Russian. No, it seems some of the grandeur of the more creative previous stagings has been lost in Writers' 250-seat theater-in-the-almost-round (technically a 3/4 thrust stage). The show's cast of about a dozen actors giving it their dang all just end up criss-crossing a small circular stage or walking up and down a staircase to nowhere over and over again. Minimal set pieces (designed by Courtney O'Neill) are moved in and out to evoke a drawing room or dining room or other general room, but it's not enough, especially knowing what lengths earlier productions have gone to.
Spelman does what she can with Malloy's material, which it turns out is no Hamilton, largely lacking as it is any lyrical wit or melodic consistency. The show, a sung-through opera where characters shift from engaging with their counterparts and moving the plot along to awkwardly articulating their inner monologues and stage directions, is ultimately about young, pretty Natasha (Aurora Penepacker), who's staying with her godmother, Marya (Bethany Thomas), while her fiancé Andrey (Matthew C. Yee) fights in the war. Elsewhere, Pierre (an absolutely stunning Evan Tyrone Martin) is an unhappily married aristocrat who's begun to realize that he may just want more out of life after all. The two stories eventually cross paths, but it's late in the show and with a narrative split between these two main characters, neither ever really gets the time they deserve to develop fully. Oh, and the comet? You'll be waiting until the show's final number for even a mention of the historical celestial event.
All of this points to a show that succeeded as much as it did on Broadway due more to pomp and PR buzz than actual substance, meaning a regional production like this one at Writers Theater has that much more ground to make up for with far fewer resources. This is most apparent in the production's costumes (designed by Raquel Adorno) which, unfortunately, leave much to be desired. What should be a centerpiece of a show set in one of the most ornate eras in history is ultimately an exercise in mediocrity. Lush, fur-lined winter coats are shadows of the real thing, as in Natasha's, where embellishments cheaply adorn only the front of the garment rather than all the way around. Marya spends several numbers in Act II in a dressing gown with flowing fur hems that looks like it's from the 1920s, not the 1800s. These critiques may seem like small matters to get hung up on, but when they are enough to take you out of the show before you, they become noteworthy.
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 at Writers Theater has one thing going for it: it got this certified city-dweller to drive 40 minutes north of Chicago to see a show no one this side of Evanston has managed to bring to life since it bowed in 2017. That Spelman and crew took on this challenge at all is to be commended. But comets only blaze across the sky every so often, and at least for this attempt at Malloy's strange and unapproachable show, the stars have dimmed.
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 runs through October 27 at Writers Theater in Glencoe. Tickets and more information are available online. Running time is 2 hours, 20 minutes, with one intermission.
For more information on this and other plays, see theatreinchicago.com.
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